Challenge!! Can you give me one concrete example of a contradiction in the Bible?

Question

I have seen a lot of questions and discussions are here today regarding this topic. I challenge you to give me one solid example from the Bible showing that it is a contradiction. I feel confident that I will be able to refute these so called "contradicitons." And please, I'm not doing this for comments that "attack" Christians, just like I'm not "attacking" those who disagree with me. Can we just have a friendly discussion here?

I am not foolish for asking this question, nor for studying to SEE FOR MYSELF whether these "contradictions" are true. I will not be able to answer all of these in the time for this ?, but I will try to some of them and will continue studying. I encourage you to do the same~don't just find a website & piggy-back on someone else's research~that's the same as what you accuse Christians of doing with the Bible.
Any contradictions that have been listed with references in the Old & New Testament, can be explained by Hebrews. Hebrews 8:13 to start with. Jesus dying on the cross ushered in a "New Testament" or covenant. This explains circumcision, long hair on men, working on the Sabbath, God dwelling in temples etc.
http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Hebrews+8&version=31
There is ONE God~He is in the form of the Trinity. "Let us make man in OUR own image" refers to the Trinity. Whether or not you believe in the Trinity, this is not a contradiciton.

Sunshine...Prove it!!

Fred...give me an example and I'll give you a logical answer...although I have faith in God and believe Him I will not use that as my explanation. I have grown up with the Lord and He has taught me so much. I have read the entire Bible through and have studied it along with outside sources. I am not blindly following what I have always been taugh, but have sought out my beliefs. And my beliefs have changed over the years. But I trust my God so much and have "tested" His Word so much that I trust it is valid...from a Spiritual standpoint, a logical standpoint, a scientific standpoint, etc.
However, I do not know everything and I appreciate any of you who have taken me seriously and challenged me in my beliefs. I will search these out MYSELF and see, honestly, if they hold up. But I'm not worried about it!

Mark 16:2 & John 20:1 Before sunrise always precedes sunrise.

Luke 24:4 & Matt 28:2,5
Where there are 2 there always has to be 1! ANd one can change from standing to sitting to standing in the course of a conversation. I'm not being silly, I'm being realistic. This is not concrete evidence that shakes my faith.

Orion~The Gospels do not disagree with anything about the empty tomb...read them carefully.

Paul says by faith alone we are saved. Actually, the entire New Testament teaches this. James said that faith without works is dead, being alone. Another translation says it is useless. James is trying to show how you can tell the difference between a true Christian and a person who is just pretending. The works, as James puts it, is the evidence of the faith. It's not a requirement that you have to worry about making sure you are doing, but rather a natural consequence to your faith.

Check out this link provided by Oplist!! Especially Wyrmfell!!

http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/bible.htm

David...I once heard a message preached about this topic. It was said that Gen. chapter 1 gives a bird's eye view of creation, and then Gen. chapter 2 zooms in and gives us a more specific telling of man's creation. God formed man in His own image but He used the dust of the ground as material with which to work...why? Only God knows that!

Answer 1

The BibLE is NOT CaPiAbLE of HaviNG ConTraDiCtiONS beCuZ thaT woulD prove that GoD is a LiaR, and the BIblE SaYS, "Am I a Man whO SHouLD LiE.?." NoW the BIbLE obViouSly is "rhEmA" the SpoKEn WoRD of GoD, anD "LoGoS" the WriTTEn WoRD of GoD. 2 Timothy 3:16 says aLL scripture is Inspired by GoD. But, Just because it is inspired by God doesn't mean that all of it EXACTLY whaT HE said. Take for instance the account of the Book of JOB. That book is strictly JOB's opinion about what he thought about the situation at hand. AnD...PaUL, about his look on marriage. Just because it was written by many authors doesn't mean that we SHOULD NOT believe in it. IT is STILL InSPIRED by GOD, and HIS WORD. YOU either BeLIEVE it in TOTALITY or Don'T BELIEVE It at ALL. The BiBle is what it is. It is a HoLY BOOK and shoulD noT be QuesTIonED. StudieD, YES, but NOT QUESTIONED.

Answer 2

quoting from the RSV

1) in Ezra Ch. No. 2, Verse No. 65, it says…There were 200 singing men and women - Nehemiah Ch. No. 7, Verse No. 67…‘There were 245 singing men and women.’ Were they 200 - or were they 245 singing men and women? Context is the same - A mathematical contradiction.

2)It is mentioned in the 2nd Kings, Ch. No 24, Verse No 8, that…‘Jehoiachin was 18 years old, when he began to reign Jerusalem, and he reigned for 3 months and 10 days. 2nd Chronicles, Ch. No 36, Verse No 9, says that…‘Jehoiachin was 8 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 3 months, 10 days. Was Jehoiachin 18 years when he began to reign, or was he 8 years old? Did he reign for 3 months, or did he reign for 3 months 10 days?


3)Further it is mentioned in the 1st Kings, Ch. No 7, Verse No 26, that…‘In Solomon’s temple, in his molten sea, he had 2000 baths. In 2nd Chronicles, Ch. No 4, Verse No 5, he had 3000 baths. Did he have 2000 baths or did he have 3000 baths?

4)Verse No 1, says that…‘Basha invaded Judah in the 36th years of the reign of Asa.’ How can Basha invade 10 years after his death? - It is unscientifit is mentioned in the First Kings, Ch. No. 15, Verse No. 33, that… ‘Basha, he died in the 26th year of reign of Asa.’ And 2nd Chronicles Ch. No 16, ic

Answer 3

In... Exodus I think it is, it talks about Moses speaking with God face to face "as a man speaketh to his friend" but later in the book of John I believe it says that man has never seen God. I think it also talks about Adam walking and talking with God or something like that in Genesis.
Note: I think the scripture in John was a lost in translation thing that was translated wrong. Joseph Smith, a man who I believe was a prophet of God, clarified the scripture saying something like no sinful man has seen God. I am showing you this contradiction as many people do not believe in Joseph Smith. I am actually Christian (Mormon if you want to get picky) so I'm not trying to invalidate the Bible in anyway, just thought I'd point it out since you asked.

Answer 4

I will obviously not try and go through ALL of those, but a few that I did I did not find were contradictions at all.

As for the Horses all being Killed in Egypt, it also said that none of the horses or livestock belonging to the children of Israel. So when the Pharaoh's army chased them they could have taken the children of Israel's horses, since they fled on foot.

When Jesus said "And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning"
You said He earlier said Men did not bear witness...but He actually says to John in John 5:36 "...bear witness of Me that the Father has sent Me"


In response to the "three way contradiction"

I looked it up and it said Saul did kill himself by leaning on a spear, then in 2 Samuel 1 it says he was found dead on a spear BY an Amalekite...then later on they say his bones were taken somewhere from Where they hanged...it was reffering to the dead body and his bones.

Answer 5

What are your thoughts on this. In Gen1:26 "let us make man in our image, after our likeness:" and Gen1:27 "God created man in his own image," and then in Gen2:7 "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,"
Here we are given two accounts of two methods of creation. Is this contradictory or is man created two times or what could the truth be here? Does this teach us how to read?

Answer 6

Boring. Christians can refute anything, particularly reason, just by citing their god. The fact that you think that you can refute to your satisfaction any of the numerous contradictions in the bible is relevant only to true believers like you for which the same boring refutation works for everything.

Answer 7

Gen 1:[31] And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

Gen 6:6 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[6] And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

This does not say that God was dissatisfied with His works, but that mans' wickedness was great. Originally 'all' was created 'good'.

Cheers :-)

Answer 8

The discovery of the empty tomb is a pivotal point in Christianity.

Who went to the tomb and who did they find there?

Each of the gospels disagrees with the other three.


Here is another.

Paul says by faith alone are we saved. James says faith without works is dead. Which is it? Christians are still arguing over that one.

Answer 9

Several people posted websites and one person posted the work that was found on a website. Question have any of you ever read and searched out these things for yourself? You know there was a time that science "or the very smart and enlightend people" taught that the world was flat. The funny thing about that is that the whole time that was taught as fact the Bible talked about the world being in the shape of a sphere. Maybe we should actually read the Bible and find out what really says for ourselves instead of piggy backing on the comments of others who probably did not read it themselves. If they did it was to pick out something they had a problem with and in so doing they most likely ignored context and linguistic clue that allows one to understand what one is reading. One of the clues is reading the whole book. Try it. Its great.

You know what I'm seeing is kind of like something that reminds me of elementary school. You know cheating on a test with someone when you don't ever know if they studied. Unlike elementary you can not afford to fail this test.

Answer 10

First, I'm a Christian. But a friend lent me a book of Biblical contradictions. I'll open it at random. Here one that's listed as a three-way contradiction. The ellipses are from the book, and I've left them the way they're printed. I don't have time to personally sit here and look up the deleted portion of the text, but it's your challenge, so you can do it.

1. Saul committed suicide.

1st Samuel 31: 4-6
Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it, and when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.

2. Saul was killed by Philistines.

2nd Samuel 21:12
And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son...where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa.

3. Saul was killed by an Amalekite.

2nd Samuel 1: 5-6, 8-10
As I happened by chance upon Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him...I am an Amalekite...He said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen.

Answer 11

I am a Christian in general but I'll play along. Pontius Pilote in the bible is actually nice to Jesus and doesn't want to see him get crucified but historical Pilote was a mean and brutal man.