{"id":5479,"date":"2026-08-31T11:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479"},"modified":"2026-08-31T11:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:09:26","slug":"pastor-who-compared-bible-to-aesop-shows-no-knowledge-of-contradictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479","title":{"rendered":"Pastor who compared Bible to Aesop shows no knowledge of \u2018contradictions\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>An Alabama pastor who went viral for comparing biblical stories to Aesop\u2019s fables ended up showing how little she knows about some of the supposed biblical \u201ccontradictions\u201d she raised in her sermon.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5477\">Whatever Happened to \u2018When in Rome\u2019?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Katie Gilbert, executive pastor at First Church Birmingham, delivered a sermon Aug. 2 titled \u201cI Love You, Bible \u2014 Just Not \u2018That\u2019 Way.\u201d In it, Gilbert argued that the Bible contains contradictions and historical inaccuracies and suggested that some biblical narratives can be understood like Aesop\u2019s fables, stories intended to convey truth without necessarily recounting factual events. Clips of the sermon began circulating widely in late August.<\/p>\n<p>First Church\u2019s website says the sermon launched a five-week series called \u201cCurveball,\u201d guided by theologian Peter Enns\u2019s book of the same name. Among the questions the church explicitly says the series will consider is: \u201cWhat are we to do with contradictions in scripture?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gilbert pointed to Proverbs 26:4\u20135: \u201cAnswer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s an extremely weak example: Those sayings were deliberately placed beside each other. The point of wisdom literature is that wisdom requires knowing which principle applies in a particular circumstance. Sometimes arguing with a fool merely makes you another fool. Sometimes failing to answer him allows him to remain \u201cwise in his own conceit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gilbert also cited Deuteronomy 23:1, which excludes eunuchs from \u201cthe assembly of the LORD,\u201d and contrasted it with Philip\u2019s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5474\">A Proper President List<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But between Deuteronomy and Acts comes Isaiah 56, where God specifically promises faithful eunuchs a place within his house and \u201can everlasting name.\u201d The Bible itself announces the coming change.<\/p>\n<p>Commands given to ancient Israel under the Mosaic covenant need not constitute identical instructions to Christians. Likewise, poetry is not history, proverbs are not universal statutes, and apocalyptic imagery is not journalism. Recognizing literary genre does not require turning biblical history into moral fables.<\/p>\n<p>Gilbert\u2019s approach also raises questions within her own denomination. The United Methodist Church does not demand a fundamentalist reading of every biblical passage, but encourages interpretation using reason, tradition and experience. Yet its official teaching calls Scripture the \u201cprimary source and criterion for Christian doctrine\u201d and says the other sources must not displace Scripture\u2019s primacy.<\/p>\n<p>Once Scripture becomes something from which the modern reader decides which portions are factual, which are fable and which reflect mistaken ancient ideas, the question shifts from whether we believe the Bible to whether the Bible agrees with our own preconceptions.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Greg Richter is a career journalist who is the author of <\/strong><\/em><strong><span>The Bee Attitudes: And Other Spiritual Lessons From Everyday Life<\/span><\/strong><em><strong> and editor\u00a0 of <\/strong><\/em><strong><span>Drawing Near: A 30-Day Journey Into the Presence of God.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5470\">Socialist Promises, Promises<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Alabama pastor who went viral for comparing biblical stories to Aesop\u2019s fables ended up showing how little she knows about some of the supposed biblical \u201ccontradictions\u201d she raised in her sermon. Read more Whatever Happened to \u2018When in Rome\u2019? Katie Gilbert, executive pastor at First Church Birmingham, delivered a sermon Aug. 2 titled \u201cI [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christianity","category-religion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pastor who compared Bible to Aesop shows no knowledge of \u2018contradictions\u2019 - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pastor who compared Bible to Aesop shows no knowledge of \u2018contradictions\u2019 - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Alabama pastor who went viral for comparing biblical stories to Aesop\u2019s fables ended up showing how little she knows about some of the supposed biblical \u201ccontradictions\u201d she raised in her sermon. Read more Whatever Happened to \u2018When in Rome\u2019? 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Katie Gilbert, executive pastor at First Church Birmingham, delivered a sermon Aug. 2 titled \u201cI [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479","og_site_name":"Interstate Logistics Hub","article_published_time":"2026-08-31T11:09:26+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4"},"headline":"Pastor who compared Bible to Aesop shows no knowledge of \u2018contradictions\u2019","datePublished":"2026-08-31T11:09:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479"},"wordCount":493,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ceb8b9a751dbcc62d715b6ac0771820f.jpg","articleSection":["Christianity","Religion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479","url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5479","name":"Pastor who compared Bible to Aesop shows no knowledge of \u2018contradictions\u2019 - 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