Claim CH190:

The Bible's internal harmony around a central theme testifies to its divine authorship. It is sixty-six books written over sixteen centuries by some forty different writers of diverse backgrounds, but every part follows the same theme.

Source:

Response:

1. The Bible's harmony can also be attributed to the fact that its contents were selected and edited, by people, to make it harmonious (Friedman 1987).
   
   
2. The Bible is not harmonious on some very important points.
   • Many people have noticed the difference between the Old Testament God, who is vengeful and bloodthirsty (e.g., Gen. 6-8; Exod. 7-11) and commands and aids the slaughter of one's enemies (e.g., Exod. 32:27-28; Deut. 3:6; Num. 31:1-18), versus the New Testament God, who preaches peace and commands people to love their enemies.
   • Some parts of the Bible say the sins of the father are inherited by future generations (e.g., Exod. 20:5, Deut. 5:9). Other parts (Ezek. 18) says they are not.
   • Much of the Bible emphasizes the unity of God. Genesis 1, for example, stresses that all of creation came from the same God, not different gods as other contemporary religions taught. However, the New Testament, particularly Revelation, introduces a good/evil dualism akin to Zoroastrianism, which has become particularly common in Christian tradition.

References:

Further Reading:

Friedman, Richard Elliott. 1987. Who Wrote the Bible? New York: Summit Books.

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