The Bible is the infallible word of God

To answer my opponent's first question, my response involves Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. " (ESV) 1 Thessalonians 2:13 says "And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (ESV) 1 Corinthians 14:37 says "If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. " (ESV) Jeremiah 1:9 says "Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, 'Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. '"(ESV) 2 Peter 1:19-21 says "And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. " (ESV) To answer my opponent's 2nd question, I will use the passage of John 17:17 where Christ is praying to God the Father and says, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. " (ESV) When you mention the discrepancies in the genealogies in Matthew and Luke, there are some theories behind why this is so. Scholars who specialize in genealogies around that time, believe that Heli (the one mentioned in Luke, was Mary's father, why Jacob (mentioned in Matthew), was Joseph's true father. When these books were written, it was custom to leave women out of genealogies, so numerous times you will find that genealogies of any nature, will call a man's father-in-law, their father for some reason. When my opponent mentions the passages on wisdom, I personally believe it is a misinterpretation. Yes, God does want one to be wise, but biblical wisdom, is accompanied with humility. The two passages that were mentioned by my opponent, it is talking about wisdom that is accompanied with pride. If you continue reading in the 1 Corinthians passage, you see that Scribes and the "debaters of this age" are thrown in with this type of wisdom. The Scribes were known for their pride in religious issue. They thought they were better than all others because they had more knowledge of the scrolls. Yes, God does want His people to have wisdom, but biblical wisdom that is accompanied with humility. To address the next few passages that my opponent mentions, I must go into detail about the books, so please bear with me. The Gospel of according to Matthew was written by Matthew, and he wrote it addressing the Jews in Hebrew. This affected many of the things he included and left out of the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel according to Luke was written by Luke, and he wrote it in Greek to Theophilus. This word Theophilus in Greek was an honorary title. When translated to English, it means "friend of God" or "(be)loved by God" or "loving God. " This suggests that the gospel of Luke was written to Greeks who had already come to Christ. The Gospel according to John was written by John, and was written to gentiles. This book was written as a persuasive piece, summarizing the life of Christ. The verse that my opponent uses, John 19:30, is taken out of context. When you look at verse 28-30, you get the full context. "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst. " A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. " (John 19:28-30 ESV) The Matthew text is also taken out of context. My opponent only mentions verse 46 and 50, but if you look at the verses between those two, 47-49, then you will see what he has chosen to look past. "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? " that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? " And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, "This man is calling Elijah. " And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. " And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. " (Matthew 27:46-50 ESV) As you can see, my opponent has chosen to pick out what does not help his case. And in response to my opponents next paragraph, he is misguided in many ways. God and Jesus do not live in the clouds above us, and nowhere in Scripture is that stated, in fact, Scripture disproves that with the tower of Babel story. Nowhere in Scripture is it mentioned that animals can talk. Yes, the serpent in the garden was able to talk, but that is because the serpent was of the devil at the time. Nowhere in Scripture does it talk about the sun going around the earth, or that dinosaurs never existed. And yes, the earth is a young earth according to Scripture. In the genealogies leading from Adam to Jesus was 3 times 19 generations. That equals somewhere from 4,000-9,000 years. Then you add on the 2000 since Jesus, you get somewhere from 6,000-11,000 years. I personally believe it is closer to 11,000 years. And by the work of human hands, 5,000 people cannot be fed by two loafs and two fish. That was a miracle done by God, and God alone. Nowhere does it say that science is of the devil, in fact, I personally believe that science helps prove the bible when you really look at it. And no, demons do not cause diseases, but rather diseases is the result of the fall of man, or man's rebellion against God. And the story of Jonah and the whale, that again, is a miracle done by God. And Scripture also explains why it is hard to interpret at times. In Luke, Jesus says, "Then he said to them, 'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. ' Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them. .. " (ESV) Christ had to open their minds in order for them to understand the Scriptures. Therefore, if God has not called you to understand the Scriptures at this time, then yes, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to interpret it. May God's Will Be Done, Robert