Au Contraire
I believe the whole of the Bible is historical documentation, and its fact based content has also another benefit as allegorical stories, giving all of humanity the moral to those stories, asserting right principles to live by.
As for claimed contradictions in the Bible, most come from incomplete reading or from translations misunderstood due to the old, even archaic language in which they were written. One example is the question, “Where did Cain’s wives and his sons’ wives come from?” This question arises with the incomplete telling of the Creation Story … Genesis, chapter One, verses 26 through 31 say God created Mankind, Humanity. Notice that there is no mention yet of Adam and Eve. None. It is not until after God had rested on the Seventh Day that God set aside the Garden and created Adam and Eve. That does not occur until Genesis, chapter Two, verses 7 through22.
So what does this have to do with Cain’s wives? Genesis, chapter Six, verses one and two record: “When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” There were no apparent differences between “humans” and the “sons of God,” except for that designation, the distinction between the lineage of Adam and Eve and the lineage of the rest of Mankind. So, the Adam and Eve growing family emerged from their sheltered lives in Paradise and happened to notice the new neighbors had attractive daughters …
That complete story reveals the pattern God chose for His purposes for the world, the moral to the story, It is this: to communicate His ways, His will, and His righteousness to everyone, He would separate out individuals, families, tribes, and nations Through their lives, God teaches in a manner much like our morality plays and fables. They are intended to be lessons for Mankind’s benefit. Lessons people could relate to and could thereby make intelligent decisions about how they would live.
Here is another angle that reaffirms the truthfulness of the Bible:
“Rahab the Harlot” recorded in the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah. Does that sound strange to anybody else besides me? Rahab was not the example of a wise and righteous woman. Why would anybody writing their own history include the “dirty laundry?” Turns out, she believed God and acted on it, and she was given right standing with God because of it. She risked her life to aid God’s chosen nation.
There are many more. The vaunted King David, who not only committed adultery with Bathsheba, but ineffect, murdered her husband. What lesson benefits us here? Quite a departure from the familiar David and Goliath story. Well, for one David came to recognize his wickedness and cruelty, and he accepted the consequences. He desperately sought God’s forgiveness. God had mercy and forgave him. In the end, Bathsheaba gave birth to Solomon, the future wise king.
There were a bunch of very bad kings. Yet, God kept on keeping on until the once and future king was born: Jesus of Nazareth. So, there’s that.
There are plenty more assertions which complain about all the supposed contradictions in the Bible, and my intention is to take them on, wherever they come from. However, most importantly, no one can even see clearly until they get their second birth:
Matthew 3:3–7 NIV
In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.’
That is the moral to the story transcendent throughout the entire Bible — the beginning, the middle, and the end. That has been my experience anyways.
