Dealing with Inaccuracy of the Old Testament

[Shawn_Murphy (Shawn T Murphy)]

@marktwombly

Mervin, you still haven’t adequately explained Luke 3:23-38 and why belief in Adam as a historical figure is optional and not required to believe from the authoritative word of God.

Dear Mark,
There is much wrong with this statement from my point of view. First of all, a literal interpretation of the text of any bible today is not “the authoritative word of God.” That would only be the case if God personally wrote, edited and published it as such. In addition, the Bible has three layers of meaning - literal, moral and spiritual, not just one.

Secondly, the genealogy that you ask about in Luke is not necessarily a genetic history. I have posted research in the past that discusses this issue. The genealogy listed in the Bible is a spiritual family tree that spans hundreds of thousands of years. Accurate historical dating of the lives of Abram and Joseph illustrate this point.

Biblical genealogies must be entirely factual? The Japanese counter-example

Thank you Scott for the bring this down to Earth for us. the Bible has one other complication and that it is not intended to be a genealogy but a spiritual document. So, when the Bible says that " And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. (Genesis 5:17), it does not say that Adam’s spirit lived in the same human body for 930 years, but that his spirit resided as a human for a total of 930 years. In addition, we also have evidence of the famine in Egypt, t…

Finally, we have two separate stories of Adam. One is in the Garden of Eden, before being cast out in Genesis 3:24. It is a spiritual place called Paradise (Luke 23:43) and not on this Earth. The second history of Adam is as a human and father to Cain and Abel.This is dated back around 200,000 years ago.

God is a spiritual entity and so is His Word, mostly it is not literal.
Best Wishes, Shawn