Tough questions on Science and the Bible - understanding how the Bible was written

I have been putting up a couple of posts lately on the different caves in my area and the various pre-human species that have been found there and studied. These specimens are often seen as the so called missing links of human evolution.

Making posts that feature aspects of human evolution are seen by some to contrast with many of the ideas I hold dear and post about regarding religion.

One of the users on steemit contacted me on steem chat and made a simple observation as well as asking me a pertinent question. I quote below:

“How a Christian can believe in evolution is beyond me”
“Either you believe the bible or you don't, simple”
“If you don't believe the bible (creation v evolution) then I have a question - how do you choose what to believe and what to ignore? You must have devised a method/formula for this and I would like to know what it is.”

These questions initiated a lengthy discussion that I am sure will continue for some time to come.
The discussion prompted me to write somewhat on this exact question.

These are all relevant questions which every Christian, that has an interest in science, will need to ponder over many times if they decide there is a disconnect between what they read in the bible and what the world around them has uncovered via the scientific method.

Over the next couple of posts I will put up my thoughts on these matters starting with a little foundational groundwork.

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The obvious place to begin is with the bible.

By NYC Wanderer (Kevin Eng) - originally posted to Flickr as Gutenberg Bible, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

The Bible is very different from any other book you will ever read or even study.

• It has stories but it is not a story book.
• It has romance, infidelity, intrigue, and murder, but it is not a novel.
• It mentions historical events but it is not a history.
• It describes observed and even supernatural phenomena but it is not a scientific text.

Neither were its contributors intending only to be story writers, novelists, historians or scientists.

It was written in most cases to be scripture and scripture has a very different purpose and intent.

Scripture is intended to be studied and cherished. It is meant to convey principles in many ways and on many levels. It is designed to provide the serious seeker, and the diligent scholar with a lifetime of rewards. It is meant to inspire questioning, to prompt pondering and deep reflection.

In short, it’s not just a book, to be skimmed over for entertainment or the simple gaining of knowledge.

If you approach it superficially you may find some stories, a little history, some perplexing phenomena and more than an intrigue, murder and infidelity or two, but you will have missed the real gems.

Many of the books of the bible where carefully and painstakingly written.

We know at the time of writing, the creation and dissemination of written works was not so easy or simple as it has been the last few centuries.

There were no printing presses, copies of written works were produced by hand and therefore comparatively rare and expensive by today’s standards. It most definitely was not as simple as climbing on the computer, spending a couple of hours typing up a post, clicking the submit button and thereby distributing it to a global audience at the speed of light.

Important works were planned, prepared, structured, and manicured to meet their intended audience.

The irrefutable evidence of this is to be found in the scripture itself. There as subtle structures there, which are unnoticed by the superficial reader, that have survived thousands of years of copying, transmission and translation into multiple languages.

These are a subtle but ancient writing and teaching pattern. As modern day readers unless trained to look for these teaching elements we miss them entirely. They intriguingly mostly survive transmission and translation because they involve principles and concept more than specific words and meanings.
So even if a translation is poor, if the basic concepts and order are preserved these teaching structures are preserved.

Today I will discuss two. Chiasmus and Parallels.

As modern readers we are used to poetic devices like rhyme and rhythm.
In ancient Hebrew (in which much of the Old Testament was written) more common literary devices are chiasms and parallels.

Chiasmus.

Is when concepts are repeated, but in reverse order. A – B = B – A

I quote a simple and well known one from the New Testament that many are likely to be familiar with.

Matthew 19:30
But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Mark 10:31
But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Luke 13:30
And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last

Here we can see the repeated elements are the concept of FIRST and LAST and they are repeated in reverse order with LAST and then FIRST etc.

This is more likely to be familiar to us because repetition aids memory and it also creates emphasis. The repeating elements also contain a paradox which make them further stand out and more memorable.

Parallels

Have similar repeated elements A - B = A - B, except in the care of parallels the order remains the same. The order is not reversed as in a chiasm.

These repeating element can be extremely complex. The chiasm listed above is very simple, spanning only one verse and involving two repeated elements.

Some may be highly complex involving more than 12 elements, span many verses and even entire chapters.

Isaiah, which for most modern readers is one of the most difficult books of the Bible to read and understand is full of such complex and ancient linguistic devices. We may find it dense but to its ancient audience it was extremely beautiful and instructive in its complexity.

If you want to understand Isaiah you need to learn how to identify these devices and then the book takes on a whole new meaning. Entire books and web sites are devoted to the subject.

Below is a link to a lengthy page devoted to just one repeated theme spanning a few chapters of Isaiah to illustrate the point.

http://www.isaiahexplained.com/legacy/ChaosCreationChiasim.html

Below is a link to a page with details of 81 chiasms and parallels found in the book of Isaiah

http://www.bible.literarystructure.info/bible/23_Isaiah_pericope_e.html

Even small books like Daniel contain such elements

http://www.bible.literarystructure.info/bible/27_Daniel_pericope_e.html#1

Many of us are familiar with the stories of Daniel taught to us as children. His interpretations of visions and prophesies, but how many noticed the onion layered teaching methods employed in the narration of these stories?

The Old Testament is full of such complex and ancient literary devices. Their complexity and intricacy indicate the attention to detail, care and thoughtfulness that was put into writing scripture.

Next time I will expand upon Hebrew literary devices further. Please chime in in the comments if there is something specific you found interesting so far or from the linked web pages.