Biblical Inerrancy and Infallibility is a Failed Theology

I am excited that my opponent has accepted this debate. We are both Christians, similar to age, and from no doubt similar backgrounds. I was born and raised in an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, but during my senior year, I began to doubt my faith. By the summer, I was an agnostic. However, I am now a liberal Christian, with more faith in Jesus than faith in a book. I will build my argument off of five ideas 1) The Bible has a faulty view of cosmology - 2) The Bible has a faulty view of ethics - 3) The Bible contains contradictions - 4) The Bible shows a polytheistic world - 5) The Bible's loss of textual integrity, poor canon, and poor composition make it difficult to view it as the "Word of God. "In this opener, I will lay down 1-4 while devoting another portion next round to dealing with the theological questions behind 5. To begin, let's start with 1) The Bible has a faulty view of cosmologyTo most fundamentalists and evangelicals, the Bible is a perfectly composed book that not only gives spiritual insight, but also shows us science and history as it truly is. The egregious view of Young Earth Creationism is a perfect view of that. Instead of turning this into a Creation v. Evolution debate, I would like to instead concentrate on verses that show a view of cosmology in which the earth is a flat disk with the dome sky surrounding it. Starting in Genesis, we see a lot of this idea. Genesis chapter one starts off telling us about Creation. Take a moment and look closely at some of the statements it makes: Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. ” Genesis 1:6-9 “Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. ” God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Starting right there in Genesis 1, we see the general idea of pre-exilic cosmology. Notice for a moment something that is forgotten by literalists: God never created water. He manipulated it, He commanded it, but He never created it. It was already in existence. The eternal water. Notice also that God created an “expanse” to divide water “above the expanse” from waters below it. Is there an ocean above the sky? Hardly. The historian Josephus gives a little commentary to show that this view of a solid dome sky was not dead even after Jesus’ own death: “he placed the heaven over the whole world, and separated it from the other parts, and he determined it should stand by itself. He also placed a crystalline round it. ” On the third day, according to the text, God gathered the waters and land, respectively, into one place, a single pangea continent surrounded by a single, giant ocean. God did not create land in this story. Rather, God moved the water to allow dry land to appear. This is very different from the way we were taught in Sunday School, but it is what the text actually describes. Another good text to show this view is Isaiah 40 :22"It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;"Some Evangelicals will honestly try to tell me that this is saying that the earth is round. No, it is stating that God sits on what is essentially a floating throne above a flat earth. This is made equally clear by the Hebrew words used. The first Hebrew word used for circle, if it were describing a sphere, is דּוּר (Dur) while the Hebrew word in Isaiah 40:22 is ח֣וּג (Hug), which literally means "flat circle. " Also, this is not a metaphor or simile, because we see in the next part of the sentence "like grasshoppers," "like a curtain," and "like a tent. " These are symbolized by Hebrew prepositions that are lacking in the part about the earth. For now, these are the two passages I will lay out for examination.2) The Bible contains a faulty view of ethicsThe Old Testament especially views women as objects, slavery was accepted, violence was rampant, and "family values" were at an all time low. Consider a few of these verses with my commentary of why they are abhorrentExodus 21:20-21 "When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod, and the slave dies under his abuse, the owner must be punished. 21 However, if the slave can stand up after a day or two, the owner should not be punished because he is his owner’s property. "This text is a great double-whammy, showing both slavery as ownership of another human being, but also that this owner could beat that human being to near death without consequence, only at death or permanent maiming is there a mention of punishment. This is despicable. Note also that this is the direct law from God, not out of context. The direct words of God according to tradition. Psalm 137:9 "Blessed is he who takes your little children and dashes their heads on the rocks! "In this passage, found in a Psalm about revenge, shows graphically not only was the writer of the Psalm propagating revenge by killing babies and children, he also says you will be "blessed" because of it. If that's not sick, I do not know what is. 1 Samuel 15:3 "Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. ’This time, the call to kill children via genocide is not from a mouthpiece of God like a Psalmist, but in context from God Himself. God commands the genocide of a people-group, including infants. That is wrong.3) The Bible Contains ContradictionsThis one will be a straight forward as well. I will lay out contradicting passages and offer my commentaryMatthew 3:17 "and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. ” "Mark 1:11 "And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. ” "These are obvious contradictions. What did the voice speak directly to Jesus, or to the crowd. To make matters worse, the author of Hebrews, Psalms, and the more likely variants in Luke indicates that it said "You are my beloved Son. Today I have become Your Father. "The second contradiction I want to call attention to is not in detail, but in broad storyline. In John, the entire book is laid out with Jesus' signs The seven signs are changing water into wine, healing the royal son, healing the paralytic, feeding the 5000, walking on water, healing the blind man, and raising Lazarus. The Greek word for "sign" is not the same for "miracle. " The word for sign is σημεQ50;ον (sēmeion), while the word for miracle is δa3;ναμις (Dunamis). In the Gospel of Matthew 12:38 - 39 we read "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign (Simeion) from you. ”But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. " So wait a minute, in Matthew Jesus says there will not be a single sign, but in John Jesus performs 7? John 20:30 even says "Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. According to John, Jesus did many, more signs to have us believe! How does that mesh with Jesus saying He will not give any signs at all?4) The Bible Shows a Polytheistic WorldThere are several words for "God" used in Hebrew. Yahweh is the name of God (also called Jehovah). Adonai is a name meaning "Lord. " Elohim means "God or gods" while El means "God, god, mighty one. " To start, let's look at the word Elohim, and by extension, El. אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) is essentially the pluralization, using the hireq-yod-mem masculine plural suffix, of the word אֵל (El). Keep that in mind as we go that Elohim both is used as a plural word meaning gods and also a name for the Hebrew God. One way we can tell if it's being used as a plural or a singular is if another name for God (like YHWH) is used in the same passage. take a look at these polytheistic passages that I have transliterated the names of God and pluralization in order to have a clearer understanding. It is also worth noting that El is a Canaanite god, so read it in that context as well. Psalm 29:1Ascribe to Yahweh, O sons of the god(s)/sons of El,Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength. Psalm 82:1 Elohim takes His stand in His own congregation;He judges in the midst of the gods Psalm 89:7-8 An El greatly feared in the council of the gods,And awesome above all those who are around Him? O YHWH, God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty YHWH? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. Exodus 15:11“Who is like You among the gods, O YHWH? Who is like You, majestic in holiness,Awesome in praises, working wonders? "Job 1:6 "Now there was a day when the sons of God/El came to present themselves before YHWH, and Satan also came among them. "Job 2:1 "Again there was a day when the sons of God/El came to present themselves before YHWH, and Satan also came among them to present himself before YHWH. "Obviously, this is describing a polytheistic universe where YHWH is a son of El, but is more powerful and rules over them. ConclusionThis is the end of my argument for this round. To conserve space, I will save my sources for the next round. I hope that is acceptable.