What do you do when your reading the Bible and you come across an error or contridiction?

Question

Do you just put your fingers in your ears and go "LA LA LA LA I don't see that!" or something?

Answer 1

First I have not come across an errof or contridiction

k1

Answer 2

Cross check your translation. Sometimes the change in language over the centuries causes a misunderstanding. Example the word suffer has changed meaning; so suffer the young children means permit in modern English. Or shambles has changed meanings it now means meat market. Also get a good Bi bile dictionary.
Read on in a passage because sometimes an apparent contradiction is nothing of the kind.. Example if 4 people witness an accident form different vantage points their stories might be different. One might say he came from the left the other might say he came from the right. Both could be right because they are standing on different sides of the street. that is the cause with some Bible passages. The writers focus or point of view should be considered.

Answer 3

Nothing. The Bible has many contradictions and errors. But this does not mean that the message contained in the Gospels is a fake.
The Bible was written by a number of people throughout the years and it was naturally written in accordance with the existing know how in those days.

When you read that the Creation took 7 days, you already know that this is not so. But 6000 years ago, Moses, knew no better than what the Genesis says.

And so on and so forth.

But if you get confused, then stick to the Gospels which are Jesus' own message for us.

Curious98

Answer 4

Do you actually read the Bible, or do you just go on websites that give examples of contradictions in the Bible?
You are barking up the wrong tree. The purpose of the Bible is not to answer all your objections. Maybe you should try reading the Bible to find out why it was written. You could start in 2 Timothy 3:15,16

Answer 5

1. Read surrounding context.
2. Read parallel passages and contexts.
3. Do other research for additional information.
4. Meditate on what I have read to see if I can think of a logical, factual possibility for the apparent contradiction.

I know I don't know everything; there are questions I cannot answer. However, the majority of time apparent contradictions are explained by insufficient information, as well as the fact one expects to find them.

For example, if one believes the Bible contradicts itself or known facts, and one comes across something such as "insects going upon all fours" one usually automatically assumes it is a contradiction, rather then the far more likely explanation that it is merely a figure of speech.

Answer 6

I used to wonder this too, and so many of our friends do. But, I finally realized, there are absolutely NO contradictions in the word of God, just things we dont fully understand yet. The Bible is like a giant puzzle with many pieces, that go in year after year, each time we understand something. Eventually, when you put each piece is, you have a whole big beautiful puzzle and it ALL clicks all the way in and makes sense. Then, you realize, there is more than one layer to the Bible, and you begin again and again. Even the Jewish know there are four layers to the Bible. You cant get to a deeper understanding of something, till you get the basics of it. SO, once we get something, suddenly we reread that verse, and it adds on to a deeper meaning, and on and on it goes. We are in Bible study and prayer all of our life. and noone has all of the answers, except God. But, we can learn enough to see how there are no contradictions, and when we ask God , He will reveal it to us in His time and in His way, as He knows we are ready to go to the next level. God is good, all the time, He is good.
So, dont give up studying. Make the decision there are no contradictions Settle that in your mind. God doesnt lie or change His mind. But, once you know that, and then you begin to look for ways to put it together with the other that seemed like a contradiction, God just opens it up wide for you, lie a big movie screen. We will all be learning till Jesus comes. Press on. Great question, makes us think and that is always good. Press on together with God for answers and He will give them to you.

Answer 7

For those of you with the short attention spans who haven't "found any errors:" Try this on for starters:

2 Chron. 36:9
Chapter 36 is about the reign of some of the last kings of Israel. This includes Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin. What is interesting is Jehoiachin is said to be eight (8) years old when he began his reign; (verse 9) he reigned three (3) months and ten (10) days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. So he lost his kingship.

How does an eight year old do evil in the sight of the Lord?

He was 8! Does it make sense for God to hold someone so young responsible for their actions?

Perhaps he was not really 8 years old. Perhaps he was actually 10 or 12 years old, but would that be old enough to be held responsible for their actions? 1. Would you give your 8 year old a kingdom to run? And then punish him if he fails to run it properly?

But again, perhaps he was older.

How do we know he was in fact 8 years old? The Bible, and specifically Chronicles says he was 8. But perhaps the Bible is mistaken.

2 Kings 24:8
Now we have the same story. Near the end of Chapter 23 deals with Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Chapter 24, verse 8 talks about Jehoiachin. Verse 8 starts with, "Jehoiachin was eighteen (18) years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem..." verse 9, "He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord;..."

Ah! So, 2 Chron. 36:9 was mistaken. Or perhaps you prefer this particular version and think 2 Kings is the one that was mistaken.

Either way, both of them cannot be true. One cannot be 8 and 18 at the same time in the same place. So, you have a choice. Either Chron. is mistaken or Kings is mistaken or perhaps they are both wrong, but logically they cannot both be true. So, either way the Bible has mistakes.

Perhaps it is a copyist error. But if one looks up "error" in a dictionary one finds that one of the definitions will include the synonymous term "mistake." So, it is a copyist mistake. A copyist of the Bible. Therefore, the Bible has mistakes.

2 Samuel 24:18-25
Chapter 24 is about King David's Census of Israel and Judah. Starting in verse 10 we have the judgment on King David for this sin. So, starting in verse 18 we David building an altar on a threshing floor for this sin. David is going to buy this threshing floor from Araunah the Jebusite. In verse 24, David buys the oxen and threshing floor for fifty (50) shekels of silver. So, this seems clear enough. 50 shekels of silver for a threshing floor.

1 Chronicles 21:18-26
We have the same story here. Chapter 21 is about the census and the Plague. Now Ornan (?) the Jebusite is going to sell the threshing floor to David. In verse 25, David pays Ornan six hundred (600) shekels of gold, for the threshing floor. It is not so clear anymore.

One would be hard pressed to suggest that (50) looks like (600) or the silver and gold appear to be the same. So, we can see that either the author of Samuel is mistaken or the Chronicler is mistaken. Or perhaps they are both wrong. Perhaps this story never happened.

1 Kings7:15-21
Here we have two bronze pillars about 18 cubits (about 27 feet) high. One named Jachin on the south side. The other named Boaz on the north side. So, it is at least clear how tall these pillars were. (?)

2 Chronicles 3:15-17
And here we have the same story. Here we have two bronze pillars about 35 cubits (about 53 feet) high. The one on the right named Jachin, the one on the left named Boaz. Hmmm! Someone made a mistake. They cannot both be 18 cubits and 35 cubits at the same time. So here we hae a mistake.

1 Kings 5:16
Let us pick up the story at verse 13. King Solomon has made slaves of his people to build some of his projects. They are called "forced labor" in the NASB. In verse 15, 70,000 transporters, 80,000 hewers of stone are counted. in verse 16; 3,300 chief deputies who were over the project and who ruled over the people who were doing the work.

So, there are 3,300 overseers. Historically we know there were 3, 300 of these men. Or do we? The Bible is clear, there is no doubt, right?

2 Chron. 2:18
In 2 Chron. 2:18 we have the same story retold. There are 70,000 to carry loads and 80,000 to quarry stones. But the supervision was done by 3,600 men.

It is only a difference of 300 men. But I think one can still ask, how many men were there? A mistake of 300 men. Which account is correct? Or perhaps someone was rounding off in some strange way. So, we cannot always know if the Bible is simply being sloppy or if it is mistaken.

2 Chron. 9:25
In 2 Chron. 9:25, the King Solomon has 4,000 stalls. This is a big number. But the question is is this true? or is it made up? or is there some other number?

1 Kings 4:26
Here King Solomon has an amazing 40,000 horse stalls in 1 Kings 4:26. Can we bet on this being the correct number? Which of these accounts is correct?

Some apologists have suggested that the number in Chron. is at the beginning of King Solomon's reign and the number in Kings is at the end of his reign. But of course, there is nothing in the Bible that suggests such a thing. This is a kind of reading into the Bible in the hopes of correcting any possible errors.

Some have suggested that 4 and 40 look very similar in Hebrew. This may well be the case, but the fact remains, we have a mistake. We can still ask, which account is correct?

1 Kings 7:26 vs. 2 Chron. 4:5
So, were there 2,000 baths or are there 3,000?

2 Sam. 8:4 vs. 1 Chron. 18:4
How many horsemen were there?

2 Kings 8:26 vs. 2 Chron. 22:2
So, how old was Ahaziah when he began to reign? 22 or 42?

2 Sam. 6:23 vs. 2 Sam. 21:8
Now, there is the question of Michal. Does she have any children or not?

2 Sam. 24:9 vs. 1 Chron. 21:5
How many men drew a sword? Exactly how many, and if you are rounding out the number, in which direction are you going? Or perhaps we cannot even know the answer to these questions.

1 Sam. 31:4; 2 Sam. 21:12; 2 Sam. 1:10
By the way, how did King Saul die?

2 Sam. 24:9 vs. 1 Chron. 21:5
Again, how many men drew their swords?

Answer 8

That situation has never come up yet and i have read and studdied the Bible from cover to cover over 35 times so if you find one its due to your lack of understanding or taking something out of context because if you really understand the Bible you will find it one harmonious book from cover to cover so it is you lack of understanding thayt is at fault never the Bible gorbalizer

Answer 9

I read it again, because it won't happen, and everyone of the people who point out errors have made the error. Show me some contradictions and I will help you see were they are not contradictions.

Answer 10

Jer there are many true things in the bible. But since it has been around men have written many false things in it that just is not true. There is a Godhead for sure but most of the bible is total crap. You have to decide the truth.

Answer 11

From what experienced on this site, that's exactly what SOME Christians do. One girl asked for people to prove her wrong and quote contradictions from the Bible. Almost every other response contained the contradictions and right below was "They can't prove there are contradictions because there aren't any. Go figure.