question about abraham?

Question

theologians and writers say that whatever was written about Abraham was penned only about 6 to 700 years after his life ended. (thats if such a person ever existed in real life)

now how can anyone take his life account to be literally or historically true when the gap between his death and the written account of his life details creates an unbridgeable gap?

CAN YOU PLEASE LEAVE GOD OUT OF THIS AND TALK REASON WITH ME?

Answer 1

I think your question goes beyond Abraham and really questions the belief in biblical stories and the mythology of other books like it. Think about the cannonization process. Groups of people sat around and argued about what stories should be held as Biblical and which should be removed. How do we know who got it right? Various new text have been discoved since that time, yet have not been included- why? Another issue is the copying of the Bible before printing presses were invented. Even after the text was recorded in books, there are documented changes that occurred based on the beliefs, education, and work ethic of those who did the copying (see the film "Luther" were there is a scene where Martin Luther is trying to transcribe the Bible from Greek into German and you'll see what I mean).

So with all of this, I think that's where the faith part comes in. It is possible that God allowed variances for a reason we can't understand. This is one of the great mysteries in my opinion.

Answer 2

No one really knows how far back Abraham's life was recorded. There was oral recitation. The Jews had a way to be able to remember very long narations. They did it similar to a song. Certain Israelites did only that for a living. There were about 585 years between the deaths of Abraham and Moses. We know Moses recorded the Torah (1st 5 books). We must also remember that this is inspired literature. God actually told Moses what to write. Now if you do not believe in God, or that any story in the Bible is true, then Inspiration will be meaningless to you.
The Bible is either true or it is false. No one has ever been able to prove any thing in the Bible false. Some may disagree with it, or refuse to believe it, but it has not been proven false. If it is false, then nothing in it really matters-its then just a bunch of ancient stories. But, If it is true-then everything matters.

Answer 3

Often times we go with the best information we have. Its like archealogical findings, we analyze what we find and make coclusions based on past experience and the surrounding enviroment. If Abe's story is plausible based on contextual information then we accept it as fact until new information arises that sheds more light on the issue.

We don't know for sure what happened 4 million years ago in the earths history but we have a pretty good idea and accept it as fact. How much easier then is it to believe stories that are only 3000-4000 years old.

Answer 4

It is in the First Book of Moses. Obviously God who spake face to face with Moses as a man does with a friend; God who gave to Moses the Tablets of the Law written with the very hand of God .... seems God was able to tell Moses how it was He Who had laid the foundations of the world, He Who told Moses about the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve (unless, of course, Moses had seen what Adam and Eve had written down). Likewise, either God told Moses about Abraham, or Moss had read what Abraham had written. [Some of the "lost books" which are actually mentioned in the O.T.]

Answer 5

Now 6 to 700 years is quite a gap, which could be anything from his son to great, great, great grandson, considering how old some of those biblical people got, and Abraham was pretty darn old. Methuseleh was over 900 when he died.

Answer 6

I'm pretty sure that he existed. The gap obviously creates a good basis for error seeing that the stories were passed down verbally for 700 years.

Answer 7

Because in the Quran it is narrated By God, in God's word.

So it makes sense to take the word of the all knowing and the all seing, rather than the bible written by 40 RANDOM PEOPLE over 1400 YEARS.

Answer 8

The Tora is a living thing that has been passed down and unaltered for all of time. There is a sect of Jews who have memorized it word for word and passed it down.. Read the intro in the Tora and it explains well...

Answer 9

The oral history was given from generation to generation till the words were written down.

Answer 10

i do hate to point out the obvious, but the reason is because of the belief that it was G-d himself who penned down abraham's life in the book of genesis.