CSE Seminar Notebook - Free Bible Resources

“The battle for humankind’sfuture must be waged and wonin the public school classroomby teachers who correctlypercieve their role as theproselytizers of anew faith: Areligion of humanity...utilizingaclassroom instead of apulpitto carry humanist values intowherever they teach.... Theclassroom must and willbecome an arena of conflictbetween the old and thenew—the rotting corpse ofChristianity,together with itsadjacent evils and misery,andthe new faith of humanism....”—John J. Dunphy, PrizewinningEssay, The Humanist,Jan/Feb 1983“Great spirits have alwaysencountered violent oppositionfrom mediocre minds.”—Albert EinsteinBible Questions:13. Q:A:Arethere contradictions in theBible?When Iwas anew Christian, someoneshowed me theapparentcontradictionsbetween the creation accounts in Genesis 1and Genesis 2. AccordingtoGenesis 1, God made thetrees onday three, thebirds from wateron day five, and theanimalson day six, allbefore man. But Genesis 2records the creationof trees, animals, and birds from dirt on day six, all after man.This apparentcontradiction disappears when onereads inGenesis 2thatthis chapterdescribes theevents regardingthecreation of theitems in theGarden of Eden only. God knewSatan could comeand say hehad created allthings ifAdamdid notactually witness God’s creativepower. God madeAdam on thesixth day, puthim in the garden, madesometrees togrow beforeAdam, then made 1more of eachoftheanimals sothatAdam could name them and select awife. Therestof theworld was already full ofplants and animals fromearlier in theweek. Seep.39 for more on this.Anotherapparentcontradiction appears in IKings 7:23 andIIChronicles 4, thedescription of thelargebowlcalled thebrazen laver. Accordingto bothpassages, the lavermeasures10cubits (elbow to fingertip, about 18 inches) across and 30cubits around, aratiothat does notequal pi (3.14159…) andappears to be notmathematically valid. However, the10cubitmeasurement spans theinsideof thebowl; thehandbreadththickness of thebrass is includedin the diameter whichbalances the ratiotoequal pi very neatly. Therearenocontradictionsin theBible. This topicis covered in moredetailwithpictures andcalculations on p.38.Somehave supposed acontradiction over the number ofhorses Solomon had. “And Solomon had forty thousandstallsof horses andchariots, and twleve thousandhorsemen.” IKings 4:26, vs. “And Solomon hadfour thousand stalls forhorses and chariots, and twelvethousand horsemen;” IIChronicles 9:25. This is notaproblem. One passagetells of thenumber of horses whiletheother tells ofthenumberof stallsfor horses and chariots. They had ten horses andten men perchariot. Thesameratio is seen in II Samuel10:18, “And theSyrians fled beforeIsrael; and David slew the men of sevenhundred chariots oftheSyrians,” IChronicles 19:18. “ButtheSyrians fled beforeIsrael; and David slew of the Syrians seventhousand men whichfoughtin chariots,” See also: II Samuel8:4, IChronicles 18:4.Anothercommon “contradiction” pointed outby scoffers is,“And those thatdied in theplagueweretwenty and fourthousand.” Numbers 25:9. vs. “Neitherletus commitfornication,as some of them committed, and fellin oneday threeandDr. Kent Hovind • office (850) 479-DINO (3466) •Fax 479-8562 68