That's the central problem that Jan is pondering. And there are far more than that one. Consider, for example, the order of creation in Genesis 1 - water, dry land, plants, animals, then people. In Genesis 2 the order is dry land, water, plants, people, then animals. How can both be correct?
Jan's solution is to change the Bible in his own mind to make it consistent. I find that approach to be facile and self-serving. Much better to study the Bible for what it is - an (originally oral) history of a people, and later Christianity. The two books (Genesis 1 and Genesis 2) were written by two different authors at two different times, for example - they use different styles, different tenses and different words for God (Yaweh vs. Elohim.) So from that perspective it makes perfect sense that they don't match each other.
It is as silly to use the Bible as a history or biology textbook as it is to try to find morality in the Principia.
Thanks for the information.
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