Whether the Bible is infallible.

I thank Con for instigating this debate. I'm hoping to have fun in this debate while at the same time educating the viewers on our distinct viewpoints. By the end of this debate, I'm hoping to present my case on why I believe the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God. I will begin by answering Con's question. It is true. The Bible was written, translated, put together, printed and published by fallible men. No man nor woman is without fault so it is safe to say the writers of the Bible were fallible men just like us. However, the Author of the Bible is not a fallible man but an infallible God who makes no mistake. The written ink on paper we call the Bible may have been created but the Word of God has existed throughout eternity (John 1:1). I hope that answers the question. Con has presented some points which he considers contradictions. I will attempt to prove that they're not contradictions and present my understanding on these "first-glance contradictions". Argument 1: Biblical contradictions. Contradiction 1: Who pays the penalty for sin? When we take these two verses out of context, it may seem as though they're contradicting. However, let's examine Exodus 18:20 and Exodus 20:5. Ezekiel 18:20: Con didn't quote the whole verse. If he had, we would have understood the context of this verse. "The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them" (Ezekiel 18:20) (NIV) If you look at the first part of the verse, it's talking about the punishment for sin which is death (the Biblical word for hell). A son will not go to hell for the sin of his father and a daughter will not go to hell for the sin of her mother. Keep that in mind. Now let's examine Exodus 20:5. Exodus 20:5: "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me" (NIV) Firstly, God is talking to the Israelites so let's keep that in mind. Secondly, this verse is set in a totally different context than Ezekiel 18:20. This verse is talking about idolatry while Ezekiel was talking about sin in general and it's consequence. The punishment in Exodus 20:5 is not eternal punishment but temporal punishment on earth. So both of these verses are true. God will punish children for sins of their parents in this world but will not condemn them to hell for it. Contradiction 2: Where Did the Devil Take Jesus? There seems to be no contradiction that I can see. We have to remember the Bible is not a chronology or a timeline of events. In Matthew, we read the Devil took Jesus to the temple to throw Himself down while in Luke, he takes Him to the temple to tempt Him with the kingdoms of the earth. This is not a contradiction because from a Biblical perspective, both of these events did happen as recorded by both Matthew and Luke. The writers of these books decided to order them differently while affirming they occurred. Let me give you a practical example: Let's say I said, "Jack went to the store and bought apples. He also bought oranges". Or I can say "Jack went to the store and bought oranges. He bought apples as well". While in both sentences, the events may be ordered differently, the bottom line is Jack bought apples and oranges. In the same way, both of the temptations occurred and are acknowledged by both books. Argument 2: Scientific errors Contradiction 1: Talking Snake Con suggest the Bible is false because snakes can't talk and a snake did talk in Genesis therefore the Bible must be fallible. This is a false approach. We must understand the account of the talking snake in Genesis before we jump into conclusions. For the average person, the story of the talking snake is just that, a talking a snake. However, when we read Genesis, we come to know it was not a snake who talked but Satan who TOOK the form of a snake in order to deceive Eve. How do we know the serpent is Satan? Well, it say clearly in Revelation 12:9 that Satan or the Devil is the dragon and great serpent. The point is not that a snake flake but Satan through the snake talked with Eve. Satan could've done this with any other animal and the result would be the same. Contradiction 2: Geocentric View? The Bible is a book of literature and great figurative language. We can't take everything the English language literally as some phrases are there to show emphasis. When Ecclesiastes 1:5 claims the sun rises and falls, it's not talking about the sun literally rising or falling. This is a figure of speech. Even today we say "sunrise" and "sunset". Of course the sun doesn't rise or set. We also read. "and hurries back to where it rises". This can also be classified as figurative speech because it's in the same sentence. It would be illogical to think the writers would go from figurative to literal in the same verse. Again, it's simply the type of speech used by the people at that time. Contradiction 3: Value of Pi Con suggests the value of Pi is stated as 3 in the Bible. I'm not a mathematician so I can't check this out myself so I'll take my opponent's word for it. This is not at all wrong. You see Pi is a non-terminating, irrational number (meaning it will never end). Therefore, it would be impossible to write down the value of Pi in any book as it would need an infinite amount of space. The fact that the Bible defines 3 as Pi is not wrong. If 3 is not Pi, 3.14 is not I as well. And 3.1415926535 is also not Pi. Pi is an infinite number so it's not logical to call the Bible wrong on this matter as Pi cannot possibly be written down in its accurate form. The fact that the Bible identifies Pi as 3 is truly miraculous. If the Bible was just an ordinary book, how could it be so close to the actual number? Pi was accurately measured by Archimedes in the 3rd century BC [1]. 1 Kings was written around 550 BC [2] so the Bible should be given credit for being so close even before Pi was accurately measured. I hope I have presented my case fairly and convinced Con and the viewers that there are no contradictions in the Bible. Looking forward to hearing my opponent's response. Good luck to you as well! Sources: [1]http://www.pcworld.com... [2]https://www.britannica.com...