Hi, @rocking-dave,
I was delayed in responding to this because I got side-tracked answering a question on your blog about finding older entries on the blockchain...
"If a book contains both the statement "God exists" and "God doesn't exist" we can infer that the book contains at least one incorrect statement. "
Nice try, but even what appears to be an "open and shut case" is not necessarily so in the realm of natural language. The larger your "book" or context is, the less likely it is that you an be dogmatic about this.
For example, in the book you posit, one page may contain this statement: "God exists in the minds of those who cannot face the reality of a mechanistic universe." Another page may contain the statement: "God doesn't exist within the confines of this space time continuum, other than in the hearts and minds of believers."
One person may or may not have read the entire book; may or may not be an astute student of the author's work at large. And so, in discussion or debate with another person who has a holographic knowledge of, or even possibly a personal relationship with, the author, there are bound to be differences of perception and opinion.
My point is simply this: what may appear to be contradictory to one individual can be a harmonious part of the whole to another.
As I continue to write here on Steemit, I hope to present some truly striking examples of instances where the scriptures have been taken to task, even ridiculed in the past, for reasons that ultimately amount to ignorance or superficially careless scholarship. One prominent case in point does come very close to "squaring that circle" as you have said, but that's a story for another time. Stay tuned!
"If it's all a metaphor of some sort for instance, than how do you know which interpretation is valid and which isn't."
You really do ask some good questions. As @gavvet has pointed out in his recent series of excellent articles, the bible is literature, and is filled with literary devices. It is truly a book that can be "the study of a lifetime." It is not a trivial task. As much as I've personally studied it, taking runs at learning the original languages, and giving it much thought over many years, I have still barely scratched the surface. One of the "general answers" to your observations here is that the bible uses stories as devices to convey truth. In many cases, the point of the story is not a specific sequence of events. For example, the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation is a series of symbolic visions, and they are very certainly not presented in chronological order.
And so, the answer to your questions about "What was created first" simply may not exist in one or more of the stories.
But this is turning into an article on its own... Thanks for the stimulating discussion! ;)