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    ABC:Genesis 3

    From BibleStrength

    Verse 1

    TheThinkingAtheist.com claims the Bible is wrong about the following passage, and makes the following comments:[1]

    Not snake, dinosaur. Satan is typically portrayed throughout the Bible as a dragon or dinosaur, as he/she apparently is here. Whether any other angels in the Garden of Eden likewise took dinosaur forms is debatable.

    The Hebrew word used here is the word nachash which the KJV translates serpent.[2] It appears probable that, like tanniyn[3], it is a Hebrew word referring specifically to dinosaurs, or at the least to reptiles including dinosaurs.

    However, it is often used of fiery, flying or underwater serpents similar to the leviathan in Job 41 (which is very similar to the ancient plesiosaur in many regards per the passage). See e.g. Numbers 21:6-7, Deuteronomy 8:15, Isaiah 14:29, Isaiah 27:1, Amos 9:3.

    Biblically, at least some dinosaurs were capable of breathing fire and, at least in the case of Satan/Lucifer, could speak as well. We still know very little from the fossil record or archaeology whether the Bible is correct in the fire-breathing aspect of dinosaurs, and know very little of what their vocal chords or speech capabilities were. Therefore it would be premature to write the Bible off as incorrect in its description of dinosaurs being capable of speech. From a creationist standpoint, this will be a falsifiable claim of the Bible to examine the evidence for from the fossil record as it becomes available.

    Verse 8

    The EvilBible claims a contradiction exists here, and makes the following comments (italicized).[4]

    None of the second set of verses contradicts the first group. Genesis 11:5, 18:20-21, and 3:8 all fail to prove the premise that God does not see everything which is occurring. Some of the passages may refer to Christophanies where Jesus, the Son of God the Father, took on physical form or appearance on Earth. If so, it would have been Jesus going down in person to look more closely at the actions of mankind, while God the Father could see what was happening without having to do so.

    But regardless, all of the passages show that God found out what was going on, and had the ability to do so, nowhere contradicting the other passages which say God looks at all the actions of mankind. Indeed, commonsense dictates that "looking" requires a conscious choice and action, if God chose to accomplish that by, at times, descending for a more 'up close and personal' type of scrutiny, that is by no means a contradiction.

    Verse 9

    Infidels.org includes on its "List of Biblical Contradictions" the question, "God be seen?" while making the following comments (italicized).[5] TheThinkingAtheist.com also makes a similar criticism in the section "Who has seen God?"[1] The EvilBible also claims a contradiction exists here.[4]

    Meritt claims Exodus 33 contradicts itself by saying God spoke to Moses face to face (v. 11) but that Moses was unable to see God's face since none can see God's face and live. (vv. 20,23) It should first be pointed out that John 5:37 referred to the disciples having seen God the Father specifically, and to infer it as referring to everyone at all times would be a stretch.

    Jesus Was God

    The answer to this is really pretty simple, and contained in John 1:18 - none have seen God the Father, but God the Father has declared His Son, the Word, to be God as well. This answer is also provided by Jesus. Jesus claimed to have existed with God the Father before the world itself and to have shared His Father's glory. This is repeated elsewhere as well in the Bible. (Proverbs 8:22-31; Colossians 1:17; 1 John 1:1-3) Jesus in Revelation 1:7-8 is called "the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Isaiah 9:6 prophesied that His name would be "Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

    Christophanies

    A number of times in the Old Testament it appears another, more tangible form of God appears, God the Son, and this is called a 'Christophany.'[6] Jesus after all said He Himself was the original God of Israel.

    The book of John presents this as the God of Israel coming to His own and being rejected. Jesus spoke with sorrow of His past relationship with Israel.

    The Pharisees refused to consider the eternal nature of Jesus as God's Son, and thus were puzzled by Jesus' riddle showing David's prophesies of the Messiah evidenced an eternal Creator coming to Earth as the Messiah in human form.

    Jesus, Angel of the Lord

    What many people don't realize is that when God spoke to Moses originally in the burning bush, to Abraham even earlier, and to Jacob, it was not God the Father speaking, but the 'Angel of the Lord' who spoke.

    Other cases of apparent Christophanies in the Bible, including places where the Angel of the Lord is called God, include:

    As seen above, the Angel of the Lord was referred to as God a number of times. Some of the KJV translators may have recognized this as several times they capitalized the word 'Angel.' (Genesis 48:16; Exodus 23:20,23,34; 32:34) However, whenever angels or people were called God, they said God alone should be worshiped. Therefore, it is clear from the Bible that the Angel of the Lord was no mere angel, for if so it should have denied the worship it received.

    Conclusion

    It appears thus that the first half of Exodus 33 refers to Jesus appearing as the Angel of the Lord and speaking to Moses, just as He did throughout the Old Testament to many of the patriarchs, and was called God frequently when doing so. The last half of the chapter refers to God the Father Himself speaking and saying none can see His face. Genesis 32:30 refers to Jesus, the Angel of the Lord, as God, as do many other places in the Old Testament. Thus Jesus could be seen face to face, yet be considered God, while God the Father could not be seen face to face as something in God the Father's glorious nature meant those who looked on His face would die.

    Verse 14

    Infidels.org claims "Snakes, while built low, do not eat dirt":[7]

    As sarcastically and hilariously pointed out by Genesis and Science, snakes will naturally eat whatever happens to get on their food - including dirt and dust.[8]

    It should also be pointed out that many of Earth's ancient creatures are simply larger ones. There were giant sloths (megatherium), giant armadillos (glyptodon), giant elephants (mammoths), and giant dragonflies (which it's been discovered grew to such huge sizes because oxygen levels were 50% greater than today's levels due to an oxygen canopy).[9]

    So what is recognized as the major difference between dinosaurs and today's reptiles? Most obviously, that they stood erect due to differences in their thigh structure. Here in Genesis 3 we can clearly see God said He would alter the shape of what here are called snakes (Heb. nachash[10]) so they would crawl on their bellies in the dust, even as one could argue is the difference between today's reptiles and the dinosaurs of old.

    Verse 14 (Again)

    RationalWiki lists the following as a contradiction with the headline "What is being cursed here?" and makes the following comments (italicized):[11]

    See also Satan World Ruler and Dinosaurs

    Satan can take the appearance of both an angel and a leviathan, a type of dinosaur (KJV dragon). (Revelation 12:9; 20:2; Isaiah 27:1; Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 28:2) Thus as a fallen angel Satan can stand and walk. (Ezekiel 28:13-16) Nonetheless, the dinosaurs themselves, today's lizards, can still walk as well, but their hip structure has been changed, along with their stature, so that they now are a shadow of their former greatness.

    For example, the Triceratops had a neck frill like today's Horned Lizard and Frill-Necked Lizard. It had bony horns on its snout similar to those on the Jackson's Chameleon and Texas Horned Lizard. Spinosaurus and Dimetrodon had neural spine sails similar to that on today's Crested Chameleon. The Ankylosaurus had a bony, spiked Head very similar to that of the Short-Horned Lizard, Desert Horned Lizard, and Texas Horned Lizard. The Stegosaurus had a long row of bony spines or plates running down it's back that are extremely similar to those on the Green Iguana. Unlike the ancient dinosaurs, today's modern-day descendants, while showing the same anatomical features of the ancient dinosaurs, are so small that they now wallow in the dust, unlike their modern predecessors which towered over all life. Thus the dinosaurs were cursed for their relationship to Satan, but Satan may not be bound solely to dinosaur form.

    Sources

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 TheThinkingAtheist. Bible Contradictions. Retrieved from http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/page/bible-contradictions.
    2. ↑ Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius. Hebrew Lexicon entry for Nachash. The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon. Retrieved from http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/kjv/nachash-3.html.
    3. ↑ Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius. Hebrew Lexicon entry for Tanniyn. The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon. Retrieved from http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/kjv/tanniyn.html.
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Thiefe, Chris. Biblical Contradictions. EvilBible.com.
    5. ↑ Meritt, Jim (1992). A list of Biblical contradictions. Retrieved from http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html.
    6. ↑ GotQuestions.org. What is a theophany? What is a Christophany? Got Questions Ministries.
    7. ↑ Meritt, Jim (1992). A list of Biblical contradictions. Retrieved from http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html.
    8. ↑ Genesis-Science.BlogSpot.com. Retrieved from http://genesis-science.blogspot.com/2012/06/snakes-do-eat-dirt.html.
    9. ↑ Than, Ker (2011, August 8). Why Giant Bugs Once Roamed the Earth. National Geographic. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110808-ancient-insects-bugs-giants-oxygen-animals-science/.
    10. ↑ Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius. "Hebrew Lexicon entry for Nachash". "The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon". Retrieved from http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/kjv/nachash-3.html.
    11. ↑ RationalWiki Editors (2019). "Biblical Contradictions." RationalWiki.
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