Bible contradictions?

Question

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html#order

There's a big variety to choose from there... can any of you christians honestly say you can proove all of them wrong... of say they are all wrong?

Answer 1

This site has a bunch of them too.

http://www.evilbible.com/Biblical%20Contradictions.htm

Answer 2

I will admit to not having looked at an exhaustive list. That said, one thing I have noticed is a mad rush to judgment on both the part of the believer as well as the non-believer. Many folks seem to have a preconceived notion about most everything regarding the Bible, and rather than bothering to read an opposing view, the stance that most seem to take is an immediate attempt to refute what the opposition is saying.

It reminds me of what I used to do to my parents when I was a teenager. The minute they would start in on a lecture about why I needed to do thus and so, I would start formulating my rebuttal while they were still talking. I wasn't really listening; I was just waiting for them to shut up so I could prove how wrong they were.

What I rarely see on this forum is a careful weighing of each viewpoint's merits and weaknesses, including the author's OWN viewpoint's merits and weaknesses. This kind of thing takes time, and most people seem to be bent on getting their answer, however poorly thought out, somewhere up near the top of the list. I certainly am not trying to point fingers here - I am just as guilty as the next person and have done this a lot. After all, when I post a response, I have a tradeoff decision to make: do I opt for quality and risk being unread since my answer will be long and at the bottom of the list, or do I go for quick and dirty to be near the top? Do I post a snippet and then edit for quality and hope I don't get a thumbs down since people will have been irritated by my attempts to steal the top? All of this should be factored in.

What does all of this mean about what you see posted here? As with anything else, caveat emptor: let the buyer beware. If you want a quality answer, you may have to wade through a bunch of junk to get there.

Tom

Answer 3

The Bible was written by many different men with different opinions. Take the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Written by 4 different men with different views and opinions of what happened. If you read them they are full of contradictions, because each man put what HE thought was important, what he brought out of the events. Each one remembered things the other left out.

It happens all the time in everyday life. Go to a game or something with 3 friends, after wards each one tells things the others missed, or forgot. Each puts in what they saw.

Also: went to the site. actually it was stupid. Now go get a book, any book, open to any page and read a sentence. Now turn to another page and read another sentence. Don't go does it, makes no sense. Can't do the Bible that way either.

I really must thank you for the site. I have been reading some of it and have really had a good laugh. Obviously, the author of the site is an Atheist and really didn't research most of what was entered into it. Parts all you have to do is read and you understand what is being said, that is if you understand what punctuation marks ( comma's......) are for,generally they change subject, thought, item......

Answer 4

There's always some seeming contradictions that one can point to in the Bible. It's literally strife with them.

But there's always an explanation that can be given for them. So, don't waste too much time putting much weight on those arguments.

However, historians have tended to agree on the general accuracy of the historical writings within the Bible. For example, a mathematician or even a philosopher might look at certain events as writtin in the four gospels and say they have contradictions of when and how a certain even took place. And that's definitely true of certain events such as what happened at Jesus grave/tomb. As a result, the mathematician/philosopher will say, this Bible is untrustworthy. On the other hand, a true historian (whether he's a Christian or not) who understands his craft will say, wait a minute.....I see some conflicting writings, but they are all in the secondary details. The common item here is that the event(s) happened. All the writings agree that it happened. The differences in the secondary details could be due to differences in writings styles and points of view. For example, one Bible writer may say an even happened in the afternoon while another may say it happened in the evening. That is, for example., 5 pm may be late afternoon for someone while it may be early evening to someone-else. This is basically an example of the glass is half-empty versus half-full argument.

A non-Christian example of this is the historical accounting of how Hannibal crossed the Alps to defeat the Roman army. No-one dispute this event actually occured even though the two written accounts of this event are widely different in their details.

So, we need to keep a historians eye as well as an open mind when dealing with supposed contradictions. Need to keep an open mind for explanations. Hope that helps.

Answer 5

Not wrong, per se. Just taken out of context.

For instance the very first one:

Human vs. ghostly impregnation

ACT 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

MAT 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Acts is taken entirely out of context. No one is saying that Christ is the fruit of God's loins. The subject is King David. King David was the prophet to whom God promised to raise up the King of Kings from his family tree.

It's very easy to take one line out of context. Over and over again it simply says "the bible." It never says which bible. So how do we know they aren't changing the text?

Different bibles translate and interpret. Depending. So each version of the bible varies slightly.

As for the father of Joseph (Jacob or Heli), one is the Greek name and one is the Aramaic name. Remember, Matthew is a Jew and Luke is a Gentile. Those sorts of differences are easier to determine if you've got a Catholic bible. Catholic bibles tend to have tons of footnotes.

Answer 6

Why don't you read the book itself instead of depending on a website? Christians understand what you call contradictions in the Bible. There are no contradictions, there are changes from when the old testament was written to when Jesus came upon the earth. Of course for someone who is not a christian your eyes are shut to the hows and whys and you are more bent on disproving the Bible and believing what you want rather than what is the truth.

Answer 7

With enough mental gymnastics nothing ever contradicts anything. Are the numbers different? Here it's only the men killed in the name of god, there the women and children too. Are the names different? Here it's a name, there the title was used. Does this make no sense? The word meant something different in those days.

Answer 8

There are passages that are contradictory if taken as fact. But there is no contradition in the message of the Bible. There are definite differences in interpreting the message.

The Bible was written by humans,inspired by God, but those humans expressed details like they saw them.

Answer 9

Yes, through context, textual criticism, exegesis, however you seem to have the notion that because something isn't just perfect that it will unravel the whole truth and prove it false. That is ridiculous.
That's like saying a novel wasn't written because there were misspellings and incorrect punctuation.

Answer 10

I say that in the context given, and by the authority of the Holy Spirit who explains all scripture, that no there are no contradictions. I will explain few if you like but you will have to go to the same source I use to learn about them all... Jim

Answer 11

Yes there are lots of cotradictions in the bible but that does not change the FACT that there is an all perfect being who is GOD. END OF STORY.