Krystal Smith poses this question at STAPLER CONFESSIONS and states: “Religious people tend to acknowledge the differences between modern society and antiquity. Beyond this, there are certain passages or certain aspects of the Bible and other holy texts that cause scrutiny from atheists under the context that they contradict statements made in other passages. Some more reformed believers consider biblical texts as being open to interpretation and metaphorical. Atheists tend to reject holy texts, citing any apparent contradictions they can find and pointing out what they consider to be flaws in the text.”
The Bible offers salvation truth, but it also reflects various situations and the development of a people over a period of 2,700 to 3,400 years. While certain truths about God and commandments are immutable, others develop or change due to the maturation of Israel and the intervention of Christ. Our Lord would rescind the Mosaic writ of divorce and the early Church would place faith in Christ over the saving works of the law. All foods are made clean, and baptism replaces circumcision as the rite of initiation. The prohibition against graven images, which was never absolute, is totally abrogated by the new economy of the incarnation. The keeping of the sabbath day would transition to the Lord’s Day due to the resurrection.
The Bible is not a science book, and its history is not like the news with video clips. All is viewed through the prism of the Semitic people and the cultures through which they lived. However, it should be mentioned that even atheists have their books and despite competing string theories and constantly corrected conjectures about evolutionary development, they can be every bit as dogmatic as theists. The Bible is many books and includes all sorts of literature: history, myths, speeches, hymns, legal codes, poetry, etc. Each must be understood as the genre it is.
Note that Genesis itself has differing depictions of the chronology to creation in the first two chapters. The Hebrews saw no problem with this, and neither should we. Different threads of tradition focus on varying elements. We see this as well in the four Gospels of the New Testament. Each proclaims the same Good News of Jesus from the perspective of a different angle or tradition.
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