1. a difference has to be made between the original writings and current copies, and certainly current translations. i'd make no quarrel that there is a lot of personal agenda in translations, and possibly even copies.

2. the idea of "free will" is sort of extra-biblical. it's not a bible term. it seems to me that the bible does show that we have choice, but we also are not all-powerful, we have choice, but we are limited in our abilities.


i think the easiest answer to your conundrum is this: the authors of the books of the bible CHOSE to let God inspire them to write His word. i don't think they were possessed and forced. in fact, you'll note as you read different authors, that each person brings his own personal style to the text, and you learn something about them. i don't think they went into a coma and they're hand started scribbling down the words, i believe it was a union of God's inspiration and the author's style and humanity.

2 Tim 3:16 says "all scripture is given by inspiration of God". a more literal interpretation would be "God breathed". anyway, i absolutely believe that the authors chose to allow God's inspiration, that they weren't slaves, and i think that comes across in the writings, writings of real people with real human traits, that were inspired to speak the truth.


as far as contradictions, i hear so much "there are all those contradictions in the bible", but folks never seem to name them. there are plenty of websites that list apparent contradictions. i'd be more than glad to go through them one by one and see if i can answer, from my understanding of hebrew and greek.

anyone got a contradiction? let's get going i'm not saying i'll have an answer for every apparent contradiction, but i can try.

in fact, i'm gonna start another thread for this