How many errors are there in the bible?

Question

Is it true that according to The Jehovah's Witnesses in their "AWAKE" Magazine dated 8th September 1957 published the following headline: "50,000 Errors in the Bible" wherein they say "..there are probably 50,000 errors in the Bible...errors which have crept into the Bible text...50,000 such serious errors..." After all of this, however, they go on to say: "...as a whole the Bible is accurate."

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses actually understand and teach that the Bible is the only inspired and infallible means of learning the Almighty's will and purposes.

However, Jehovah's Witnesses also acknowledge that bible students do not have the original manuscripts that were actually penned by the inspired bible writers. Also, current scholars do not have a perfect understanding of every facet of ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

Taken in total, though, the bible's internal consistency, scientific credibility, historical accuracy, and record of fulfilled prophecy pursuade bible students that it truly represents the Word of God.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/library/t13/why_trust.htm

Answer 2

Ohh my apologies for ranting here, I usually try to keep them to 2 or 3 sentence answers because quite frankly my attention span just isn’t that long. But heres my thing about errors in the bible. Every Christian will jump on you saying that the bible is the word of God and the word of God can’t possibly be wrong. Plausible…however God didn’t write the bible…he subcontracted the work out. The bible is the inspired word of god, written by a lot of different guys over a lot of different time. You say “but these were men of God, they wouldn’t change the word of God” I say “Men of God have been waging holy wars and killing each other fanatically for thousands of years… I’m to believe that while their ok with chopping each others heads off in order to make the other side believe their views, they won’t change the wording a little to reflect the way they think it should be?” The 10 commandments however WERE written by God, or so I’ve heard… written in stone for that matter… maybe there’s something to be said about that. When the world can get those 10 little rules down and stop killing, stealing, coveting etc., then maybe we can move on to more complicated rules. Until then, baby steps.

Answer 3

It depends on what you mean by errors. No one has access to any of the original documents, so we are depending on copies of copies of copies of those originals. So mistakes, additions, and omisions creep into the text. These are called 'textual variants.' Most of the copies of these texts are different in some way or another. There are somewhere around 500,000 variants between the now existing manuscripts. Most of these variants are inconsequential, but there are some that are rather important. Take for instance the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8 (not in the most ancient manuscripts) and all the verses in Mark 16 after verse 8 (again, all the verses after 8 are not present in the most ancient and reliable manuscripts). The list could go on, but hopefully you see the point. The translations we read today are riddled with errors.

As for internal errors and inconsistencies, again, there are many. This is only a problem though if you are a Biblical literalist. There is theological, historical, and cultural truth contained within the text (in my opinion). In Genesis 1, human beings are the last creation in the cycle. However, in Genesis 2, creation is described differently. Adam is created after the heavens and the earth, and then vegetation and animals are created after Adam. These two inconsistencies cannot be reconciled rationally. Also, in Luke, Joseph (Jesus' father) is said to be the son of Heli, while in Matthew, Joseph is said to be the son of Jacob (other inconsistencies exist between the two genealogies). Additionally, Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe Jesus' death to have occurred after Passover, while John has it happening ON Passover.

Again, there are many more, but these were just the first three which sprang to mind. The death and resurrection stories between the four gospels contain many differences when read critically. It is interesting though to see how the different theologies and viewpoints of the different authors shaped their telling of the gospel story.

Sorry for the long answer - in short, yes there are errors and inconsistencies in the Bible. Yet, the book itself still remains authoritative in my life as a way in which I can model my own life to treat others with respect, to serve those who are in need, and to find God behind the words and stories presented in the text.

Answer 4

Depends on who you ask.
If someone believes it is the word of God, then they may think there are no mistakes.
But for a rational person, the Bible is a compilation of stories handed down for centuries. It has been translated and re-translated. Rulers and priests have left out or changed parts that did not serve their purpose.
And there are those that believe the Bible is not history at all but a collections of parables and lessons.
So the total of errors would go from zero to a bunch, depending on the person responding.

Answer 5

Suppose for a moment that not a single verifiable fact in the Bible was wrong, and further suppose that the Bible was 100% self consistent.

Would that be enough to prove that serpents and donkeys can talk, men can walk on water and rise from the dead, pigs commit mass suicide, the walls of a city can collapse just from guys running around them, and so on?

Of course not, so the question behind the question is moot.

Answer 6

Probably the whole text. It has been rewritten for over a millenia that who knows what the original gospels and such said. That is why no two bibles are the same. The bible was written by man, not god. I think that gods words are to great to be written, as there would not be a language available to use to do it.

Answer 7

If you mean to take the Bible literally, then it is nonsensical. However, if you take it as a cultural history of the Israelites during Old Testament times, and understand that like "The Illiad" it winds history, culture and religion together into a narrative - then you can find that it contains wisdom, value and symbolic meaning without getting hung up counting errors.

Answer 8

There are hundreds of known errors in the bible. And at least 143 purported contradictions. Just the completely different styles of the Old and New testaments alone give way to this - let alone the myriad of versions out there.

Answer 9

Who KNOWS...How can you count the words from Genesis to Revelations??? Again, There is HISTORY that confirms, MAN wrote the bible and god didn't dictate the scriptures hundreds of years later. Especially, European texts. Who knows who is going the way god wanted? Or, was there ever god? We blow off mythology today as just something to entertain us. But, the people of that era thought it was true..Or do Christians even speak the word?? Somehow all this adds up to??????????????????????What is religion anyway and why.....

Answer 10

Depends on who you ask, I think there are none other than a few numeric errors. Non believers think its all in error and most believers think there are no errors.