Does this passage have a contradiction in it?

Question

Psalm 14 (New International Version)
" 5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous. "

Psalms 14 appears to be speaking of Atheists, if this is the case I am not overwhelmed with dread. To me that is a contradiction.. unless I am not reading it correctly.

monica80,

You must admit, it is hard to follow the context of the Bible, everyone seems to interpret it differently. Why does this passage switch from Atheists, then to Christians? It does not make any sense.

Answer 1

If you had read the previous verses, you would see that it speaks of the evildoers, not necessarily atheists. (Unless you are counting atheists as evildoers...which I don't necessarily.)

Here is the previous verse and the following verse added in context:

4. Will evildoers never learn -- those who devour My people as men eat bread and who do not call on the Lord?

5. There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.

6. You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.

You can see clearly that it is about people who do wrong and oppress others. Those who are oppressed seek after God.

Keep in mind, the Psalms were written mostly by King David, and for the people of Israel. Many of his psalms were written about God's divine protection from pagan nations that wished to destroy Israel.

Granted, God's Word applies today, but Christians mostly look to them for guidance and comfort. When someone is being oppressed, the Christian finds comfort in them.

If, as an atheist, you oppress Christians, or others, then, and only then, might it apply to you. Otherwise, look at the words. It's talking about evildoers.

Answer 2

in NAB verse 5 says "They have good reason, then, to fear; God is with the company of the just."

Meaning that God will always side with His followers, even all people are His children. He will never side with unbelievers, people that have heard about God but still disbelieve in Him.

Verse 6 "They (unbelievers) would crush the hopes of the poor, but the poor have the Lord as their refuge." Meaning that no matter what the unbelievers do or say to the believers, God will always protect the believers.

I think verse 1 is also important, "Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." Their deeds are loathsome and corrupt; not one does what is right." Meaning that a unbelievers may love their neighbors but it doesn't matter because they do not love their God.

Unbelievers are overwhelmed with dread; the word 'dread' means "await with fear". Unbelievers aren't the people that have never been told about God. Unbelievers are the people that have heard about God, many were raised in a Christian family but later in life decided that God doesn't exist and changed their beief system. Since these people are well aware that God exists but choose to disbelief it, deep inside of them there is still that notion that they might be wrong and live spiritually in fear that God will justly punish them.

I hear many atheists say that since they do not believe that hell exists that that means that they will not go there. Just because you choose not to believe in God's existence doesn't make God all of a sudden disappear from existence. He has always been here and always will be, even if every single person turns their back to Him.

Answer 3

What you miss is that you're reading from the NEW INTERNATIONAL Verson. How can you be sure that is even the correct interpretation of the original Hebrew? But wait. Did Jesus speak Hebrew? He spoke Aramaic. But the first bible was written in?........ yep Greek! So from Jesus' words in Aramaic, to 100 years later in Greek, thru about 30 different translations, you're still trying to get the correct meaning.. It's insane...

Elvis Presley had a favorite recipe for Fried Chicken. Since he's died there have been 30 books written about him from people in his close circle. only 3 of those books have the same recipe for his chicken! They couldn't get it right 30 years after his death, and the Bible's earliest Gospel was written 70 years after Jesus death... Give me a break here....

Answer 4

1 Only fools say in their hearts,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
no one does good!

2 The LORD looks down from heaven
on the entire human race;
he looks to see if there is even one with real understanding,
one who seeks for God.

3 But no, all have turned away from God;
all have become corrupt.
No one does good,
not even one!

4 Will those who do evil never learn?
They eat up my people like bread;
they wouldn't think of praying to the LORD.

5 Terror will grip them,
for God is with those who obey him.

6 The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed,
but the LORD will protect his people.

7 Oh, that salvation would come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel!
For when the LORD restores his people,
Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.

Answer 5

jazzy is right. You need to read the entire passage to understand the context.

1. Who was doing the speaking, and who was he speaking to?

2. What did it mean to the original readers?

3. What does it mean to us today?

David was speaking of "worldly men" who are so full of themselves they don't hesitate to attack righteous men. Are you so self righteous? Are you such a successful bad-*** in this world that you want to show off to your atheist friends how you can bully, harass or even hurt Christians? Because if you are, God's got your number...;)

I'm willing to bet you're smart enough to look around you and see some serious flaws with this world. "Only the strong survive"...does that phrase ring true to you? Does it bother you?

Answer 6

4 Will evildoers never learn—
those who devour my people as men eat bread
and who do not call on the LORD

5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.

Examine the verse right before that, VERSE 4. The word, "they", in verse 5 is referring to "my people" in verse 4.
It is not talking about the atheists; it's talking about Christ's followers.


This is the problem with atheists and agnostics who try to find contridictions in the Bible. Either they don't know the significance in the words, or they don't read in context.

Answer 7

Why might want to they be contradictions? they're speaking about 2 diverse circumstances. In Gen 2 Adam develop into quite on my own without different human round. Matt 19 is speaking about a guy who needs to stay unmarried to serve God extra completely.

Answer 8

David was not only King, he was also a prophet and passages like the one you are quoting are looking ahead to the day of judgment.

"And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10-15

Answer 9

I think it is funny that Chapter 14 starts like this: "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt they have committed abominable sins."

Answer 10

No contradiction in it . Just about Fools that do not believe in GOD. Take that how every you want.