How can something be false, and true at the same time?

Question

See the third answer on this question http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061106100113AAycODA

Just because it doesn't come from the Bible doesn't mean it's false. The Bible doesn't address many things that are nevertheless true.
What are your opinions? Can something be true and yet not mentioned in the Bible? Or is everything not mentioned in the Bible false?

Bob's answer brings up another question. how does your answer answer my question? While it's a true answer (except the last line and your "(erroneously)") it doesn't answer the question. Does that make it false?

Answer 1

A statement cannot be both true and false simultaneously. This violates the rules of logic. Whether something is in the bible has no relavancy to this principle.

Answer 2

I personally was not mentioned in the bible by name, but it is true that I am a real person. The bible is our basis for our faith and the principles that were applied then are still true for our day. We do not apply 'the law' since it was done away with when Jesus came as a perfect ransom sacrifice for our sins.
2 Timothy 3:16, 17
16 All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.
Note that it says be COMPLETELY equipped for every good work, yes everything we need to base our principles on, to make good decisions, is in the bible. We just need to take the time to search out and reason on what it tells us. As for the book of Nephi that is spoken of here I will have to research and see what the meaning of this is, first of all the book of Nephi is not listed in the cannons as being accepted as an inspired scripture. I gather from the sites mentioned that this is a morman teaching. If I gain any understanding of this before the question expires I will add it to the comments or email you.

http://www.watchtower.org/e/20010701/article_01.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/e/t13/article_01.htm

Answer 3

There have been many books written that have factual characters, factual places , but, not factual events. The book that you are quoting from is from the Book of Morman, which is full of contradictions in the Bible. Just because a book/movie take factual events and creates lies about them does not make that book factual.

For instance...

Polygamy was a doctrine some Mormons found hard to accept. Abstinence from alcohol is a teaching many find difficult. But one unique Mormon belief has supposedly brought blessing and relief to many souls, particularly potential converts.

Mormonism teaches that practically no one is forever damned to hell. Aside from Satan, his spirit followers, and perhaps a half-dozen notorious sinners, all people who have ever existed will share in heavenly "glory." Not, mind you, all in the same heaven. There are, in fact, three heavens.

The lowest heaven is populated by adulterers, murderers, thieves, liars and other evil-doers. These share in a glory and delight impossible to imagine. Their sins have been forgiven, and they now enjoy the eternal presence of the Holy Ghost.

The middle heaven contains the souls and bodies of good non-Mormons and those Mormons who were in some way deficient in their obedience to church commandments. They will glory in the presence of Jesus Christ forever.

The top heaven is reserved for devout Mormons, who go on to become gods and rulers of their own universes. By having their wives and children "sealed" to them during an earthly, temple ceremony, these men-gods will procreate billions of spirits and place them into future, physical bodies. These future children will then worship their father-gods, obeying Mormon commandments, and eventually take their place in the eternal progression to their own godhood.

Mormons think this doctrine is a strong selling point. They point out (erroneously) that only their church offers families the chance to be together forever in eternity. But read the fine print. The only way you can have your family with you is if each one of them has lived a sterling Mormon life. Otherwise, a spouse, parent, or child may be locked forever in a lower heaven. Indeed, the faithful Mormon wife of a lukewarm Mormon man will leave him behind in an inferior place while she goes on and is sealed to a more devout Mormon gentleman. These two will then beget and raise their own, new family.

The LDS slogan, "Families are forever," means fractured families.


As far as your question of something being both false and true, you can look this example...

If someone asked you if an Ice cube was cold, what would your answer be?

Probably - "Yes". That is because you are comparing it to the temperature of your body. But, In reality, the ice cube can also be very warm compared to other liquids or solids. If you compared the ice cube to liquid oxygen, then the ice cube could be considered to be very hot.

So, it is possibly for your answer of "Yes" is both both true and false.

Answer 4

Things can be true, but it is still not good for you.

Many things have been done (like wars) in the name of Jesus or Christianity, but this does not make it good or right.

I have not read or studied about Mormons (as I take it that is where the quote comes from) to know what there is that may contradict the Bible. But if any thing in your religion is against the Bible (because you now have a better word/or understanding) than you need to follow what the Bible says.

Answer 5

The Holy Bible Douay-Rheims Version

With Challoner Revisions 1749-52
1899 Edition of the John Murphy Company

IMPRIMATUR:
James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899.

Pope Damasus assembled the first list of books of the Bible at the Roman Council in 382 A.D. He commissioned St. Jerome to translate the original Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin, which became known as the Latin Vulgate Bible and was declared by the Church to be the only authentic and official version, in 1546.

The DR New Testament was first published by the English College at Rheims in 1582 A.D. The DR Old Testament was first published by the English College at Douay in 1609 A.D. The first King James Version was not published until 1611. This online DRV contains all 73 books, including the seven Deutero-Canonical books (erroneously called Apocrypha by Protestants). These seven books were included in the 1611 KJV, but not in later KJV Bibles.

The whole Douay-Rheims Bible was revised and diligently compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner in 1749-1752 A.D. The notes included in the text were written by Dr. Challoner.

The DR Bible was photographically reproduced from the 1899 edition of the John Murphy Company, Baltimore, Maryland, by Tan Books in 1971. Eventually, this edition was optically scanned to produce a large text file which this publisher used for creating this website, with the aid of text-processing software.

One important goal of this project was to preserve the original text "as is", without making any changes in the wording, because the original text had the Imprimatur of James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, dated Sept 1st 1899.

The text file was checked quite thoroughly by software written by the publisher for punctuation errors and verses out of order. The index was humanly checked for misspelled words and the corrections were made to the text. However, some spelling errors may still be present in the text. Many verses were out of order in the original file. These have been corrected.

Every effort was made to ensure that this online version is an exact match to the original printed version. No words were added or ommitted from the text, except for correcting errors caused by the scanning process. No words were rearranged. No verse numbers were changed, except in the case of Psalm 9.

Psalm 9 originally contained 21 verses and there were 2 versions of Psalm 10, numbering 1-18 and 1-8. This obviously caused a conflict, so it was decided to make the first Psalm 10 as the last part of Psalm 9 and renumber the verses 22-39. This retains the same numbering as all the Douay Rheims. Note, in the Protestant Bibles the numbering of Psalms 10 through 146 differs by one.

Answer 6

God is truth and all truth comes from God. There is no lie in God because God is pure truth. The Bible does address all issue that confront us in the 11th Commandment: love thy neighbor as thyself, for this fulfills all the law and the profits. There is not one question that you have that cannot be answered by the Bible, not one issue that cannot be dealt with. Maybe I do not have the expertise to answer all questions, but I do not comprise the entire church of Jesus Christ. I am not the only preacher and Bible teacher on earth. If you have a question or an issue that needs to be dealt with, then there is someone in the world who has the Bible knowledge and expertise to answer you satisfactorily.

Answer 7

well, if you are quoting something, and someone notices that you made up the quote, then it could be called false. It may be a true thing you are saying, but it didnt come from that source, so the point you are trying to make would be false. The bible was written a long time ago, and has been interpreted differently, to account for changing times.

Answer 8

The BIble doesn't mention presidents, or many animals by name, or many other things. The names we use for places today are different from those used in Biblical times. Just because the BIble doesn't talk about it, or uses a different term for it, doesn't mean it's false. Steve Irwin died two months ago. It wasn't in the Bible, but it's true. the BIble is a guide for life.

Answer 9

Books, like the Bible, contain a lot of text. Much of the text is wrong and some of it is correct. It's actually harder for a book to be correct about everything or wrong about everything.

Though, since the Bible was written so long ago, something not coming from the Bible is more likely to be more correct than something coming from the Bible.

Answer 10

I am aware that there are probably a few missing pieces in the Bible. However, I believe what is there.

From time to time, I read in the LDS scriptures. I have not yet made a decision concerning them. If and when I do, I will be mentioning it on this forum.

Answer 11

Everything mentioned in the bible is true.
Does the Bible mention everything? No.
Can some facts be found outside the bible? Yes.