If God is flawless, how is it that he contradicts himself so very, very much?

Question

For example, in the old testament versus the new one, I always hear that God was "just different" back then and that he had to send his only son and all that jazz, but why? To send a son rather than just "make it" to where every one's sins are payed for seems to me like God has a limitation which seems like a contradiction for a supposedly omnipotent being. And then what about sending Moses the 10 commandments and then giving the little b@stard (oh get over it, anyone who slaughters many people just to save his own [and in doing so acting as if their lives are more valuable] is a b@stard in my book) the power to kill all those soldiers hot on his trail? Isn't that also a contradiction? And there are a million, billion more, believe me, but let's just start here.

Answer 1

its your arrogance that tells you he contradicts himself....rather than saying...hey i dont understand x or y.


you see????

Answer 2

When you actually take the time to read the Bible, you will find there is no contradition in the person of God between the Old and New Testaments. Rather there is a revealing of God as you read through the book.

The early authors did not have a perfect understanding of everything about God. Abraham was uncertain whether God required child sacrifices. God had to reveal the answer to him. Moses was still uncertain about the moral laws by which people should live. God had to reveal those to him. Each builds on the revelations from before and points to the ones to come.

So you are correct that you can take a verse from one place in the scripture where God is talking to a specific person about a unique situation and compare it to a scripture for another person in another situation, and create a "contradiction" between them. But when read in context of the chapter and the situation, there is no contradiction.

Each author of the Bible tells the story of their own encounter with God. He speaks differently to different people. Each person also relates those encouters through their own personalities. So you will get a book like Joshua, which is the story of a military general. It will show God as a warrior and present things in terms of battles and victories. That is how Joshua thought, how God would speak to him, and the area in which God would use him.

Following that is the romantic love story of a young widow and her mother-in-law, to whom God brings a new, loving husband, financial security and justice. A very different picture of the same God. God has not changed, only the eyes through whom he is seen.

There are no contradictions within the scriptures on the person of God or how to relate to him. But it takes an honest and open heart to understand him.

Answer 3

He gave man the free will to make a choice, if He made the choice for you, it's not free will is it? So instead He offered you a way out, you choose to accept it or not, it's that simple. He said a sacrifice had to be made to pay for sin, when man wouldn't stop, He made the ultimate sacrifice for everyone and gave up His son so that WE (everyone!) can be with Him. If He made the choice for you, why not just force you to move like a puppet on a string? It's all you would be, you would be a robot for His amusment, and that's not what He wants. If He wanted that, He would of made you that from the start. He wants you to talk to Him, be as close as a son, is it wrong for someone to care that much?

As far as Moses goes with the parting of the red sea, the Lord told Moses to put the staff in the water and Moses did it, the waters parted. They went through to the other side while God called a pillar of fire to stop the romans from following. When the jews were across the pillar vanished and the egyptians gave chase. They said they were letting the jews go, that they would go free....does this sound like they are letting them go free? He lied, so when they gave chase between the waters, they crashed down and killed them all. Moses had nothing to do with them dying, he just put the staff in the water, God did the rest. He protected His people after WARNING His enemy not to follow or they would pay for it, and they did. He kept His word.

Many people say the bible is full of contradictions, but when asked to find one, they rarely can. The only way it would is if you took things entirely out of context and used choice phrases, but you can do that with almost any conversation. It proves nothing except that you can read. You have sight but do not see, and ears but do not hear. I will pray for people who see things in this way, that their rejection not be held against them for lack of understanding.

Answer 4

First of all, in reponse to some of the above comments, if God were not flawless, then what would stop us imperfect people from getting into heaven? God is holy, perfect, and just, and He can't let any bad thing into heaven. The reason He sent His son to die was so that our slates could be wiped clean, so we would become blameless in His sight and we could go to heaven to be with Him!
Why didn't He make us perfect? Why didn't He make us love Him? If we're forced to love, then it's not real love. He gave us a choice. If we were already perfect, then we wouldn't need God. He gave us the 10 Commandments to show us that we can never make it to heaven on our own.
In summary, God doesn't make any mistakes, nor does His Word make any contradictions.

Answer 5

Well God is the same past present and future, the God of the OT is the God of the NT. Our sin is not between a government or a group of people but against the all powerful God. If person A has a debt to person B, could person C call off the debt? No the person couldn't. In the same way no one can pay for sin except for God because we to enter heaven we need to be declared worthy BY God.

God cannot let un-believers into heaven because that is wicked. If your daughter was killed by an assassin and he was caught the next day and brought to court, what if the judge said, well although you are deserving of life in prison or the death sentence, I will be graceful and merciful and let you go. There would be a great outcry, and rightfully so, that there is a wicked judge practicing. In the same way God cannot just let people into heaven, or else that would make him a wicked being. Only God himself (Jesus) is able to make the sacrifice that allows us into heaven.

Answer 6

You're identifying bad theology through contradictions, not the existence of God through contradictions. I hope you are making that distinction. If you "always hear that God was 'just different' back then", perhaps a little more research is in order. God is omnipotent, but you've placed your own limitations on God if you've given man the power of choice.

Answer 7

God isn't contradictory. Man's interpretation of God is where the contradiction lies. If we knew and understood why God says or does what says and does, we would not have this question.
God's ways are not our ways not are His thoughts our thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are Gods ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. That comes from Isaiah 55:8-9.
The point is that we don't understand all of what He did and why. The plan for Jesus to be our Saviour was created before Adam and Eve came to earth. That has been the plan from the beginning. We are here to learn from our own experience the difference between right and wrong. It is necessary to have opposition in all things else we would never be able to exercise our own agency. Thus, a Savior was necessary in God's plan to atone for the mistakes that we would make because we would not be able to spiritually atone for them ourselves.
As for the deaths of thousands of people, God put us here and He can take us out of here as He sees fit. When people become sufficiently wicked that there is no hope of them repenting and doing good again, God removes them from mortality so that they can see in the spirit realm the nature of their mistakes. Death is not the end of our existence so it is not the final solution that people think of it as being. Our learning continues after death. Mortality impedes our progress when we fail to listen to spiritual influences in our lives. When that happens, we are better off leaving mortality, reverting back to a spiritual existence so that we can better see what we had been missing.
God is without error as far as we know HIm to be. People are full of error as we well know. Our understanding and interpretation is fatally flawed at times. Don't continue to blame God for man's errors.

Answer 8

You remind me of a lot of folks I met in college who had all these nitpicky arguments about God. The more I got to know them, the more bitter they seemed inside. A couple of decades later, I'd say that the best approach is to investigate the bitterness angle. Oh, and I think this concept of God as omniscient, omnipotent, omni-everything, is more a Greek concept than anything, but it has found its way into American spirituality. Notice I didn't say Judaism or Christianity there.

Answer 9

Sounds like you think God is almost evil??? Look at it like this, what if you were speeding and you got a ticket, then you had to appear before a judge and that judge happened to be your father. Your father, being a just man, would have to uphold the law and punish you (or fine you) for breaking the law. But, he could step down for a minute, hand you $100, and tell you to go pay for your ticket. He would pay the price for your "sin" and still be a just judge and uphold the law, right? That's what God did. Because He is just, He has to uphold the law of sin (disobedience to Him), but He sent His Son to die for your sins so that a punishment for them was executed. All you have to do is accept that forgiveness available to you by faith.

Did God kill people back in the OT, yes. But remember, they were people that were disobedient to Him and did not follow Him. They directly opposed Him and the people that followed Him. He had every right, as a just God, to punish their sins, and they had every opportunity, like the Jews in that time, to repent and follow Him (there were some that did, called proselytes...in fact some proselytes included prostitues and murderers).

Does that make sense? What are your additional thoughts?

Answer 10

what i don't understand is.......if you cant respect a man that does not look you in your eyes while talking, how can you respect, worship and base your whole life on something or someone you have never seen and never will....what if the entire story of the bible and god was created by 10 friends that took some magic mushrooms and wrote a really far fetched timeless tale...honestly we will never ever ever know...

Answer 11

Non existence allows for flawlessness and contradiction at the same time.
Contradiction = contradiction.