Roy Refuted??

In a previous post, we read of yet another rant by Ol' Roy, concerning apparent contradictions in the Bible, as seen in The Paris News. Now it seems someone has written in to refute Roy's assertions - here is the text of the letter:

(from the Paris News December 27th edition)

The Thursday, Dec. 14, "Letters" column included a letter called "can't prove" in which the writer endeavored to prove the Bible wrong. He sites Ezra 2:64 and another account of the same event in Nehemiah 7:66. The Bible totals for an assembly of priests who could not find their ancestral history in the genealogy of the nation of Israel and were considered unclean, therefore being found unworthy of priestly service, they were being omitted from the priesthood.

Both Biblical accounts of the story give the same number of priests being excluded. The writer listed a "correct" total from Ezra as 29,818 and a "correct" total for Nehemiah as 31,089. The writer does not say where he obtained his "correct" totals, or what source he could be using that is more reliable than the Holy Bible. Maybe he can explain why his two totals, for the same event, are not the same.

Then, in an effort to prove the Bible wrong, the writer simply quotes from Number 31:17-18. This passage is where Moses tells the men of Israel to kill all of the women and boy children of the Midianites. Many of the men of Israel had been in adultery with these women. The Law of Moses called for all adulterers and adulteresses to be put to death. The guilty men of Israel had already died of a plague and the women were to be killed. The boy children were to be killed to keep them from growing up and trying to destroy Israel to honor their fathers. The little girls were to be kept alive and when the girls grew up they would be made wives of the Israelite boys. They were not child molesters or cold-blooded killers, if that is what was implied.

Finally, the writer references 1 Peter 4:7, "The end of the world is coming soon (said 2000 years ago)." The verse reads, "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers." NKJV For an understanding of that verse, one must also read many other passages including, 2 Peter 3:8 "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" NKJV. So, with the Lord, there has only been two days since Peter said, "The end of the world is coming soon."

When we look at the facts and consider the scripture in proper context it seems we still can't prove the Bible wrong.

Kary Prince

Thank you Kary Prince for addressing Roy's somewhat misguided ;) view of Biblical texts.