The tension: The Priestly and Deuteronomic Torah absolutely forbids eating blood as a perpetual statute (Gen 9:4; Lev 3:17; 7:26-27; 17:10-14; 19:26; Deut 12:16, 23), and t…
The tension: Romans 5:12 has Paul teach that death passed upon all humanity because of Adam's single sin — the archetypal transgenerational punishment.
The tension: The Hebrew Bible repeatedly narrates theophanies in which God is seen face-to-face — by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, seventy elders, Manoah, Micaiah, Job, Isa…
The tension: A wide set of passages (Gen 14:19, 22; Exod 9:29; 19:5; Deut 10:14; Ps 24:1; 50:12; 89:11; 1 Cor 10:26) affirm that God owns the earth absolutely.
The tension: Leviticus 18 and 20 and Deuteronomy 27 explicitly criminalize sex between half-siblings who share a father — it's called "a wicked thing" and draws a curse.
The tension: The Decalogue and its echoes across the Torah, Gospels, and Epistles absolutize the prohibition on stealing, yet Genesis 31:19 reports without condemnation tha…
The tension: Deuteronomy 7:3-4 bans intermarriage with the Canaanite nations on pain of God's anger destroying the offender "suddenly." Genesis 46:20 records Joseph's marri…
The tension: The Hebrew Bible and New Testament preserve six different lists of the "twelve tribes" of Israel — Gen 49, Num 1, Num 13, Deut 33, Ezek 48, Rev 7 — and no two…
The tension: The Decalogue and a long chorus of prophetic, wisdom, and epistolary texts prohibit lying absolutely — false witness, false reports, deception are abominations.
The tension: Exodus 17:1-7 locates the water-from-rock miracle at Rephidim in the wilderness of Sin ("the rock in Horeb"), with Moses naming the place Massah and Meribah.
The tension: The Second Commandment in Exodus 20:4 and Deuteronomy 5:8 prohibits making "any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is i…
The tension: The Torah (Exod 20:14, Deut 5:18) and the New Testament (Acts 15:20, 1 Cor 5:1, 6:13, 6:18, 10:8, 2 Cor 12:21, Gal 5:19-21, Eph 5:3, Col 3:5-6, 1 Thess 4:3, He…
