Reddit reviews Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament

Sounds like Inspiration and Incarnation by Peter Enns.

Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament by Peter Enns addresses some of these issues and is oriented toward Evangelicals who have tried to build their faith on biblical inerrancy and literalism.

I also highly recommend The Human Faces of God by Thom Stark. Roughly half the book deals with the problems of biblical inerrancy, and half with the violence and cruelty of the Old Testament. It is ruthlessly honest in its approach to the Bible, something that I've never seen in apologetics or pro-inerrancy material.

There are many of us that reject traditional views of what the Bible is and how it should be read. I've just finished reading a couple of books by Peter Enns (view here and here) that address the concerns you brought up as well as many others. It was a very therapeutic read for me.

One thing, Sodom and Gomorrah, while understood by the vast majority of people these days as being destroyed due to sexual immorality specifically homosexuality, within the actual context of the bible were claimed to have been destroyed largely due to inhospitality.

The next thing is, why would you think that God would tell us not to do something and then feel that He would be able to justify He, Himself, doing it. You are right, there is hypocrisy involved.

Evangelical fundamentalist christians pick and choose what they want to assert their views on. The fun thing and the morally "right" thing for them to do is to draw battle lines about hot topics like homosexuality.

In reality, I do not think there is any biblical basis for condemning people to death. I believe that the bible is imperfect and written by humans which is why it often times doesn't make sense despite the mental gymnastics apologists often do to try and make it seem divinely coherent and whole. Peter Enns writes a good book on this titled Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament!

Lastly, everything in the bible needs to be reread through the lens of Jesus. Jesus spoke a lot about love. If you do some good reading, I think you will find some good things.

Thanks. I'll check out the theories and Father Brown soon!

If you're ever looking for an interesting book from alternative perspective, I found Peter Enns' Inspiration and Incarnation to be very interesting (and enjoyably written!).

Cheers.

> ...a TRUE Christian believes the Bible literally in it's entirety.

Then Paul was clearly not a true Christian.

You really should read at least this article, if not the book it comes from.

Other books worth reading are Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament and The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When It Gets God Wrong.

The Bible is clearly not the book many evangelicals wish it was.

I actually think that it's a wonderful thing that the Bible shows clear signs of human effort. It's a beautiful masterpiece of literature. I don't think the human-ness of the Bible is a bad thing at all, but I do understand how it might bother others. I could go on and on about this, but it's probably better to let my influences speak for themselves. Here are a few resources that helped me:

We Need a Better View of Inspiration, by Dr. Michael Heiser

Inspiration and Incarnation, by Dr. Peter Enns

Inspired, by Rachel Held Evans

Interview with Dr. Tim Mackie, by Almost Heretical

Exegesis is looking at Scripture and trying to figure out what it originally meant to its audience. This means studying the historical context surrounding the verse. Someone mentioned Isaiah 53 not being about the Messiah. Why do they believe this? Well if you look at the historical context it makes sense that it's about Israel and/or Isaiah himself. Isaiah was traditionally believed to be martyred by the king of Israel. But later in the New Testament Paul applies a new meaning to the verse and attributes it to Christ. Which is right? Well as a Christian I would say both are important. Hermeneutics is merely taking what you learned through exegesis and applying it to a modern context or what it means to us.

As for learning more about it I could name many different books, but here are the ones I read first:

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

Grasping God's Word

Inspiration and Incarnation