Let Me Be Perfectly Clear

     Sometimes in the Bible, God explains things on such a basic level it's almost as if he thinks we are stupid, which would be really insulting if it weren't for the fact that we are stupid. It's not just that we are too dense    to understand what God said, we also have a innate desire to look for loopholes and an Enemy who helps us find them.  But our Enemy's enemy knows about the loophole looking loophole, so He makes some things perfectly clear, as if our objections were going to be heard in court.
     As I previously blogged, one of the reasons I believe the days of creation in Genesis are literal, 24 hour days, is the sixfold repetition of the phrase evening and morning.  It's like He knew we would question what the meaning of day is. Another example is in his promise to Abraham of a son. Just so we don't think an infertile, geriatric couple were spontaneously able to have a child, God waits an additional 10 years to make it happen.  By that time Sarah was well past menopause and, even Abraham, was on the shady side of fertility. It would take a miracle for them to have a son. That is the point.
     God is equally repetitive about the virgin birth of Christ. Some commentators split hairs over the meaning of the word virgin in Isaiah 9:6, but there is no doubt in the gospel accounts that Mary has never been intimate with Joseph or any other man. God did not divinely tweak a natural, biological conception; the Holy Spirit miraculously intervened to create life in a way that, despite science fiction, has never happened before or since.
     The Bible is equally redundant about Jesus' death. The death was witnessed by soldiers who killed for a living. In case they were fooled, the spear thrust in his side proved he was dead. Naturally, none of this evidence sways those who hold to the swoon theory, who feel that a beaten, flogged, crucified, speared man could somehow recover by lying neglected in a cold tomb for three days. I hope none of these adherents are emergency room doctors, because that kind of care would finish off a much less traumatized patient.  
     In the Bible, God often goes to great length to prebunk the arguments of would-be debunkers. Those who refuse to believe will continue to, but they can never say God's word wasn't perfectly clear.