A New Discrepancy

Chris Ashton cashton@engr.arizona.edu
Tue, 04 Nov 1997 18:11:44 -0700 (00878713904, 3.0.3.32.19971104181144.006ca750@engr.arizona.edu) 

THE BIG FISH

>The problem occurs in two accounts of the same event, the story of the first

>Gentile converts to Christianity.  Acts 10 states that Peter went to the

>house of Cornelius and preached a sermon that begins in verse 34 and ends in

>verse 43, after which it says that "(w)hile Peter yet spoke these words, the

>Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word" (v:44).  However, when

>Peter returned to Jerusalem, he was questioned about what he had done.  In

>recounting the event, Peter told how he had arrived at the house of

>Cornelius, where he was told about a vision in which an angel had advised

>Cornelius to send for Peter who would speak to him words by which he could

>be saved.  "And as I BEGAN to speak," Peter said to his accusers, "the Holy

>Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning" (11:15).  Hence, one

>account states that Peter preached a sermon before the Holy Spirit fell on

>the household of Cornelius, but at Jerusalem Peter said that the Holy Spirit

>fell on Cornelius and his household as Peter BEGAN	to speak.

>

>Maybe some inerrantist on the list can tell us why this is not a

>chronological discrepancy, which means that there is at least one error in

>the Bible.


CHRISA (in advocatus deii mode)
   Oh, come off it, you cheeseball! :-)  Is the Bible so coherent that
you have to nitpick at such insignificant and imaginary little grammatical 
squabbles?  So one account says the Holy Spirit came while Peter was speaking,
and the other one as he was beginning to speak.  How can you possibly see
a contradiction here?  Both descriptions are completely appropriate and
point to a descending of the Holy Spirit towards beginning of his sermon.

   I'm glad that I don't know you in real life, Till, I am afraid our
conversations would resemble the following (shamelessly copped from Glenn 
Miller's supersite):

ME: "Till, where was the man when he jumped off the bridge?"
He: "In the air, of course..."
Me: "No, that was AFTER he jumped."
He: "Well then, he was ON the bridge when he jumped."
Me: "No, that was BEFORE he jumped."
He: "Hmmm...are you sure he jumped?"

- Chris
----------------------------------------------------------------
WARNING: I cannot be held responsible for the above because my 
cats have apparently learned to type. 

Visit The Other Side: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cashton/atheism/