Now let's look at the very first chapter of the New Testament:

Here Matthew solemnly presents Jesus' family tree, all neat and orderly, with 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 more from David to the Exile, and 14 more from the Exile to Jesus. Why this symmetry? Matthew doesn't say. Perhaps it's because in Hebrew, the name DVD has a numerical value of 14, but that's only a guess. In any case, he then lists 14 generations from Abraham to David inclusive, 14 more from Solomon to Jehoiachin inclusive, and 13, yes, only 13, from Shealtiel to Jesus inclusive.

Going back to the first group, Matthew has Amminadab as the grandson of Hezron thru Ram, but Luke in his list of 57 - count 'em - 57 generations from Abraham to Jesus inclusive, has Amminadab as the great-grandson of Hezron through Admin and Arni. Could Matthew have erred? Could Luke have boobooed? Impossible, you say.

Let's look at the next group: Matthew has Jehoiachin as the son of Josiah. But Jehoiachin is the grandson of Josiah (1 Chr 3:15-16). And Matthew has Uzziah as the son of Jehoram. Whoa, Nelly! Uzziah is not the son, not the grandson, not the great-grandson, but the GREAT-GREAT-GRANDSON of Jehoram (1 Chr 3:11-12).

So, the final total is: 15 + 18 + 13 generations, nowhere near the 14 + 14 + 14 claimed. So much for the Bible as 'truthful' history. Hopefully Matthew was better at counting money.

So we see in the very first two chapters of the OT and the very first chapter of the NT that the Bible is not a science book, not an accurate history book, but rather the story of two great world religions and how they view man's relationship with God - and what a story it is!

I will spare you all of the other errors, contradictions and inconsistancies. The main thing is that these do not make the Bible one millionth of one percent less interesting, less important, less authoritative to those who know its true origins and its true history.

If you'd like to present your own reconciliation of Genesis 1 and 2, and of Jesus' geneaology, comparing Matthew and Luke with the OT records, I'd really like to read it. This applies to caf or any other visitor to this forum who would like to join the discussion!

As for the role of the Church, I will gladly discuss that as soon as time permits, unless of course I'm told not to return like another poster here was recently told. Having read that dismissal, I've not sure to what extent contrary or contrasting views are welcome here.