Theologian Claims Adam and Eve Were 'Human-Like Creatures,' Jonah Didn't Exist

Satan quoted Scripture in the Temptation of Jesus. He often misquotes Scripture to all he seeks to deceive.

Theologian NT Wright claims Adam and Eve were 'human-like creatures,' Jonah and the great fish is a 'folk tale.'

The Christian Post says, "Famed New Testament scholar and Anglican bishop Tom 'N.T.' Wright says he’s not sure whether some of the most famous figures in the Holy Bible actually existed."

Politician James Talarico, who is a Presbyterian seminary student and Texas state representative running for the US Senate, is making the case that the "Bible sanctions abortion" based on Mary's vision from God. And sanctions and defends the LGBTQ movement, and a general secular progressive worldview.    

Be informed, not misled.

Scripture strictly forbids changing God’s Word, warning that adding to or taking away from it brings severe divine judgment. Key verses include Revelation 22:18-19, which warns of plagues and removal from the Book of Life, and Deuteronomy 4:2, which commands that nothing be added or diminished. 

While the Christian Post refers to NT Wright as a "Famed" New Testament theologian, he's dead wrong.

Here are 100 Bible verses that say he's wrong. 

Rather than dwell on their historicity, Wright cited limited external evidence for figures like Moses, Job, and Jonah, and instead urged Christians to focus on the messages in their respective stories, such as Job's faithfulness in suffering, Jonah's call to enemy-love and mercy, Moses' humble leadership, and Adam’s unique role in God's redemptive plan.

Here's what the "Famed" theologian has to say:

RE: Adam and Eve.

Likely the most debated portion of the podcast concerns the biblical Adam and Eve, who Wright said were part of what he called "a very careful, layered ancient Middle Eastern story” in Genesis 1. 

Rejecting a literal 24-hour creation week, Wright said he is “inclined to see an original human pair” in the figures of Adam and Eve, referring to them as “hominids” and “humanlike creatures.”

“We might even call them proto-humans for many generations, perhaps for many thousands of years before the time we're now talking about,” he added, proposing instead that the Bible’s original couple was called, like the patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah, for a “special purpose” to “bring the, at the moment, rather random and chaotic world under [God’s] saving sovereign stewardship.

“So that seems to me [to be] a way of saying that if there was an original Adam and Eve, that would be what it was all about,” Wright added.

RE: Job. 

Wright suggested the book of Job, the oldest book of the Bible, functions as a crafted morality tale or folk tale, possibly from the post-exilic period, with elaborate Hebrew poetry resembling a Shakespeare play rather than verbatim dialogue. 

He likened Ezekiel's reference to Job as a righteous man to that given to a folk hero. “I don't think there's anything in the book of Job which forces me to say, ‘No, actually, there was this chap and he did have three friends and he did have all these sons and daughters,” he said. “It looks to me very much like either a morality tale or a folk tale to make a particular point.”

Noting the book contains what he called “odd vocabulary,” Wright, who acknowledged he finds Hebrew, the language in which Job was written, “quite difficult,” compared the book’s style to a Shakespearean drama.

“It's clearly been written up almost like a Shakespeare play,” he said.

RE: Jonah

One of the best-known accounts in all of Scripture, Jonah’s adventure in the belly of the great fish, is referenced by Jesus Himself in the Gospels.

But Wright sees the book of Jonah as “very much like a folk tale,” involving a reluctant prophet, a great fish, and ultimately preaching to the people of Nineveh. When asked about Jesus’ reference to Jonah in Matthew 12:39-40 and Luke 11:29, Wright said he personally "tended to take Jesus' reference to Jonah as a reference to somebody whom Jesus at least thought was a real person." 

RE: Moses

When it comes to the historicity of Moses, Wright expressed little doubt about whether the leader of the Israelites was real.

"I'm sure there was a historical Moses,” he said. "It would be very difficult to invent somebody like that." 

Pointing to the biblical description of Moses as "very meek" as a potential mark of authenticity, Wright added, "Why would the writer say that if you're constructing this picture of this great leader?... I think that's a historical memory." 

These ideas are not only being put forward by a so-called "famed" theologian, but by one of the Left's favorite rising politicians.

These are excerpts from a story The Texas Tribune ran a few months ago.

"The Austin lawmaker says his faith fuels his vision of a Democratic Party that “fights back” against billionaires. Republican critics say his stances are at odds with Scripture."

Indeed, they are.

Via The Texas Tribune:

About 20 minutes into his appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Texas Rep. James Talarico started making his case that the Bible sanctions abortion.

In the Book of Luke, the Austin Democrat noted, Mary has a vision from God that she’s going to give birth to a baby who will bring down the powerful from their thrones. But, critically, before she becomes pregnant, Talarico said, an angel “asks Mary if this is something she wants to do, and she says, ‘if it is God’s will, let it be done.’”

“To me, that is an affirmation in one of our most central stories that creation has to be done with consent. You cannot force someone to create,” Talarico, an aspiring Presbyterian minister and U.S. senator, told Rogan, arguing “the idea that there is a set Christian orthodoxy on the issue of abortion is just not rooted in Scripture.”

He went on to accuse the religious right of prioritizing abortion bans and “control” of pregnant mothers, rather than reducing miscarriages and protecting children through expanded health care access.

“I think that’s what we see across this Christian nationalist movement,” Talarico said. “This is religion at its worst: trying to control people and what they do.”

It was archetypal Talarico fare, blending religion and a progressive, populist politics on a digital platform made to reach millions. The appearance on Rogan’s show was only the latest in a string of viral hits this year for the devoutly Christian Democrat, who has garnered an enormous following online from videos that show him sermonizing about how religion informs his liberal worldview and debating his Republican colleagues in the Texas House over their efforts to infuse religion into public life.

Takeaway

By the end of the podcast episode — in which Talarico also wielded Scripture to defend gay rights, argue against religion in public schools and explain his work in the Legislature to lower the cost of prescription drugs — Rogan, who endorsed Donald Trump for the White House in 2024, told Talarico he “needs to run for president,” catapulting the four-term state lawmaker across the internet and making national headlines.

• Romans 12:2: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
• 2 Peter 1:20-21 ESV: "Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.