So which genealogy are you referring to? Note the differences between:
- Matthew 1:6-16 versus Luke 3:21-31.
- Matthew 1:6-16 versus 1 Chronicles 3:10-16.
- Luke 3:21-31 versus 1 Chronicles 3:10-16.
- 17 verses in the New Testament call Jesus "the son of David," yet Jesus and David were separated by approximately 1,000 years.
- Luke 3:8 says, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham." How could the Jews of Jesus' day describe themselves as "sons of Abraham" when Abraham lived 1,500 to 2,000 years before Jesus?
If you understand how ancient (and modern) Jews maintain genealogies, then none of what I mentioned above is a problem. Disobedient Jews are often blotted out from genealogies. Also, Jewish genealogies often refer to prominent people and leave out many generations. In a spiritual sense, the Jews of Jesus' day were "sons of Abraham," but they were not "sons of Abraham" in a literal sense.
If you depend upon supposedly inerrant genealogies to validate your faith, then you're out of luck. The Bible contradicts itself and cannot be trusted as the true word of God. If you understand how Jewish genealogies work, then the Bible maintains its inerrancy but you have yet another reason to toss out young-earth theories.
I've always maintained that the real problem with young-earthers is not that they don't understand science -- they don't understand their Bibles and the underlying Hebrew and Greek very well. I certainly consider young-earthers to be my brothers and sisters in Christ -- we have so, so much in common that our differences are essentially invisible in comparison. However, I have personally seen the faith or potential faith of so many people damaged when they find out that young-earth theology completely contradicts what God has revealed to us through his creation and in his word.
Please do not try to create confusion that is not there!
Yes, four people were left out of a geneology during the time of the kings, but that will never give us millions of years; it won’t even give us thousands. More to the point, the geneologies of Genesis are quite specific as to the cronological ages of people when they gave birth to the next named person, thus eliminating the question of possible omitted generations. We have an exact span from Adam to Noah in that geneology.
The difference in the genealogies is that of St. Joseph versus the Blessed Virgin Mary, with Luke’s account that of the BVM. They were both of the line of David.
“The Bible contradicts itself and cannot be trusted as the true word of God.”
“However, I have personally seen the faith or potential faith of so many people damaged when they find out that young-earth theology completely contradicts what God has revealed to us through his creation and in his word.”
If the Bible is not the word of God, how could He reveal anything to us through it?
As to your understanding of Hebrew and Greek, not even the greenest student would make the errors in understanding genealogies and use of the terms “son” as you have.