The Bible is the literal and inerrant word of God

== Definitions == "Literal" means "taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory." [1] "Inerrant" means "incapable of being wrong." [2] == Resolutional Analysis == My opponent says, "I am not saying specifically every single word of the Bible is correct. What I am saying is that the interpretations . . . are correct." However, for the Bible to be the "literal" and "inerrant" word of God, it must be correct *without* interpretation (which would treat the Bible as a metaphor or allegory). "Literal" means non-metaphorical. No interpretation required. == My Case == (1) Young Earth is False If you trace the age of the Earth from Genesis to 1 Kings, the Bible -- taken literally -- places the age of the Universe at around 6000 years. [3] However, using various radioactive dating methods to test sedimentary Earth rocks and meteorites, scientists have estimated the age of our solar system at 4.5 billion years. [4] In addition, the Universe is 13.7 billion years old -- which is established by measuring how fast other galaxies are moving away from us and is confirmed by the redshifting of light [which is much like the Doppler effect of an ambulance siren sounding different as it moves away from you because the sound waves are shifted]. [5] (2) It took more than the 5 days in Genesis before humans emerged It took 4.4 billion years for humans to evolve. [6] By measuring mutation rates in the Y and X Chromosomes, scientists have confirmed that our first ancestors existed in Africa about 200,000 years ago. [7] In addition, there are clear intermediate species between humans and apes -- we know they were human-like because they walked upright on two feet (unlike modern chimps) and had bigger brains than chimps -- but we know they weren"t Homo sapiens because their brow ridges were much bigger than ours and their brains were much smaller than ours (but bigger than a chimps). These intermediate species lived millions of years ago. [8] You can see from the picture that Homo habilis looked distinctly humanoid. [8] (3) The conflicting genealogies of Jesus Both the gospel of Luke and that of Matthew claim to trace the ancestry of Jesus with absolute certainty, yet the Gospel of Luke says there were 54 generations of people between Abraham and Jesus and the Gospel of Matthew says there were only 39 generations of people between Abraham and Jesus. [9] Not only does Matthew contain more generations, but it also claims Jesus is descended from entirely different people. [9] The Bible cannot be inerrant if it is not even consistent. (4) There are no mythical creatures The people who wrote the Bible thought that mythical creatures existed. They said that there was a fire-breathing leviathan in the ocean and unicorns that came out of Egypt. [10] These creatures do not and have never existed, so the Bible is wrong. (5) Archeology disproves the Old Testament (OT) Archeological disproves four stories from the OT. #1: The Patriarchs The Bible tells many stories about Abraham and his descendents. However, it includes accounts about camels, Arabian goods, and Philistines co-existing in one place, which did not happen until hundreds of years after Abraham and his descendents were claimed to exist. [11] #2: The Exodus 600,000 Jews trekking around Egypt for 40 years would have left telltale signs. Archeological evidence shows no such large group existed, and no historical Egyptian writings mention such an astonishing event. [11] Nor did any Egyptian historian record the 10 plagues that God supposedly visited upon the Egyptians. #3: Conquest of Canaan The OT says the Jews conquered many specific regions of Canaan, yet archeological evidence shows that those areas were *uninhabited* at the time the conquests were claimed to have occurred. [11] Whoever wrote the Bible (hundreds of years later) must have set it in *modern* times or assumed those cities had just been around forever. #4: A United Kingdom of Israel The OT says Saul and David ruled over a united Israel that included both the northern and southern territories. However, archeological evidence shows that the two territories were only united much later. [11] In addition, in spite of the Bible"s assertion of their *immense* wealth and power, "neither David nor Solomon is mentioned in a single known Egyptian or Mesopotamian text." [11] (6) Noah"s Ark is impossible The only way that ocean levels can rise is if ice caps melt. Rain comes from evaporated water, so there is no way that rain can raise water levels. Rain could not have caused a mass flood that covered all land. (7) Contradiction of free will Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says that human beings have free will. However, God is also said to be omniscient, which means he has *infallible foreknowledge* about all events that are going to happen. Therefore, if a person has a choice between two options, God already knows which option will be chosen, so that option *must* be chosen [because if a person chose the other option, God"s omniscience would be disproven]. Therefore, omniscience requires that whenever a human has a choice, it is a *false* choice and only an illusion of free will. Humans *must* choose the option God has foreseen. Also, the people who will enter Heaven are already pre-determined by God"s omniscience. Free will and an omni-God cannot co-exist. (8) The problem of evil God is omnibevolent. -Psalm 145:17 However, an omnibenevolent being must always do the most benevolent act possible. It is possible for God to end all suffering because he is omnipotent. Yet suffering exists in the world. Therefore, either God is not omnibenevolent or he is not omnipotent. In addition, the God of the OT is anything but omnibenevolent. He murdered the innocent first son of every Egyptian. (9) Near non-adoption The King James Bible cannot be inerrant because Revelations was nearly not included in it. [12] Its inclusion was extremely controversial. [12] And Martin Luther essentially un-canonized Revelations because it "portrays God as inflicting horrendous punishments on humanity." [12] Therefore, the Bible cannot be inerrant because it is disputable which books should be included as canon. [1] Google "define: literal" [2] Google "define: inerrant" [3] http://tinyurl.com... [4] http://tinyurl.com... [5] http://tinyurl.com... [6] http://tinyurl.com... [7] http://tinyurl.com... [8] http://tinyurl.com... [9] http://tinyurl.com... [10] http://tinyurl.com... [11] http://tinyurl.com... [12] http://tinyurl.com...