The hard form, affirmed by Christians committed to biblical inerrancy, sees every detail as factually, literally, and infallibly true.14 Many other Christians affirm a softer form. Aware of differences in the stories, they do not insist on the factual exactitude of every detail. They know that witnesses to an event can differ on details (think of diverging testimonies about an auto accident), but still be reliable witnesses to the basic factuality of the event (the accident really happened).
