The Struggles of a Born-Again Agnostic

By Dalton F. Phillips. Esq.

About the Book
The Struggles of a Born-Again Agnostic analyses the texts of the Bible to determine whether there is evidence that the books are divinely inspired, and explores the various authorships of most of the books in the Bible with the goal of ascertaining if the ascriptions of authorship are correct. The overarching theme of the book is that faith alone is not sufficient for religious belief; one must base belief on historical evidence and commonsense.
Dalton Phillips’ research and discoveries unprecedently explore—as no biblical scholar has—why faith alone is not sufficient to base the important beliefs of one's life. In order to be more than simply a mere myth or legend, vital beliefs must be based on evidence and verifiable truth.

About the Author
Dalton Phillips graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1980. He worked as an attorney for the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States Government, the General Services Administration, also of the United States Government, and the Executive Office of the President of the United States during the Administration of President George W. Bush.
Phillips specialized in Government Contracts and Construction Litigation, and he retired from the active practice of law in 2016.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company
• Release date: Jan 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886048971

Book preview

Title_Page.eps

Dedication

T o my grand children Adonis, Athena, Whitney and Grant.

And to my dad, Harold Phillips, the humblest, noblest, most principled and honest man I have known, who nurtured me with love and kindness throughout my life.

Forward

I f I were to tell my Christian friends that I had a conversation with a snake on my way to visit them, they would not believe me. If I were to ask them also why they would believe the story in the Bible about Eve having a conversation with a snake, they would no doubt look at me in unbelief as they search for an answer. Each chapter of Struggles of a Born-Again Agnostic will generate the same deer-in-the-headlights reaction in Christians as they are confronted with some of the mythical and legendary stories in the Bible.

My name is Clifton Lovell, brother-in law of the book’s author, Dalton Phillips. We were both members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in our youth, and believed the church’s doctrines without question. To us the Bible was authorative; we had faith in the truth and historicity of its teachings. My path out of the Seventh-Day Adventist church, as I studied the Bible and discovered its many inconsistencies and questionable origins, led me to Atheism. Dalton’s path out is very different from mine as he explains in this book. It is indeed very interesting reading.

The book begins with a review of Ellen G. White’s (a founding member) influence on the Seventh-Day Adventist church and builds up to a discussion of who wrote the various books of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and how they were compiled and translated into English. There are biographies of several of the main characters of the New Testament, showing in many cases the stark inconsistencies in the reported stories and histories.

Why Dalton decided to study and research the Bible was not because of a single discrepancy he found, or the unrealistic stories or histories. Instead, he decided to study because the numerous inconsistencies and unhistorical accounts were too much for him to ignore. His research led him to a knowledge of who wrote many of the books, when and why. You may agree or disagree with his findings and ultimate conclusions, but after reading this book you will be better informed about your Bible and encouraged to do your own research.

You will learn, for example, how and when the Holy Spirit became God; if there is evidence for the claim that the books of the Bible are inspired; how the Bible accounts for suffering in the face of an omnipotent, benevolent God; and how the canons of the Old and New Testaments were put together. In short, you will get an insight into the history of every major Christian doctrine.

After reading the manuscript script, I was convinced that Dalton spent a lot of time researching the various topics he discussed. There is a wealth of information here. I believe that you also will find this to be true.

Clifton Lovell

Preface

I n preparation for this book, I read the entire Bible-from Genesis to Revelation. At first, I looked for evidence that the various authors-when they were known-claimed that they were inspired by God. But I found none. So, I asked from whence derived the notion that the books of the Bible were inspired, that the Bible in its entirety was a Holy Book. I could not find the answer in the Bible.

Having read the Bible’s accounts of angels traveling back and forth from Heaven to Earth, I studied a bit of astronomy, not an exhaustive endeavor by any means, but enough to know that the Bible writers had no concept of the enormity of space, and that they were simpletons and ignoramuses who knew nothing of astronomy. They did not know, for example, that light travels at about 186,000 miles per second, which is 671 million miles per hour, or almost 6 trillion miles per year (a light year). This means that the light we see from the moon was as it was 1.282 seconds ago, the sun as it was 8.3 minutes ago, and the farthest galaxy yet detected by the Hubble Space Telescope, as it was just over 13 billion years ago. In other words, some of the named stars such as Polaris (the North Star), Sirius (Dog Star), the Alpha Centauri System, and Betelgeuse were so far away in the depths of space that their light required many years to reach our minuscule world. So, I wondered how could angels move from an abode in the sky in a matter of minutes. I could not imagine that the writer of the Genesis account of six literal days of creation knew anything about astronomy, or that the writer of Matthew who reported Jesus as ascending into Heaven knew anything of the astronomical distance of the sun; or the star lights that had been traveling for millions of years before they reached our eyes. If they had known anything about astronomy, would they have written that God worked for six days to make the world and only part of the fourth day to make the sun and moon and all the stars?

After learning that Christians have determined the Earth’s age to be a little over six thousand years, I turned to the science of geology for confirmation. Mine was not an exhaustive study; it was just elementary. But I learned that the age of rocks is determined by radiometric dating, which enabled geologists to determine the age of the Earth to be about 4.6 billion years old. Clearly, writers of the inspired Word knew zilch of geology.

As I contemplated the vastness of the Universe, and the incredible age of the Earth and just how little the Bible writers knew about our world, I was awed by the sublimity of it all. I thought then of the dogmatic atheists who assume that they know for certain that science has all the answers. I concluded that they are no more immune from ignorance than the most literal religious fundamentalists to the deceptive lure of certainty. Scientists on the other hand do not approach any problem with blind faith, but they maintain a healthy degree of doubt. In a sense, scientists, like Christians, sometimes rely on faith. But unlike Christians, they do not rely solely on faith to prove their facts; they keep doubt and uncertainty alive as they consider the facts.

When the facts revealed by the study of astronomy and geology are considered, we have to admit that the story of creation was the product of an ignorant, unscientific age; written by authors who knew nothing of astronomy and geology. From a comparison of the many biblical myths and legends with the unimaginable scope of space and the beauty of the observable stars and galaxies, I must doubt the truth of the Bible. But unlike the atheist, I have concluded that I do not know. The origin of the Universe, seems to be unknown and maybe even unknowable.

The Bible’s portrayal of God in both the Old and New Testaments, left me less than enchanted by his presumed omnipotence, omniscience and benevolence. He is depicted as a killer of smiling babies, blushing virgins, and helpless adolescents. At times he demanded love, as if love can be ordered; at other times he demanded fear, which may be more appropriate, given his ready penchant for slaughter and revenge. The records of God’s actions as set forth in the Bible has destroyed my faith, annihilated any thought of love for such a demonic, whimsical God, and left me resolutely firm in my determination not to suspend disbelief.

I will continue my quest for facts, and truth, but as of now, I do not know. Thus, I am agnostic.

Introduction

The Way to See by Faith is to Shut the Eye of Reason. –Benjamin Franklin

We inhabit a vast and wonderful part of the Universe. In every civilization before our own, humans have invented theories about the origin of the Universe. Invariably, each civilization invented gods which they claimed created the Universe and they have worshipped those gods. If you lived in India, for example, you would have been an adherent of the Hindu religion and practiced Hinduism, which is the world’s oldest religion, dating back more than 4,000 years. You would have worshipped a triad of gods, to wit, Brahma, the god of creation and Hindu’s main god. You would also have worshipped Vishnu, the preserver of the Universe and Shiva, the destroyer. These three make up Hinduism’s trinity, which they claim is One God with three different attributes, much like the Christian God, the Father, Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Currently, there are about 900 million Hindus, about 95% of which live in India.

If you were a born a Jew, likely you would have worshipped Yahweh only, and you would not have acknowledged Jesus and the Holy Spirit as God. Probably, you would have recognized Abraham as the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham is the father of three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. There are no historical or archaeological records to provide more information about Abraham and his existence before he became a worshiper of God, the Father. Information about him is found only in the Bible or the Quran. Therefore, those who believe that Abraham is the father of those three religions, do so solely by faith in

the Bible.

How did God choose Abraham to be the father of the nation of Israel? When God called Abraham to follow him, he was living in Ur, in Mesopotamia. The stories in the Hebrew Bible are designed to give the people an identity. It is not relevant whether or not the stories are historically accurate. What mattered was that the storytellers wanted to provide a plausible explanation of how the Israelites came into existence.

In Genesis chapter 12 of the Hebrew Bible, Abraham, who at that time was named Abram, was told by God to leave his home in Ur, and move to a country called Canaan, which God promised to give to him and his descendants after he had made them a great nation. At the time of his calling, Abraham’s religion was polytheistic, meaning that he worshipped several gods. In fact, Abraham’s father, Terah, made and sold idols. God wanted Abraham to worship him as the only true God. Abraham agreed, trashed his father’s idols and followed God’s urgings. God then changed his name from Abram to Abraham. We are not told exactly why God chose Abraham; presumably, because he was the first inhabitant of the surrounding nations to agree to worship God, who was at that time unnamed. Later, we are told that the name of this God who Abraham agreed to worship was Yahweh.

If you lived in ancient Greece, you would have worshipped Zeus, along with other Greek gods. Greek religion was different from Greek mythology, which is about traditional tales, though the two are interlinked. One perforce wonders if the Judeo-Christian traditions had labeled their stories as tales, if the Bible would have caused less confusion than it does today among its believers. Curiously, the Greeks had no word for religion itself; the nearest terms were Eusebia (piety) and triskelia (cult). In its full development the Greek religion lasted for about 1,000 years, probably from the days of Homer in the 9th or 8th century BCE to the reign of Julian around the 4th century CE. Eventually, the Romans adopted the Greek deities, though they were known by different names, such a Jupiter and Apollo.

The Hindus, Greeks, and Romans, invented their gods based on myths and legends, and regarded them as true, for a time at least. But hardly anyone today still believes the Greek and Roman myths and legends. Hinduism still has many adherents to its myths and legends, but no Christian believes them. Is there any basis, factual or historical, for modern-day people to hold on to the stories about the God, Yahweh, other than faith?

My Decision to Study the Bible

I  gravitated to Christianity around the age of 16. My particular religious affiliation was the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA). SDA theology may be best described as a hybrid between Christian Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism. SDA has as one of its overarching doctrines the worship of God on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. The recognition of this day of worship commemorates the day on which God allegedly rested after creating the Universe in six days, as told in Genesis, chapters one and two, the first book of the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament.

I was an ardent believer in all SDA doctrines. I was a dedicated adherent of the theology of Ellen G. White and her interpretation of the doctrines she believed the Bible taught. White and Joseph Bates were the founders of the SDA church. White wrote many books, teaching the doctrines of the SDA church, including the Trinity, (God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), the Sanctity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath, the Millennium, a great conflict between God and Satan, Baptism by immersion, an Investigative Judgment in the heavenly sanctuary, the Second Coming of Christ, and the one-thousand reign of the saints in Heaven. She also extolled the patience, love, and graciousness of God, which she claimed were demonstrated in the Bible, the Old and the New Testaments alike.

Ellen G. White also offered counsels on how to be a good Christian, meaning those who kept the commandments of God, have faith in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, and followed SDA doctrines, including observing the Seventh-Day Sabbath. In addition, she provided instructions on Healthful living, Stewardship, proper Christian behavior, and Marriage and the Family. She advocated that Seventh-Day Adventists, who she believed are the people of God, should not live like the people in the rest of the world, participating in popular, worldly customs and traditions, because they are God’s Remnant Church. They should eschew worldly customs. Christians, she believed, should not be of the world, even though they temporarily live in the world now. She prophesied about a new world coming, the destruction of the current world and the Second Advent of Jesus.

White believed that the Bible, comprising the Old and New Testaments, are the divinely inspired Word of God. She rested her assurance in the inerrancy and inspiration of the Bible, for the most part, on the following two texts: Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Second Peter 1:21. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Second Timothy 16,17. Those two texts form the entire basis for her belief in the inspiration of the Bible. She has never offered any evidence, historical or otherwise, for her assertion that the Bible is inspired. She accepted by Faith the accounts and stories of the Bible. Asserting that the Bible is the Word of God, White wrote that the Bible represents God’s eternal Truth and instruction for all mankind.

As we shall see later when we examine the authorships of the books that comprise the Canons of the Old and New Testaments, many of the books of the Bible were not written when and by whom traditions claim. Take Second Peter, for example, the New Testament book, which Christians traditionally attributed to Simon Peter, the Apostle of Jesus. That Book is written in sophisticated Greek, whereas the Apostle Simon Peter was an Aramaic speaking, uneducated Jewish fisherman. Moreover, Peter, along with the Apostle Paul, were martyred in 64 CE, during the reign of Roman Emperor, Nero. Most biblical scholars believe, however, that second Peter was written toward the end of the first century, or early in the second century. The majority of scholars agree that whoever wrote second Peter, it could not have been Simon Peter.¹ See Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament, p. 421. Likewise, the New Testament book of 2 Timothy was not written by the Apostle Paul; it was written anonymously. Most biblical scholars are in agreement that Paul did not write 1 and 2 Timothy, but that they were written by a member of one of Paul’s churches. Id at p. 261. This will be discussed more fully later.

Ellen White, like the majority of Christians today, believed that the God depicted in the Bible is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Remarkedly, experience in every field of human knowledge, as for example, biology, law, physics, chemistry, and astronomy, evidence always forms the linchpin or basis of belief. But with regard to theology or religion, involving important subjects such as the creation of the Universe, the Law of God, righteous living, the end of the world, salvation, atonement, and forgiveness of wrongs committed against God and one’s fellow human beings, Heaven and Hell, and most importantly, the authorship of the various books of the Bible, reliance by Ellen White (and virtually all Christian believers), is based solely on faith. Faith is defined as belief in the accuracy or correctness of a theory or teaching without evidence. In other words, Ellen White, through faith, preached that Scripture does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact. (See also Heb. 11:1)

Seventh-Day Adventists believe that Ellen White was inspired by God, while most non-Adventists Christians, including Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and Protestants, believe that she did not have the gift of Prophecy. Throughout the history of the Church, many Seventh-Day Adventists have asserted that they had the gift of prophecy, but only White is officially held by the Church to have had that spiritual gift. Seventh-Day Adventists allege that Ellen White had over 200 visions from God, during which she entered into a deep trance that lasted between 15 minutes and as many as three hours. During those visions, she declared that God revealed to her messages for the SDA church and the world at large. In other words, she professed to be a prophet who God had inspired to deliver important messages about an ongoing conflict between God and Satan and his angels. Interestingly, other than can be inferred from the texts in 2 Peter, the Bible does not claim that the prophesies and stories reported therein were written under a trance, under some sort of ecstasy, or during an out-of-body experience.

To claim that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, (ubiquitous), benevolent God would maintain a terrible conflict with a created being such as Satan, is to belittle God’s benevolence, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, and elevate the power of a mythical evil force above God. We shall see later in this book that Satan (Devil) is one of the biblical myths, invented, among other things, to excuse man for wrong-doing and ignore the power of choice with which the Creator endowed human beings.

Despite professing to receive inspired prophesies directly from God, Ellen White confessed that, in her view, her writings are inferior, subordinate, or comprise a lesser light, compared to the Bible, which she avers is the ultimate authority. Apparently, she was not aware that books such 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Chronicles are merely the Israelites’ accounts of the histories of the kings and judges of Israel and Judah. Apparently, Ellen White did not know either that books such Job and Jonah were allegories, and even though they were intended to teach spiritual truths, they were not true stories. (These books will be discussed more fully later.) According to the 28 fundamental beliefs that form the core of SDA theology, Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed.

The 18th of the Seventh-Day Adventist’s 28 Fundamentals beliefs provides that prophecy is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.

The Scriptures testify that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant Church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction and correction to the church. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. (Num. 12:6; 2; Chron. 20:20; Amos 3:7; Joel, 2:28,29; Acts2:14-21; Heb.1:1-3; Rev. 12:17 ,19-10; 22:8,9).

The claim by Ellen White that her prophesy was subordinate to the Bible is troubling. Why should messages allegedly inspired and received directly from God not be on par with the Bible? This is particularly the case since neither Ellen White nor any Bible believer has offered any evidence for their claim that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God. The only evidentiary support available is that the ancient Hebrews who put the Canon of the Old Testament together considered the books to be authoritative, and hence, inspired by God. In other words, if the ancients regard those books as authoritative and inspired, they are. The same is true with regard to the New Testament.

The Roman Catholic Church that put that Canon together, regarded those books as authoritative; therefore, Christians have concluded that they are inspired and inerrant, no further questions asked. Other than those dogmatic and unproven assertions that the Bible is inspired, and the Scriptures of the New and Old Testaments are inerrant, Christians base their beliefs on faith. Faith alone is not a firm enough foundation on which to rest one’s destiny. It should not form the basis of everything one thinks or does, including one’s interactions with fellow human beings. When the evidence for a religious proposition is thin or nonexistent, or there is compelling evidence against it, people invoke faith. Otherwise, they simply cite the reasons for their beliefs. Such reasons are generally illogical, but they are better than none. People of faith recognize the superiority of reason, and resort to it when possible. But when reason fails them, and they need an argument to convince themselves to keep believing, they take refuge in faith. When rational inquiry supports the creed, it is championed; when it poses a threat to their beliefs, they resort to faith. Faith then is the cement they use to fill the cracks in evidence, and the gaps in the logic. Thus, faith keeps irrational biblical doctrines from crumbling.

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¹Bart. D. Ehrman (2018). The New Testament, Oxford University Press. IBSN 978-0190909000

Organization of the Old Testament

Overview

The earliest compilation of the Bible, containing the first five books, called the Torah (Law), or the Pentateuch (five books), was accepted as the Hebrew Canon sometime around the fifth century BCE. A second collection of narrative histories and prophesies called the Nevi’im (prophets) was canonized around the third century BCE. A third collection was called the Ketuvim (writings). The Ketuvim is a miscellaneous collection of liturgical poetry, apocalyptic literature, a short story, and a romantic tale. The books of the Ketuvim are thirteen in number. They include, in the order they appear in most printed editions: Psalms, Book of Proverbs, Book of Job, Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Book of Esther, Book of Daniel, Book of Ezra-Nehemiah (often regarded as one), and the Chronicles. (Also, often regarded as one). They were composed over a long period of time- spanning from before the Babylonian Exile in the early sixth century BCE, to the middle of the second century BCE. They were not entirely accepted as canonical until the second century CE. Unlike the Torah and the Nevi’im, which were canonized as a group, the books of the Ketuvim were canonized separately, often on the basis of their popularity.

It is important to observe that the Ketuvim, that is, the Jewish Writings, did not have the same status as the Torah and the Nevi’im in the Hebrew Bible. The first two sections were each canonized as a group early in the canonization process. Not so the Ketuvim! As discussed above, the Torah was canonized as early as around 400 BCE, and the Prophets (Nevi’im) around 200 BCE. The Writings (Ketuvim), however, was not canonized until about 100 CE; some scholars argue even later. This indicated the difficulty that the Ketuvim books experienced getting accepted into the Canon of the Hebrew Bible—they simply were not readily accepted as Scripture. According to Mark Brettler, the Jewish Scriptures outside the Torah and the Prophets were fluid, different groups seeing heavenly authority in other different books.²  Brettler, Mark Ziv (2005), How to Read the Bible, pp. 274-275.

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²Brettler, Mark Ziv (2005). How to Read the Bible. Jewish Publication Society, 3d. edition.

IBSN 978-0827607750.

The Division Old Testament Canon

The books of English Hebrew Bible, thirty-nine in all, are further divided into three different literary parts or genres, to wit, historical (17), poetic (5), and prophetic (17). Different Christian denominations have other books in the Old Testament, as for example, the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches include books that Protestants consider to be Apocrypha (biblical writings not forming part of the accepted or the genuine canon of Scriptures). The Roman Catholic Church recognizes additional books to the Old Testament, called Deuterocanon books, which include Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and additions to Esther and Daniel.

When biblical scholars write of the historical genre, they are not only referring to verifiable recorded history. The historical genre does not usually mean history as we know that term. It refers to books the writers intended for their readers to regard as history, whether the accounts or stories handed down through centuries of oral traditions, were based on verifiable facts, myths, or legends. Myth is defined as a traditional story, typically involving supernatural beings or events, which are widely held though false and not capable of verification. Legend on the other hand, is defined as a traditional story popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.

The seventeen historical books are further divided into two groups. The first five books of the Bible are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The next twelve describe the history of the nation of Israel from the time they acquired the Promised Land, Canaan, to the time they were divided into two kingdoms, Israel to the North, and Judah to the South. Both kingdoms were eventually defeated, Israel by Assyria (722 BCE) and Judah by Babylon (586 BCE). These twelve books include Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, 1 and 2 Chronicles. (In the Hebrew Scriptures Samuel, Kings and Chronicles were counted each as one book.

The poetic books in the English Bible include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Songs of Songs (also called Songs of Solomon).

The seventeen prophetic books of the English Old Testament are further divided into major prophets (5), which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The other division, designated as the minor prophets, (12) are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The designation major and minor prophets do not indicate that the latter was less important than the former; they are so designated because of the greater length of the former.

The prophetic books were written by prophets, men and women who claimed to be called by God to deliver a message(s) to the people of Israel. Prophets are sometimes called seers, perhaps because of their spiritual insight or ability to see the future. There is no evidence, however, to indicate that they were under the control or influence of God, while in a trance or any such out-of-body experience. In most cases, the prophets were addressing the political or religious happenings in their own time. They were not psychics and they did not have crystal balls that allowed them to see centuries into the future. Their messages generally were not positive; the people had strayed from the law; they were living corrupt lives, so the messages called on them to repent, correct their errant ways, or be punished.

How was one to know whether the ancient traditional ascriptions with regard to the authorship of the Bible were correct? That was what biblical scholars, variously called investigators, attempted to uncover. Biblical scholars have been working on the mystery of the Bible’s authorship for hundreds of years. During the last couple of centuries, a great deal of progress has been made as they employ tools such as archeology, linguistics, and history.

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Who Wrote the Hebrew Bible?

Biblical scholars for the most part were not scientists or religious critics. They were trained in religious traditions, so they knew those established traditions. In fact, the majority of biblical scholars have been members of the clergy who needed to know who wrote the books to which they had dedicated their lives. For them it was important that they discover whether other traditional ascriptions of authorship could be supported by verifiable history, as well as stand up to close scrutiny.

Richard Elliott Friedman in his book, Who Wrote the Bible,³  writes:

In our own day, new tools and new methods have produced important contributions. New methods of linguistic analysis, developed largely within the last fifteen years, have made it possible to establish relative chronology of portions of the Bible and to measure and describe characteristics of biblical Hebrew in various periods. In the simplest terms, Moses was further from the language of much of the Five Books than Shakespeare was from modern English.

The Israelites traditionally believed that God dictated the first five books of the Torah to Moses. But biblical scholars have discovered manifold contradictions, which rendered dubious the accuracy of the assertion that an all-knowing God dictated the events of creation to Moses. In Genesis 1, for instance, all the animals were created before humans, on the fifth day. He created man (Adam) and woman (Eve) together on the sixth day. That done, God looked upon his work and rated it good. But according to Genesis 2, "man was created first (Genesis 2:7), and then the animals, who were to provide companionship for him. (Genesis 2:19) And when Adam and none of the animals seemed compatible as companions, he created Eve, out of Adam’s rib. In other words, in Genesis 2, woman was an afterthought.

The Torah’s texts reported the same events differently. It would, for example, report that there were two of something and elsewhere it would report that there fourteen of the same things. Genesis 6:19 states that God instructed Noah to take two animals of every kind with him into the ark; but according to Genesis 7:2, God told Noah to take seven pairs of all clean animals. Or it would state that the Moabites did something, and later it would say it was the Midianites that did it. It reported Moses visiting the Tabernacle before he built it.

Moreover, Moses did things that he could not have done or known, or was likely to have written. The Book of Numbers 12: 1 states: Now the man Moses was very humble, humbler than anyone on the face of the earth. A truly humble man would not make such a boast, even if