Posted on 03/02/2013 10:15:26 PM PST by TBP
Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, who is writing an upcoming book titled “Killing Jesus,” proclaimed on his program Wednesday night that “a lot of the Bible is allegorical,” and the New Testament Gospels contradict themselves.
O’Reilly made the remarks during an interview with “Touched by an Angel” star Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett, executive producers of “The Bible” TV miniseries which begins this Sunday night on the History Channel.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
To be technical, The New Testament is a collection testimonies and letters written to different audiences in their native tongues. It has been translated in every known language. The thing to remember is no matter who wrote what the entire work is God’s inspired word in written form for us. It is probably one of the most scrutinized written works ever published yet it still stands in its perfection.
Thank you for being thankful!
Here is another good resource for those interested:
New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties Gleason L. Archer Jr.
http://www.amazon.com/New-International-Encyclopedia-Bible-Difficulties/dp/0310241464
Older free version:
http://www.tsbalan.com/books/Difficulties.pdf
“I fixed it.”
And a reminder for all who know the truth:
1 Corinthians 13:2
NET © And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
Yes, understood, but although Aramaic was the language spoken in the Mideast during the time of Christ, many written pieces were in Greek, as were the Testaments of Luke, Mark, Matthew and John.
The Bible is God’s breathed word. If there are any contradictions in it, it means that one side of the contradiction would be a lie. There is only one thing God is incapable of doing, and that is to lie.
Regarding my bible translation I happened to grab a near at hand copy of the Confraternity Bible. As a comparison though the RSV says: "So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them" and this also seems to indicate the order I believe is otherwise obvious. The NIV has "now out of the ground" while the AV has "And out of the ground." I don't really think any of these differ for the reasons I have given above. The obvious meaning, given the words of the Lord in verse 18, is that man was created and then the animals. It really does seem impossible to avoid that understanding without ripping the clear intent of scripture out at the roots.
either way, it doesn’t change what is important about what God is saying about Creation.
This I agree with absolutely. While I think there is a contradiction in literal order of events as recorded in the two chapters I don't actually think this creates any real problem, unless one is trying to make a TV show about creation based entirely on the biblical text. It happens that I don't buy into the idea that the creation narrative is meant to be science, and instead feel that God is really revealing that he alone is the creator and that all things come to be out of his goodness. Because of that, contradictions in such details don't demonstrate anything to me except that the bible text has been protected beautifully since any editor would likely try to clean those things up.
again just to make sure i’m being understood, i find absolutely no contradiction, anywhere in the Bible. in this case, to my mind there are two possible correct readings that i know about: verb tense or just that God is bringing the wildlife back to Adam, both introduce no contradiction.
ultimately one of those or another i haven’t thought of is the One historically correct meaning.
may God bless you.
You needn't go all the way to the New Testament to find puzzles. Eve is identified as the mother of all mankind and bore Cain and Able (population earth 4 and rising). Cain killed Able (Oops, now 3), he was banished and left for the land of Nod whereupon he married and produced children. What?
My question: Cain's wife was apparently from Nod? Where did the people of Nod come from? Where was Nod in relation to the garden? Is Nod ever mentioned again in any part of the known Bible? Did Adam and Eve vacation in the land of Nod and procreate like bunnies, before Cain and Able took it to the mat? "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it" doesn't seem to fit the timeline...
Regards,
GtG
and one other thought. if you know how logical systems work (cause and effect back to first causes and propositions linked formally with logic) and are falsified, you realize that a true contradiction that falsifies one proposition in the system, falsifies the whole system. thus an *apparent* contradiction that doesn’t invalidate the whole system, is a clue to you that it is not really a contradiction. so a single real falsification would introduce chaos and confusion in the whole. and that confusion would be readily apparent. not something you’d have to split hairs over parsing out.
I'm sure BOR doesn't feel like he needs to read it - in his own mind, BOR thinks that he had Isaiah write down those words. You know the punchline from the old joke - God doesn't think he's Bill O'Reilly.
I really don't know which Rush Limbaugh wannabe, bag of wind, I dislike more, Bill O'Reilly or Glen Beck. With this BOR might have taken the lead.
That is just silly. The contradictions are all over it, as has been pointed out. Some are simple errors, some are additions (or subtractions) deliberately made. It’s a book written by humans with different perspectives and they often contradict each other. Nothing wrong with that, BTW, unless you’re trying to tell “THE definitive story.”
All of which is irrelevant. He happens to be one of the finest New Testament scholars on the planet.
That we do not have the originals is a simple statement of fact. The earliest copies we have are from the 2nd and 3rd Centuries. By then, they had probably already been altered. There have been numerous alterations after that. Translation (especially multiple translation) is another problem.
John is the most overtly agenda-driven of the four Gospels. According to Bible scholars who studied this, most of what John quotes Jesus as saying is probably not what Jesus said, including the most famous story in John, the one about the prostitute, which appears to have been added by a later scribe.
Technically, I believe there is a quote in Acts taken from an Old Testament passage as part of the Septuigint, which is quoted differently than the OT passage. The significance of this is the NT passage, quoted from Christ, is still usable by God the Holy Spirit in the continuing sanctification of the believer through faith in Christ.
This separates His Word from other Scriptures, which other religions treat the explicit written Scripture as Holy, but rejects any meaning other than the literal meaning.
It also stresses the explicit role of God the Holy Spirit in our salvation, which other religions lack to recognize.
Thank you, Muhammad.
I gotta agree with old bill on this one. Here is one that applies to him.
Pro 26:4 Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.
Pro 26:5 Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation.
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