The Bible is not Inerrant.

Hopefully, we will learn something from this debate. Let's start with my opponent's contradictions: GE 3:14: The serpent eats dust for the rest of his life. Bible describes that this "snake" was none other than Satan (1), who, being an angel, took on the form of an animal. As such, this event is clearly a description of a supernatural, rather than a naturalistic event. So Satan was told to eat dust for the rest of his life as a serpent. No contradiction or error here. GE 6:4: There were giants on the earth at one time Just because there is no evidence of giants necessarily mean that it is false. It is an argument from ignorance to assume it is false only because it has not been proven true. However, the Neanderthal remains are very likely the remains of Nephilim, which are the giants in context. (2) No contradiction or error here. Exodus 12:37: And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. Numbers 1:45-46 All the Israelites twenty years old or more who were able to serve in Israel's army were counted according to their families. 46 The total number was 603,550. No contradiction or error here. Can you verify your claims that including women, children, and older men would mean a population of more than 2,000,000? Psalms 58:8: As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. The Hebrew word here is temec, and this is the only place where it appears in the Bible. Its main meaning here is liquefaction, with a root in a word referring to dissolution. It is not hard to observe that slugs and snails leave a trail behind as they move. It is obvious that this liquid comes from their own bodies and in a hot, desert climate like Palestine's, if a snail doesn't find a source of moisture to replenish itself it is definitely going to eventually shrivel away: hence the comparison to the "untimely birth of a woman. " (3) No contradiction or error here. MT 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. Matthew's portrayal of the meeting between Jesus and the devil involves the supernatural. The devil represented to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor by means of supernatural powers. Even a person living in ancient times would have realized that he could not see far enough, from any point of the world even when there are no trees or mountains or hills to obstruct your view. (4) MT 26:52: Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. The verse is a warning to Peter. Peter was rash. Alone he had attacked the whole band. Jesus told him that his unseasonable and imprudent defense might be the occasion of his own destruction. In doing it he would endanger his life, for they who took the sword perished by it. This was probably a proverb, denoting that they who engaged in wars commonly perished there. The Bible does say that rabbits chew the cud. (5) Rabbits don't regurgitate their food, but they do eat it a second time. That process is called coprophagy. (6) Rabbits send its food through the intestines, and then produce soft fecal pellets at night that it eats. It has been called pseudo-rumination similar to the process of ruminants. (7) Another example my opponent state is that the donkey talked to Balaam. However, the passage clearly states that it was God who caused the donkey to talk. (8) This likewise was a supernatural event. The Flood was local, not global. (9) (10) Peter qualifies the verse (11) by telling us that the "world at that time" was flooded with water. At the time of the flood, all humans were in the same geographic location in the Mesopotamian plain until Genesis 11:8. (12) According to 1 Kings 7:23: He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits (about 15 feet) from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits (45 feet) to measure around it. (13) Back in those days, measurements were not standardized as they are now. The cubit was the length from the elbow to the tip of the outstretched fingers. Since cubits are measured against a person's body, and since bodies vary in size, actual measurements (as opposed to "standardized" measurements) will vary from person to person. The Old Testament does not really say that the value of pi is three. An approximation that pi = 3 is better detected with the verse and since cubits actually vary in size, there is no way that the exact value of pi could be given. (14) Although my opponent may think that that the Bible has been drastically changed over the centuries, in reality, the Bible has been translated into a number of different languages. However, the ancient manuscripts (written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) have been reliably copied over the centuries - with very few alterations. How do we know that the Bible has been intact for over 2,000 years of copying? In the past, our earliest Hebrew copy of the Old Testament was the Masoretic text, dating around 800 A. D. That was before we had the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament dating in the second century B. C. Then we also have the Dead Sea scrolls, and when we compare these texts which have an 800-1000 years gap between them we are amazed that 95% of the texts are identical with only minor variations and a few discrepancies. There are tens of thousands of manuscripts from the New Testament, in part or in whole, dating from the second century A. D. to the late fifteenth century. Most of the discrepancies are in spelling and word order. A few words have been changed or added. There are two passages that are disputed but no discrepancy is of any doctrinal significance (i. e. , none would alter basic Christian doctrine) (15) Sources: 1. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, (Revelation 20:2) 2. . http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net... 3. . http://www.tektonics.org... 4. . http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com... 5. the rabbit also, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you; (Leviticus 11:6) 6. . http://www.godandscience.org... 7. . http://www.msstate.edu... 8. And the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times? " (Numbers 22:28) 9. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. (PSALMS 104:09) 10. when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. (Proverbs 8:29) 11. For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the land was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. (2 Peter 3:5-6) 12. So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. (Genesis 11:8) 13. . http://www.biblegateway.com... 14. . http://www.purplemath.com... 15. . http://www.godandscience.org...