Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

I have always struggled with the two creation accounts.  Perhaps this is rooted in my conservative upbringing which dictated that everything should “line-up” and that Scripture was inerrant.  To have two different accounts certainly does not “line-up” but does that mean that the text is somehow less authoritative?  Both shed light on some different aspects of creation.  The first is orderly and the continual refrain of God’s approval suggest’s God’s distinctiveness (God is not a part of creation but the source of it) and sovereignty.  The second focuses on humanity, interrelatedness (Adam’s aloneness was a problem) and the results of the choice to yield to temptation.  Both seem to be etiologies explaining why certain things are as they are.  When they are allowed to speak for themselves without being forced into any type of creationist/inerrantist paradigm they are so much richer and, to my surprise, so much more powerful.

What is your religious/denominational background? Briefly describe you level of participation in a local church. Include any ministry experience, ordination, etc. My family were members of the Evangelical Free Church and Christian Missionary and Alliance Church until I was seven.  At that time we started attending an SBC church.  So I have been a Baptist for as long as I can remember.  It was in the Baptist church that I made a decision to follow Christ, was baptized, discipled and sensed the call to ministry.  I am currently the pastor of FBC Bartlett.  My previous ministry experience: Youth Intern-Dogwood BC summer 2004, Pastor-Georgetown EFC 1995-1998, Youth/Education Pastor-FBC Rockdale 1998-2001, Pastor-Williams Creek BC 2001-2005, Pastor-FBC Bartlett 2005-present.  I was licensed my senior year of high school (1993) and ordained in 1999. What is your educational background (e.g. your undergraduate major, other degrees, etc.)? I graduated from UMHB with a BA in Religion and Psychology. What are your career plans for after Truett? I hope to continue in the pastorate. How can this course best serve you? Deepen my understanding of the OT so I might more faithfully teach and preach from it.  I have spent much more time in the NT, and want to use the OT more than I have up to this point.

In Genesis 20 what was Abraham’s justification for claiming Sarah was his sister?  In verse 12 Abraham explains that, ”she is indeed my sister , the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.”