Bible Contradictions?

Question

Give me some valid contradictions, not websites. I'd like to see what's out there. You say look at the other side of teh arguement, so, I am. Give me some.

Provide some verses and stop being sarcastic? I was sincere.

The Earth is only 6,000 years old.

Start with that one.

Tell me where the Bible says the earth is 6000 years old.

Evolution, if that's what you're hinting, is still a theory, yet to be proven.

You won't get any good answers to your question because there are no legitimate contradictions, only apparent ones. I say apparent because if you understand Jewish culture, different vantage points, etc., you will have "contradictions." If you and I both witness the same train wreck, we will both give accurate, but different accounts for what happened because we both come from different viewpoints,

----------------------------------------------------

That's why I'm asking ;)

"Thou shalt not kill"
"Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, put every man his sword by his side...and slay every man his brother...companion..neighbor" -Ex. 32:27

-------------------------------------------------

First is a command.
Second is a prophecy.

black parade billy is the only one that actually read my question apparently.

Thanks.

hey, wrldzgr8stdad...

All of those contradictions sound just like us people, don't they?

We are cruel, and we are merciful.
We are everywhere, but only in certain spots.
We are unchangeable, and we are changeable.
We are tired, and sometimes never rest.
-------------

We are made in God's image.

:)

Answer 1

I'll give you The Big One - from me to you. No bible in hand even :) Just from my head.

The resurrection. THE most important even in all of christianity. No risen lord = no christianity. I'm not talking about contradictions with historical record or science (which there are plenty). I am talking about the bible contradicting itself about what happened on this most important day ever. Matthew, Mark, Luke and JOhn conflict aobut many many points (Acts too, but we won't even go there because I do not wanna do one of those long rants that are irritating) ooops! Too late :)

Okie, so - the gospels conflict - check it for yourself on these points, among many others:
1. WHO went to the tomb?
2. WHY they went? (body spiced/unspiced)
3. WHEN they went?
4. WHO was at the tomb (men or angels)
5. HOW many (1 or 2)
6. WHERE were they situated?
7. WAS the stone rolled away or not?
8. WHAT did Christ say to them (or HER, depending)?
9. TO WHOM did He first appear?
10. COULD he be touched or not?

(Thats off the top of my head - later in the day you get into issues about his disciples appearing at places that are literally 40 miles apart - in the same day, which in a day before train travel would have been something of a feat!)

Check it out for youself. For a more complete list complete with exact verses, please feel free to email me. I just wanted this to be as unlike a cut-n-paste as possible.

Answer 2

Bible difficulties, or apparent Bible contradictions, exist. The opponents of Christianity often use them in their attempts to discredit Christianity. Sometimes these attacks undermine the faith of Christians who either don't understand the issues or don't have the resources to deal with them.

Opponents of Christianity will cite what they consider a Bible contradiction or difficulty by comparing one verse to another (or more) that seems to disagree with the first. In doing this, several verses are often referenced as being contradictory or problematic. Therefore, to make this section of CARM easy to use, it is arranged by verse for easy lookup. Since many of the same "difficulties" deal with one verse in opposition to another or even several others, I have listed all the verses addressed in the same answer. This makes the initial list look larger than it really is. For example, how many animals did Noah bring into the ark? Genesis 6:19-20 says two while Gen. 7:2-3 mentions seven. Therefore, both verses are listed and both links point to the same answer.

http://carm.org/introduction-bible-difficulties-and-bible-contradictions

If we read the Bible at face value, without a preconceived bias for finding errors, we will find it to be a coherent, consistent, and relatively easy-to-understand book. Yes, there are difficult passages. Yes, there are verses that appear to contradict each other. We must remember that the Bible was written by approximately 40 different authors over a period of around 1500 years. Each writer wrote with a different style, from a different perspective, to a different audience, for a different purpose. We should expect some minor differences. However, a difference is not a contradiction. It is only an error if there is absolutely no conceivable way the verses or passages can be reconciled. Even if an answer is not available right now, that does not mean an answer does not exist. Many have found a supposed error in the Bible in relation to history or geography only to find out that the Bible is correct once further archaeological evidence is discovered.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-errors.html

The Big Book of Bible Difficulties: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation
By: Norman L. Geisler, Thomas Howe
http://www.christianbook.com/difficulties-clear-concise-answers-genesis-revelation/norman-geisler/9780801071584/pd/071584?event=AFF&p=1011693&

Answer 3

Good question.

Because there are none of any consequence.

They have these sorts of "contradictory" statements / situations / exercises in training classes for Police work. To help you identify when statements are not in contradiction, but are simply taken from different standpoints when taking statements from witnesses. When you've been trained properly, it becomes quite easy.

Look at the poster who said: "The earth is 6,000 years old", despite the fact that the Bible states that Gods days are eons long (2 Peter 3), and the Bible nowhere, ever, ever, says that that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. Or the poster that got the entire context of Genesis out of order, especially when Genesis specifies that it is backing up in time a little bit, to explain in greater detail. Or the other poster that, in order to try to prove a contradiction *in* *the* *bible*, didn't even use the Bible, but used another book. Or the other poster who misquoted the Bible, and said: "Thou shall not kill", when the Bible never says that. The Hebrew word is "Thous shall not murder", which good translations translate properly. He never said "Do not kill". He said do not murder. Completely different words, and meanings. One is an illegal taking of a life, the other is outside of the Criminal Justice system that was arranged in the Mosaic law. Or the other poster who pointed to differences, not in the Bible, but between Catholics and Protestants, rather than two Bible verses itself.

So usually such ones end up quoting people who misunderstand the Bible, and then say that the Bible contradicts itself; without ever having read the book in the first place.

Then there is simple misunderstandings and the "wish" to believe that it's a contradiction. It's like those who say that the account where Jesus took 4 days to get to Jericho, and the other account that says it took him 2 days to get to Jericho is a contradiction. If you a) Know the archeology of the time and b) just think about the *travel time* of that statement, it's simple to see that there is no contradiction.

I have yet to see one verifiable contradiction. Instead, you have folks who "Want" desperately, for their to be a contradiction, so they ignore all scholarly and learned methods of trying to find contradictions, and just come up with anything because *they* *want* *to*. As the apostle Peter said: "It is according to their wish".

I'm reading some of the ones below, and had to smile. As I mentioned, it's obvious they've never had training in such matters.

Answer 4

It's easy for someone who doesn't believe in God or that the bible is inspired of God to say that it contradicts itself. In most cases, they have never even read the entire bible or study it in any depth.

Religious leaders are also to blame for ones feeling that there are contradicts, because they do not teach the truth of the bible, but their own views i.e...burning hell, immortality of the soul, trinity ..these are just a few of the doctrines taught in chruches today, that are nowhere taught in the bible nor did Jesus teach these doctrines.

Further, many say science and the bible contradict each other. However, anywhere that scientific matters are discussed in the bible, they agree with true science. This feeling that the bible and science contradicted each other stems as far back as the 13th century, when the Catholic Church adopted Aristoles views of the earth and the heavens...which doesn't agree with science. Aristole felt the earth was the center of the universe and that there were sphere like an onion around the earth with no void or space, plus that the earth did not move. This wasn't truly challenged until Galileo came along in the 17th century and invented a telescope and proved that the sun was the center of our galaxy and that the planets including the earth were rotating around the sun. When he printed his finding, he being a reader of the bible, stated that they harmonized with the scriptures. The Catholic Church was so upset about this, that they sentenced him to life imprisonment and it wasn't until 1992 that the Church officially admitted their error in judgement of Galileo. So Galileo did not have a quarrel with the bible, but with the teachings of the church.

As far as some of the statements thus far...the earth being only 6000 years old. The bible does not say the earth is 6000 years old, but the beginning of man Adam was created a little over 6000 years ago. Which can be calculated because of other dates in the bible, such as the flood and it says how old Adam was when he died. Adam was not created until the last creative day, and each creative day is not a literal day. The bible states that a day to God is 1000 years. Of course, the bible is not talking about the universe when it speaks of creation, but only the cultivating and habitating of the earth. The heaven have been here who knows how long. God has no being or end.

As far as 10 commandments saying not to murder....there were certain wrongs that were punishable by death. Which is not murder, but the known punishment at that time. The Israelites were surrounded by pagans who had no true moral code of behavior. This was a way of seperating them from the nations as different, a clean moral people, God's chosen nation. If someone accidently killed someone, there were cities of refuge that the "murderer" could escape to and the family of the victim could not take revenge. But that was only for accidental killing...like the ax came off the handle and hit someone. We can be thankful that we are no longer under the ten commandments, or most of us would have been stoned to death.

I could go on and on..but the main thing I would like to say is this.
Don't take someone elses word that the bible contradicts itself, do the research yourself and come to your own conclusion.

Answer 5

For starters- and hey! lt me know how you "reloved" them.
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 6

I do this knowing there will be excuses for the contradictions or apologetics.

According to Matthew 27, Judas regretted that he betrayed Jesus and returned the money he had been given by throwing it into the Temple; he then hanged himself; and the chief priests bought the potter's field in which to bury strangers, with the returned money.

According to Acts 1, Judas bought a farm (epaulis, "dwelling place") with his ill-gotten gain; in this place he fell headlong (prenes), burst open, and all his insides spilled out.

According to Papias, in the fourth book of his Interpretation of the Sayings of the Lord, as quoted by Apollinarius of Laodicea, Judas died from swelling to such a size that he could not get through where a wagon could easily pass. He died after much torment, in a place of his own (chorion), his insides pouring out over a wide area - which made the place uninhabitable because of the smell.

Christian apologetics will say that it was probably some combination of things but that still doesn't explain the different stories indicating contradiction and errancy in the Bible.

There are hosts of other contradictions--two separate creation accounts, etc.... Just one list below.

Answer 7

You won't get any good answers to your question because there are no legitimate contradictions, only apparent ones. I say apparent because if you understand Jewish culture, different vantage points, etc., you will have "contradictions." If you and I both witness the same train wreck, we will both give accurate, but different accounts for what happened because we both come from different viewpoints,

Answer 8

Hi Doug,
With respect to wrldzgr8stdad brilliant answers I will explain and rebut every one of his assertions, one at a time if you care to E mail me. Space doesn't allow for this in this format. Most of what he cites is just taking things out of context. His first example for instance pertains to the beginning of creation and then refers to the state of affairs after the fall. Kind of reminds me of a political commercial.

Answer 9

Doug, to the human mind everything is duality. Look at both sides,can you see the source?? Sunlight passing through water crystals is divided into the colors of the rainbow. Unconditional love passing through mental concepts of duality are divided into all the range of emotions.

Answer 10

First, in Genesis, God creates light. Then only after that does he create stars and the Sun. That contradicts science.

----

Shortly afterwards, God creates every single existent animal. After that, he creates Adam.

Then there is another creation story after that. In this case, Adam is created, then God creates all of the animals of the field and brings them to Adam to name.

That's a contradiction in order.

-------------------------

There is also contradiction with science in the order that plants and animals came to be. There are some plants that cannot exist without animals, but which were created beforehand.