Exodus And The Story

In response to my blog post on a Facebook-Atheist’s rather flimsy objections to Christianity, a friend forwards me this question (from a reader whom I don’t suppose read my reply):

 Intellectual question. I imagine most of us know that there’s no evidence for the idea that Egypt actually kept a slave state for 600 years. Or that the Israelites were “let go”, etc.

So…where did the story come from? Was it a whole-cloth invention by the writer of Genesis? 

And, if so……at what point does the fictional story of the Exodus evolve into a factual story of the Israelites hacking their way through the MIddle East and committing acts of genocide and rape against the cities of Jericho, Ai, etc. 

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Facebook Theology Crashes Again

A friend writes, curious about my response to an atheist on Facebook who has made the following claims in a status update:

The Bible (and for that matter Christianity) depends upon 4 basic concepts: Creation, Original Sin, The Exodus and Mosaic Law, and the Resurrection of Jesus.  Science has debunked all 4 of these pillars, leaving the religious house of cards in a pile on the floor.

A few cursory responses…

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Teaching Literary Analysis, Scripture, & The Very Odd Case of Exodus 4:24-26

To read the story theologically either leaves God lacking in omniscience (which I’m fine with but think most Christians will not be fine with); or random as hell. It leaves the Faithful groping vainly for some explanation that doesn’t create more questions than it answers.

But if you simply let the writer play by his own rules, and not the rules that demand the God of Exodus 4 conform to our needs and desires for him, we’re in decent shape, and thinking a lot more like Hebrews and a lot less like the rational, unpoetical creatures we tend to be.

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