Magdlyn

Here is a very thorough explanation of that subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon

BTW, the "Bible" was not written over "thousands" of years.

The first bits of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) were first written down, as I understand it, around 700ish BCE. The last Christian books (the often goofy and quite perfunctory books of 2 Peter and Jude) were written down around 150 CE. That adds up to 850 yrs. Many other gospels and epistles etc, were written later but rejected from the canon as too late!

Here is the site recced earlier with more details:

http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/

Chris Weimer

isn't there a thread on this already?

Lucretius

The fact that the books were written/ saved as oral tradition over hundreds or thousands of years by different "authors" would imply that each "writer" knew what had already been written/saved as oral tradition so a degree of common ideas would be logical.
Any books which weren't consistent would also be likley to be ignored and even destroyed as heretical.
The majority of stories of the Greek/Roman and Norse gods show a consistency as well for much the same reasons.

Chris Weimer

eh? Greek and Roman myths in harmony? You can't possibly be serious? Herakles - did he fight the Titans or did he sail with the Argonauts? Did he do both? The timeline is a tad bit skewed there. But it seems to be an interesting project I might make up - whether or not the Greco-Roman myths are in harmony.

Atheist Boy

I've been to that thread. But it was written on October 26 while mine was written at October 20, and most of it is just about the contradictions.

And thanks to the rest of the guys for the suggestions/help!

Lucretius

I did say the MAJORITY of the stories the fact that there are some inconsistencies is in my opinion only the same as the inconsistences in the Bible Old Testament in particular
The point I was trying to make (and possibly failing ) was that all the authors of the Bible as well as the authors of Greco Roman Mythological tales were not operating in a vacuum, they were aware of what had already been written on the same subject,they may have put their own interpretation on the tale and may even have invented thier own tales to make their point but in broad terms the Greco-Roman gods do not change in name or character,there is a consistency there .
Now if the authors of the Bible had lived thousands of years apart AND thousands of miles apart and had been completely unaware of anything ever written on the subject, then I would have to say that the "Harmony " was miraculous.

Chris Weimer

Oops, sorry about that!

Chris Weimer

Ah yes of course, but this doesn't really explain where they are coming from. They think that Jesus really did fulfill the prophecies. In other words, they think that that everything is literal, which would nullify your point.