Help with conflicting bible verses?

Question

I am so confused... don't these verses directly CONFLICT with each other?? Thanks for any help.

"For I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever." (Jeremiah 3:12)
"Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever." (Jeremiah 17:4)

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid." (John 5:31)
"Jesus answered: Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid." (John 8:14)

"And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth." (Matthew 28:18)
"the whole world is under control of the evil one." (1 John 5:19)

And Jesus said, "For judgement I am come into this world." (John 9:39)
"I came not to judge the world" (John 12:47)

"Jacob said, 'I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.'" (Genesis 32:30)
"No man hath seen God at any time." (John 1:18)

We should fear God (Matthew 10:28)
We should love God (Matthew 22:37)
There is no fear in love (1 John 4:18)

Answer 1

ok good job with that ok i like you am an atheist ok, but seriously i know your looking at some atheist websites and thats great i did the same thing here in like june or july,

seriously what you should do is read a book about the bible or the bible itself and try and understand it,

cause really this line of attack does not work they are all going to give you apologetics answers about how there isnt any contradictions,

this line of stuff doesnt work, its fun dont get me wrong youll get a lot of atheists who will laugh with you,

but seriously for a real mind trip read it for real,

like the matrix in order for neo to fight agent smith he had to learn the rules of the matrix,

you copying and pasting for skeptics annotated bible, is just sorta, well, comedy of errors

Answer 2

Dear Gwenlady2,

There are individuals that say that there are contradictions in the Bible but that is not true. I am not saying this because I belong to a particular denomination. The truth of the matter is, many of these "supposed contradictions" are simply because one has taken a verse or verses out of context. Another reason is that the Bible is a spiritual Book and is written in parables (Mark 4:33, 34). The Lord even testifies that there will be some that "hear but will not comprehend" or "see but not perceive". The Bible is written to every person but only the "elect" or "sheep" will hear and follow. The non-elect will not hear nor obey.
For an example, we see the Pharisees and Scribes who had memorized great portions of Scripture and were well acquainted with the Jewish traditions. However, when God Almighty (Jesus Christ) met them face to face, they could not see recognize Messiah. Why? Because the Lord had not opened their spiritual eyes. We read in Ephesians 2:1-3, that man is dead in sins and trespasses. The Lord gives some wonderful pictures of salvation in Ezeliel 37 and John 11. We find here, that the valley of dry bones represents mankind dead in sin. Lazarrus, also was a stinking corpse in the tomb (dead for 4 days). When the word of God is given by the Lord or Ezekiel the dead are raised to life--that is what salvation is. The Lord gives a sinner a new resurrected soul in which he only wants to be obedient to the word of God (1 John 2:3,4).
We see in Matthew 7:21-23 the terrible reality that awaits those who "thought they were saved" but had never been born of God.

Answer 3

A great deal of the verses in the Bible depend on the context so it is hard to look at those quotes without knowing the context. Another important thing to keep in mind is that the Bible is an anthology, which means that it is one book written by many authors. It is very likely that these men contradicted each other from time to time. I will try to help with this one:

And Jesus said, "For judgement I am come into this world." (John 9:39)
"I came not to judge the world" (John 12:47)

Jesus is here to pardon our sins, which are judged by God, so he is here to save us from all of the terrible things we have done. He paid the price for our sins.

He did not, however, come here to judge people, meaning he is not here to point the finger, but to help you get to heaven, in spite of your sinful nature.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

At first I thought the answer to this question would be long and take a lot of my time to answer, but then I started looking up the verses you have chosen and I realized there is a very simple answer. Context. You have taken small snips of the Bible, given none of the context surrounding those snips, and have tried to call foul. I submit to you that anyone's words, when taken out of context, can show conflict with previous statements.
Perhaps you need to ask yourself why you are trying so hard to justify your disbelief. Instead of looking for lists of seemingly conflicting scripture, maybe you should just read the whole thing yourself. I recommend starting in the book of John.

Answer 5

One is earth is not the world.. We gotta renounce the world (so few do) // The world we live in is an illusion of satan, ego-mind, we do not see through it. We are asleep, unconscious... Not all people are fooled all the time though..You get free from the world by regaining Christ consciousness, seeing only God (in the real there is only God) and not relying on the dualistic ego-mind.(the devil)..

fearing means respecting// And yes God is love in Him there is no darkness..

The one of John 8 you need to read on and see if you understand it then..

I find it very important to check out those kind of questions.. many of them I have kept for years and recently found answers./.some of it IS due to translation (holy Spirit is female no matter what they say) Some things He said and did are seemingly contradictory as He said they would be there is what we define stuff as and God's standards .. Sometimes people in the bible say the Spirit lead them and they are really fooled by the ego-mind (if you get up the ladder of consciousness this can happen) you need to see for yourself. Can God really have said this or is something else going on?? Study it and take into account the level of consciousness of the person.. Dreamsymbols are very important for me to explain meanings, which are soemtimes more important then the letter.. (like sea bodies of water desert is underworld and subconscious mind.. etc,, dreamsymbol sites can help you if you really wanna learn.. garden is mind etc,,

Love

Answer 6

These should really be posed as separate questions, because they're each deserving of explanation. Short answer: they do not conflict, if you properly identify to whom God is speaking AND if you fully understand the true meanings of the words given.

For example, Jeremiah 3 is directed toward Israel; Jeremian 17 is directed toward Judah (read the Book of Hosea to know more about God's view of Judah). Just prior to King Solomon's death, there was a rebellion that ultimately lead to the country being split into two countries: Judah (comprised of the tribe of Judah only) and Israel (composed of the remainder of the tribes). Judah wanted the Davidic line to remain its source of future kings; Israel wanted future kings to come from other tribes. Each new country was viewed separately, in terms of its unfaithfulness to God's Covenant.

At Jer. 3:12, God told Israel that, if it repents and returns to Him, all will be forgiven. Notice, this is a CONDITIONAL promise. Similarly, God told Judah there is no forgiveness, UNLESS it also repents (see verses 7-8 and 13); so this is ALSO a conditional promise. However, Judah had different conditions than Israel. Things were more difficult for the Tribe of Judah, though. Following David's adultry with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, her husband, the House of David was cursed:

2 Samuel 12:10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; ..."

This tells us there will be perpetual fighting in the house of David (and presumably, the entire Tribe of Judah). This fighting will only end when it repents by accepting Jesus Christ, from whom forgiveness of all sins has come to humanity. Those who fail to accept the Messiah, who Himself was born into the House of David and Tribe of Judah, will face God's anger, which burns forever against all who turn their backs upon Him.

I hope this helps. Peace.

Answer 7

It is confusing, and kind of human.

If you have 2 people describe the same incident, you may find totally different interpretations, based on personality and perception.

Even you, may feel different about things one day or year to the next.

The bible is a collection of writings, from many people, that is "BY FAITH" assumed to be divinely inspired. It will never be proven.

My analogy: wheat is good. Wheat has wheat germ and chaff. You cannot have wheat germ without the chaff. The Bible is good. The bible may have some chaff in it for it is written by man.

Answer 8

If we sin because we are weak or in ignorance, God will correct us, and if we repent He will not keep His anger.
If we sin willfully and reject God, we will be sent to Hell where we shall burn forever in the lake of fire.

Jesus did not expect people to believe Him just because He told them to, He came and did what was prophesied of Him. And even if He did testify about Himself, it would be all true.

Jesus has all power and authority. The Devil can do many things, except what God commands him not to.

The first coming of Jesus was to be our savior.
His second coming is to be the Judge of the world.

I believe in the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as three separate entities but in one accord. So I say that people have seen Jesus (even before He was known as Jesus) but no one has look on the face of the Father (not even Moses).

Fear means to have a reverent awe of God.

Answer 9

They only conflict if you ignore the context. Adultery had been prohibited since the law was given to Moses. The Matthew quote is of Jesus who is affirming the holiness of marriage and saying that it is so holy that it is to be protected in thought as well as in deed. Jesus brought about a higher standard than the law, where ones thoughts and attitudes are to be controlled by a new spirit and a new heart. The Corinthians quote is Paul, providing pastoral information to Greeks (not Hebrews) about whether or not people should undertake marriage. His response was that there were callings to be single and to marry...and that it was better to marry and satisfy sexual desire in a sanctified relationship than to burn with desire. There is no conflict. Just things taken out of context. Matthew 5:28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 1 Corinthians 7:9 But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.

Answer 10

The thing is, even if you got 100 Christians to admit that there are conflicts in the bible, they will come up with some rationality for it. They will say "Well yeah, but God didn't want you to figure everything out instantly, so he put difficulties in the path of life so that only the true believers with faith would come unto him" .. or some other such nonsense. If you ask them how they know this, they will claim God told them, etc etc. It's just never-ending. No matter what you do, Christians are like Sylvia Browne- they just fill in the blanks and make half of it up as they go along. :)

Answer 11

Read the RED words and talk to God yourself! God is LOVE and there is NO FEAR in LOVE. Jesus came here because of guilt and jufgement to show the remedy for such. Love and Forgiveness overcomes all things even this world. Making a decision to Love and Forgive and to apply that decision is the road to Salvation.....waking up from the dream!