 2007 by David A. Prentice Make Sure to Find Your Old Notes We Will Be Starting on – page 11 Make Sure to Find Your Old Notes We Will Be Starting on – page 11 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 

 2007 by David A. Prentice Why Believe the Bible? Why Believe the Bible? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 

 2007 by David A. Prentice Contents: Overheads to be used with Chapter 3 of “Truth in the Balance,” copyright 2003 by David Prentice, M.Ed., M.A.S.T. REVISION DATE 09/07/2009 This material is made available by the author at no charge. It may be reproduced for use in a Christian environment such as Sunday schools or Bible classes, but it may not be used for any commercial purposes. To be certain that you have the most up-to-date version of this material, go to the Origins Resource Association website, Follow the links to “Bible College Materials” and check that the revision date shown online is the same as shown above. If not, download the latest version.

 2007 by David A. Prentice Continuing to Test the Bible like Literary Scholars!

 2007 by David A. Prentice Hey, Don’t Run Away!!! Hey, Don’t Run Away!!! 

 2007 by David A. Prentice

Join us in Learning How to Stand up for God! Join us in Learning How to Stand up for God! 

We’re Learning How To Answer This Question

 2007 by David A. Prentice Oh No!!! Sin nature is coming! Oh No!!! Sin nature is coming! Sin nature is coming! 

 2007 by David A. Prentice

Call the Calvary: Their number? 1 John 1:9 and Bible study! Call the Calvary: Their number? 1 John 1:9 and Bible study! 

Where did Cain get his wife?

“But Doesn’t God Say it’s Wrong for Men to Mary Their Sisters?”

Wouldn’t Their Kids Have Been Deformed?

 One of each? ‘Cause he left twice!  The first time he was afraid and the second time he wasn’t!

And Someone Told Me that the Two Lists Contradict Each Other!

Have You Ever Not Understood Something During a Lesson...  When you ask Pastor to explain it to you,  Does he use the exact same words or does he add extra explanation?

Moses Was Just Being a Good Pastor!  Exodus 20 was the original 10 commandments given by God and immediately delivered by Moses  In Deuteronomy 5, he is reminding the Israelites of the commandments and explaining them further

You Don’t Even Have to Study Hebrew for this One!  People who use this as a reason not to trust the Bible are just plan lazy because a simple reading will clear it up.

Example of People Who Believe There is Contradiction:  m.org/hist/lewis/lewten02. htm Let’s take a moment to see what the opposition says, shall we?

The Difference between the Ten Commandments Recorded in the Book of Exodus and the Book of Deuteronomy  [...] they are serious differences and highly significant as to the utter unreliability of the Biblical narrative concerning the Ten Commandments

Already there is a noticeable difference between these two sets of Commandments. In the Exodus version, the word "have" is used, but it is not present in the Deuteronomy version. The last phrase in Exodus reads, "out of the house of bondage," and the Deuteronomy version uses "from the house of bondage." This first Commandment does "exhibit some variants," though slight. Exodus 20:2Deuteronomy 5:6  1 st Commandment

Pause  Oh no, does this mean that it wasn’t God that saved them or that it wasn’t the house of bondage from which He saved them? Whether God uses “have” or not changes nothing! Notice that he doesn’t even realize that this isn’t the first commandment?

Again the [duplicate] "exhibits some variants." The Exodus version reads, "thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them," while the Deuteronomy version states, "thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them"; also in the Exodus version we find these words: "or that is in the water under the earth," in contrast to the Deuteronomy version, which says, "or that is in the waters beneath the earth." Exodus 20:3-6Deuteronomy 5:7- 10  2 nd Commandment

Pause  Uh oh! I can’t tell if God doesn’t want me to bow down to idols and I can’t tell where the waters were, can you? These changes words, change the entire meaning of the passage, don’t they?

Third Commandment, the italicized word him in the Deuteronomy version. Biblical authorities [argue] the italicized word in the Bible indicates the insertion of a missing word from the text of the manuscript from which it was translated. If this is true, then the conclusion is inevitable that the Biblical text is not infallible or that there is no authority for the inserted italicized word. Exodus 20:7Deuteronomy 5:11  3 rd Commandment

Pause  Hmm, seems like he asked one person and didn’t check it out for himself. Let’s read page V. of my Precious Moments Bible for children and see how hard it is to understand:  “Words or phrases in italics indicate expressions in the original language which require clarification by additional English words”  oh, that is so hard to understand and it totally shows that the Bible can’t be trusted!

In the 4 th, Exodus uses 94 words, but in Deuteronomy 133 words. However, the difference between the number of words is not so important [thank you for your generosity, sir] as the difference in what they say. [...] Whether God commanded the Sabbath to be observed for the reason that he "rested" after laboring for six days, or because "thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt," is a matter far more serious than a mere "variant" Exodus 20:8-11Deuteronomy 5:  4 th Commandment

It is obvious from this quotation that the Sabbath was to be observed because the Lord rested on the seventh day, which contradicts the reason given for the Commandment as recorded in the very same source, the Book of Exodus. This raises the serious question as to whether or not the Sabbath is only as old as Moses or as old as creation -- and what a "variant" that is! Exodus 20:8-11Deuteronomy 5:12-15  4 th Commandment

Pause  Um... why? Did your parents never give you more than one reason not to break a rule? Did your parents always list every reason? ‘Cause mine had the option of not giving any reason, giving 10 reasons, or just one 5- fingered reason!  Sometimes they said, “Cause God Said so” sometimes “Cause I said so”. So, is the rule “don’t you lie to me” as old as my mom & dad or as old as God?  Never did this cause me to doubt that the rules were meant to be kept or that they might be changing the rules. Neither did it cause me to doubt my parents’ existence!

There are 22 words in the version of Exodus compared with 38 words in Deuteronomy, and the latter contains an additional reason for honoring parents. Which is the correct and authentic declaration? Shall you honor your parents that "thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee," or that "thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee"? Exodus 20:12Deuteronomy 5:16  5 th Commandment

Pause  If your days are “prolonged in the land the Lord gave you”... doesn’t that mean things are “going well with you?”  Oops, I mean, wow! what a huge contradiction!

The Sixth Commandment of only four words shows no variant. [He’s a really unbiased critic! “only four words” doesn’t sound like he’s implying, “yeah, that’s all God can keep straight is 4 words.” Exodus 20:13Deuteronomy 5:17  6 th Commandment

That there is a difference in wording in this Commandment is important, though there is no difference in meaning [why? Moses didn’t announce, “okay people, pay attention because I am now going to repeat the 10 commandments word for word!”] Exodus 20:14Deuteronomy 5:18  7 th Commandment

The same difference prevails concerning this Commandment as the previous one. [Moses didn’t say he was starting to quote word for word yet, did he?] Exodus 20:15Deuteronomy 5:19  8 th Commandment

This difference is just as important a variation as in the previous Commandments. [real imaginative ain’t he?] Exodus 20:16Deuteronomy 5:20  9 th Commandment

The above Commandment has the same differences as the 3 previously quoted with 1 additional "variant" & a very important & significant transposition. In Exodus the 1 st line of the Commandment reads, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house," while in Deuteronomy the 1 st line reads, "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife." According to the best Biblical scholars, this indicates that the Deuteronomy version was written in a later period of culture than the Exodus version, because property in early Biblical days was considered of greater value than a wife. In this text the word "field" is also specified, whereas it is omitted in Exodus. [*10] Exodus 20:17Deuteronomy 5:21  10 th Commandment

Pause  Okay 1 st, remember, in the East, wording doesn’t have to stay exact, as long as meaning stays the same.  Whether I say, “I love pastor, Marcia & David” or “I love David, Pastor & Marcia”, Everyone knows I love David the most, right?  The point is, “Thou shalt not covet”; maybe the 2 nd time, Moses noticed people were starting to covet wives more. Who knows? Does it really matter?  As for “field”, they didn’t have land yet in Ex.  As for “best Biblical scholars”, the best ones I know don’t even address the issue because it’s not an issue!

In the face of these "variants" and the obvious conclusion that one or the other must be wrong, which set is to be accepted and which one rejected? For no matter how small the "variant," it brands one or the other as not being "divinely inspired." The early rabbis, however, maintained that there could be no contradictions between the texts because they were both spoken simultaneously and miraculously by God.

Pause  A simple study of Eastern cultures reveals that people over there don’t care about exact wording. They’ll tell you that it doesn’t matter how you say it as long as you get the meaning correct! I’m sure that was much too hard for this guy to research though and I’m sure that he didn’t try to make the Bible seem unreliable just because he’s an atheist. That doesn’t make him a critic who might judge the Bible unfairly, does it?

One or the other must be condemned as false, and since it is impossible to determine which one, and since both stand in the same relation to each other, both should be rejected until substantiating evidence is found in support of one or the other version. Neither possesses internal evidence of being an "inspired" revelation.

Pause  So, if God is God, He can’t vary His vocabulary? Isn’t God supposed to be a great teacher? Repetition is important, and sometimes word-for-word is important but meaning and context are most important when it comes to the Bible. Neither are affected by Moses’ explaining in Deuteronomy! Neither are affected by moving words around! Neither am I convinced by this man’s argument. I pray that you will always side with God against man’s “wisdom” too.

Make Sure to Bring back Your Notes We Will Be on – page 12 Next Time Make Sure to Bring back Your Notes We Will Be on – page 12 Next Time ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 