Why believe the bible?

[Angrboda]

If we're talking about a one hundred percent literal reading combined with a viewpoint of complete and utter literal innerancy of the Bible, then the investigating reader will run into problems very quickly. The first contradiction is in Genesis 2. It contradicts a passage in Genesis 1, if both are read literally.

I'm thinking something along the lines of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy rather than any necessarily slavish literality. I don't know if that does or doesn't cover your objection. There seems to be plenty of debate about what should and should not be interpreted literally. A fellow member, Catholic_Lady, holds that as a Catholic, she is free to interpret the entire Old Testament as allegorical, and I don't believe she considers that at odds with the bible's authoritativeness as a whole. (She's not around lately, unfortunately.)