More lies?

Question

Historical Facts

58. Man was created after the other animals
Gen 1:25,26,27
Man was created before the other animals
Gen 2:18,19
59. Seed time and harvest were never to cease
Gen 8:22
Seed time and harvest did cease for seven years
Gen 41:54,56/ Gen 45:6
60. God hardened Pharaoh's heart
Ex 4:21/ Ed 9:12
Pharaoh hardened his own heart
Ex 8:15
61. All the cattle and horses in Egypt died
Ex 9:3,6/ 14:9
All the horses of Egypt did not die
Ex 14:9
62. Moses feared Pharaoh
Ex 2:14,15,23; 4:19
Moses did not fear Pharaoh
Heb 11:27
63. There died of the plague twenty-four thousand
Num 25:9
There died of the plague but twenty-three thousand
1 Cor 10:8
64. John the Baptist was Elias
Matt 11:14
John the Baptist was not Elias
John 1:21
65. The father of Joseph, Mary's husband was Jacob
Matt 1:16
The father of Mary's husband was Heli
Luke 3:23
66. The father of Salah was Arphaxad
Gen 11:12
The father of Salah was Cainan
Luke 3:35,36
67. There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David
Matt 1:17
There were but thirteen generations from Abraham to David
Matt 1:2-6
68. There were fourteen generations from the Babylonian captivity
to Christ.
Matt 1:17
There were but thirteen generations from the Babylonian
captivity to Christ
Matt 1:12-16
69. The infant Christ was taken into Egypt
Matt 2:14,15,19,21,23
The infant Christ was not taken into Egypt
Luke 2:22, 39
70. Christ was tempted in the wilderness
Mark 1:12,13
Christ was not tempted in the wilderness
John 2:1,2
71. Christ preached his first sermon on the mount
Matt 5:1,2
Christ preached his first sermon on the plain
Luke 6:17,20

Answer 1

I don't get it. The Bible is utterly insane! How can one base a believe system on it.

Answer 2

You have to remember that the Bible was written after the fact. The book is basically written by people who were interpreting the stories as they knew it. Many people were illiterate and told these stories instead of writing them. These stories were passed down verbally from generation to generation. At some point, they were written down by someone who could write.

The books of the Bible were written by different people at different points in history. For example, the books of the New Testament were written almost a century after the events and teachings involving Jesus. We all know the game where you tell someone a story and the story is passed from person to person and then retold again by the last person. It always gets interpreted differently than the original story. That is exactly how most biblical stories were passed around originally.

Another contributor to conflicting information in the Bible concerns the way the Bible was originally copied. It was the job of scribes to copy the Bible throughout early history. There weren't printing presses to do the job until much later. Monks and priests were the ones who held this job for the most part. It was common for Church leaders to interpret the writing based on their personal opinions; or, their interpretation would reflect the societal issues during that time in history. Think about it. If there was something in the Bible that didn't quite sit right with what was going on and someone had the power to make little adjustments, wouldn't someone have taken liberty to do so?

Many Christians believe that God wouldn't have allowed these changes to happen. That argument is sound enough unless you take into consideration that He/She allowed humans to have free will. If it is the will of the people to worship the way they deem fit, then God wouldn't stop them. As long as humans had the job of interpreting and copying the Bible, mistakes and/or misinterpretations were bound to happen.

It wasn't until the Constantine assembled the Council of Nicea in 325 CE, that the books that were included in the current Bible were decided upon. Until that time, there were many different early Christian books in circulation. It was at the Council of Nicea that the decision was made to deem certain writing as the word of God and other writing as heretical. This decision was made based on what Church leaders thought was likely to have happened. Because many of the stories repeat themselves with only subtle variations, then the Church leaders thought they were relevant as books to be included into the Bible.

Many of the books that did not make it into to the Bible were thought of as blasphemous. The Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Judas, are just a few books that did not get included and are considered gnostic texts. Relatively recent information regarding these texts have brought to light the different forms of early Christianity. Even though these early writings were based on the teaching of Jesus, they were edited out because the ideas were different from those of the men on Constantine's council.

Despite all that happened during the evolution of the Bible stories, they remained relatively unchanged since Constantine's time. There have been minor linguistic changes based on variations in language over the years, but the theme has remained basically the same.

When reading the Bible it is important to realize that it is not the same type of historical account as we would record history now. In many places in the Bible, it is nothing but a family pedigree from the time of Noah and Moses. In other places, it includes mythical-type stories that, like nursery rhymes and fables, teach morals. The New Testament tells the story of Jesus who was very much like civil rights activists of today. In any case, the book is intended to guide a person through life with the best intentions.

I don't think that the Bible was meant to deceive or confuse its readers. It should be read as separate interpretations to the same stories. In any case, the messages are still the same, despite the variations.

Whether these teachings are truth is subject the interpretation of the student. As with many different religious texts, only the faithful will know for sure if the Bible's words ring true. That is the beauty of faith.

Answer 3

The only thing you are trying to do is prove the Bible is in error. All those verse you have quoted are not lies and what you need to do is use the context of each verses. You have to have the Holy Spirit of dwelling within you and you don't have it or you could understand God's Word. If you would believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross then you could know what God is talking about.

Answer 4

why not buy an ad in a newspaper if you wanted to make a statement? I can't believe you went to all this trouble to try to discredit the Bible! Maybe if you got out and became interested in people, you could have friends like other people. Maybe if you joined a club that interested you, you could make a life for yourself . We'll be praying for you to find a life and "fit in" somewhere . Don't give up, everyone is lonely once in a while.

Answer 5

The Bible is a collection of historical stories written by a number of authors. The Council at Nicea decided which ones stayed in the Bible and which were "heresy". Frightenlingly enough, the ones that stayed are considered the most consistent...............of course, if you're looking for consistency, look not to religion (or newspapers or politicians)

Answer 6

Apparently, there weren`t enough followers of Jesus at his time to remember all his sayings by heart. And when some of it got passed down, a certain bunch of them claiming to be the saintly ones corrupt them, introduced new teachings and also deleted some old ones. Since man has spoiled the original teaching, it is not unusual for contradictions to appear here and there.

Answer 7

Atta Boy! Did you know that something mysteriously wonderful happens to a person when they study the Bible looking for lies? After a while they find the truth. It's one of those goose pimply magical light bulb moments!

Answer 8

Why do you believe that these sayings are lies? Of course if you take them out of context there going to appear with as bad. I could just as easily take a book written about George Washington or any other historical figure and take it out of context and make it look as if he was something he really wasn't.

Answer 9

You already answered the question. It is obvious that the Bible is inconsistent. The reason is different people wrote it. However, Bible is not to be judged for historical accuracy. Treat it as a cultural phenomenon.

Answer 10

why are you putting so much energy into trying to convince self dilluted people to see something that they will only be angry about. I agree with you, but there's no need, or point to fighting a battle of reality vs. fable with people who have already decided what they want to believe. Give up, let them look nutty on their own.

Answer 11

Honestly, the "cut-and-paste" tactic is quite overdone. The amount of information itself is not an argument. If you want someone to answer them you must go one at a time; and I suspect you don't want anyone to answer them...