Just to throw in my two cents on the flat earth thing: to say that the Bible is ignorant of Science because it says "four corners of the Earth" is like calling someone ignorant of Science for saying," Look at the pretty sun rise." Oh yeh and check out Isaiah 40:22.
Originally posted by Proud_Syrian
Another confusion in the bible:
The Genealogy of Jesus.
a) From David to Jesus 41 names (generations) are given by Matthew [although he claims there are 42] as against the 26 names [generations] given by Luke [Luke 3]!
A difference of 15 whole generations in the genealogy of the same man !
We all have two genealogies, one from our father and one from our mother.
Matthew's Genealogy begins with Abraham and goes to Christ(Counting Christ that's 42). Luke's goes backward from Christ to Adam(76 generations, 56 to Abraham though.) This can be explained in that there are some holes in the genealogy(Uzziah is the great-great-grandson of Joram.) The wording occasionally indicates that the latter is a remote ancestor than an actual father. Matthew never actually establishes a paternal relationship; he just says that so-and-so begot such-and such. Indeed, this is the case(to say my grandfather begot me is not incorrect, b/c he did, just indirectly through my father)
Also in Matthew 1:11, it mentions Jeconiah. According to Jer. 22:24-30, a curse was upon his lineage. Matthew's genealogy is through Joseph, so there fore Jesus couldn't be the Christ if Joseph begot him. BUT, Christ comes through Mary"of whom was born" rather than "begot" This means that Jesus was not born in the normal fashion. So Jesus wasn't under the curse of his father's lineage.
Matthew mentions that Jesus was the seed of David through Solomon, while Luke says that Jesus was the seed of David through Nathan [Solomon's brother]. This is a contradiction as the seed of David could never reach Jesus through Solomon and his brother Nathan at the same time.
Not quite. Matthew gives the legal genealogy of the father, who is of Solomon's lineage. Luke gives the genealogy of Mary, who is of Nathan's lineage.(see next paragraph) In fact the two are very distant cousins(I should emphasize the "distant" before anybody gets some inbred ideas) Jesus was thought to be Joseph's son, but actually Joseph by marriage of Mary, gave her son the rights to the inheritance.
But in Luke 3:23, it says son of Joseph, who was son of Heli. This can still be Mary's lineage. The Greek language has no separate word for "son-in-law". So they had to use the next best thing, son. This clears up the Heli or Jacob thing also.
