Moses did not write the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy)

Let's first take a look at Con's 4 so-called "facts. " "Fact 1: There are verses in the Pentateuch that have Moses' authorship. " To support this claim he uses Exo 17:14, but the book of Exodus is merely saying that God told Moses to write a statement in a book, the book of Exodus is not claiming to be the very scroll itself that Moses wrote this statement in. Exodus 17:14 says, "After the victory, the LORD instrucyted Moses,'Write this down on a scroll as a permament reminded, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven. '" From this we can conclude that Moses wrote the statement "I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven;" what Moses did not write was the beginning of the verse which says "After the victory, the LORD instructed Moses,'Write this down on a scroll as a permament reminded, and read it aloud to Joshua. '" So Exo 17:14 was not written by Moses, but by someone else recording the fact that Yahweh told Moses to write a brief statement in a scroll; this verse does not even identify the scroll itself as the book of Exodus. To illustrate, lets say that the Watchtower magazine (published by Jehovah's Witnesses) quoted the statement, "I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven;" does the fact that God told Moses to write that on a scroll, and the fact that the Watchtower quotes it, prove that Moses wrote SOME of the Watchtower magazine? No, it doesn't! Moses wrote non of the Watchtower because he wasn't alive when this magazine bagan to be published. Nor did he write part or some of any book today that quotes him. The book of Exodus is quoting certain statements written by Moses in certain scrolls, but the book of Exodus never identifies itself as one of these scrolls written by Moses. If I wirte a book tomorrow which records how God told Moses to write something in a book, does it mean that part of my book was written by Moses? No; so too, Exodus quotes certain things Moses wrote without any of it at all being written by Moses himself. Note also, that at Exo 17:14 it is ONLY the satement "I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven" that God tells Moses to write, he doesn't tell him to write all the information recorded in verses 1-16. These verses speak of Moses in the third person as someone other than the author of Exodus 17, and if verses 1-16 were not written by Moses, why suppose verse 17 was? As for Exodus 24:4, what Moses wrote was actually a long scroll comprised of the many laws God had given him, it certainly was not the summation of what Moses did as we have in this verse. It is more likely that Exo 24:4 is someone briefly mentioning that Moses wrote a long list of laws, but this statement is not the same thing as that list of laws Moses wrote. Exodus 24:4 is saying that Moses wrote down the laws mentioned in the book of Exodus that are commented on before this verse beginning from chapter 20; but Exo 24:4 shows that the book of the law was now complete, and so nothing more need be added at that time; therefore, we have no reason to think that this scroll which contained the law also contained what happened after he wrote the law as recorded in verses 5-8. Verse 8 shows Moses talking to the people about the book of the covenant which already had the covenant written out in full; not, Moses could not have written what he was now saying to the people, or what they replied to him, before he completed the book could he? This is a record by someone else showing that Moses wrote a book (scroll) but this record itself is not written by Moses. Quoting Moses in Exodus doesn't prove that Mose wrote part of Exodus anymore than quoting Isaiah in Matthew proves that Matthew wrote parts of the book of Isaiah. (Matt 1:22-23; Isa 7:14) Isaiah does not have Matthean authorship either in whole or in part, even though Matthew quotes Isaiah. So Con is incorrect to conclude that Moses wrote some of Exodus just because it quotes some of his writings. So Con hasn't shown that Moses wrote ANY, not even some of the Pentateuch; he merely proved that it quotes him; but even the Newspaper can quote Moses without any of it being written by Moses. Deuteronomy 31:24-26, which Con claims most damaging to my case, is most damaging to his! It says: When Moses had FINISHED WRITING this entire body of instructions in a book, he gave this command to the Levites, who carried the Ark of the LORD's Covenant: "Take this Book of Instruction and palce it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, so it may remain there as a great witness against the people of Israel. So if Moses gave the Levites this instruction AFTER he had completed writing the book, then these word he spoke to the Levites were obviously not in the book itself which he wrote. This is nothing more than another writer documenting the fact that there was a book which Moses wrote, and after writing it he gave the Levites certain instructions on what to do with the book, but none of this record about what Moses did was written by Moses himself. If it were, then why does he not say, "When [I] had finished writing this entire body of instructions in a book, [I] gave this command to the Levites, who carried the Ark of the LORD's Covenant: "Take this Book of Instruction and palce it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, so it may remain there as a great witness against the people of Israel. " Why speak of himself as a third person if he's recording his own work? "I think this verse is clear that he [Moses] wrote the book of instructions (i. e. the law) as G-d commanded him. " I agree, he did write the book of the law, but Exodus is not the book of the law which Moses wrote; it merely quotes from that book of the law which Moses wrote. The book of Isaiah identifies itself as being written by Isaiah from verse 1, John identifies himself as the author of Revelation in Rev 1:4, 9-20, and Paul and Sosthenes identify themselves as authors of 1 Corinthians. (1 Cor 1:1) Why does Moses have a problem doing the same? "Fact 2: Elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures, Moses is given credit" Joshua 1:7-8; 8:31-34; 22:5 and Chronicles 34:14 all show that Moses wrote "the book of the law," it does not call this book "Exodus. " Con is assuming without proof that Exodus is the book of the law just because it quotes the book of the law extensively, but Romans also quotes from Isaiah, that doesn't make these two books synonymous, nor prove they had the same author. Even today there are many books that quote Moses extensively, and yet not one chapter or verse in these books was authored by Moses for he was long dead! To illustrate again, in 1 Cor 5:9 Paul mentions a previous letter he wrote the Corinthians. Could 1 Corinthians be that letter? No, cause 1 Corinthians was referring to that erliar letter just as Exodus refers to the earlier book of the law Moses wrote. "Fact 3: The Gospel's give record to Moses' authorship" Matthew 19:7-8 talks about a law Moses gave, not a book he wrote. The fact this law is quoted in Exodus doesn't prove Moses wrote part of Exodus anymore than the fact that it is quoted in Matthe prove that Moses wrote part of Matthew. The same goes for Matthew 22:24; Mark 7:10; John 1:17 etc. Luke 24:44 mentions the law of Moses; this cannot include Genesis because this book contains no giving of the law. The law isn't given till we reach the book of Exodus, which just calls into question if "the law of Moses refers to these 5 books in the first place. If the law of Moses includes Gensis, why does it not include the law? I agree with John 7:23 that Moses gave the law, I don't agree with Con that he wrote some of Exodus. "Fact 4: Elsewhere in the NT is authorship credited to Moses" Yes, it does credit Moses with authorship, of the law of Moses, not the book of Exodus.