is it ok to take the good out of the bible and chuck the contradictions?

Question

cos ..many things do not marry up

Answer 1

Our Lord founded a Church (Matthew 16:18-19), not a book, which was to be the pillar and ground of Truth (1 Timothy 3:15). We can know what this Church teaches by looking not only at Sacred Scripture, but into History and by reading what the earliest Christians have written, what those who've sat on the Chair of Peter have spoken consistently with Scripture and Tradition, and what they've solemnly defined. To believe that the Bible is our only source of Christian Truth is unbiblical and illogical.

During the Reformation, primarily for doctrinal reasons, Protestants removed seven books from the Old Testament: 1 and 2 Maccabees, Sirach, Wisdom, Baruch, Tobit, and Judith, and parts of two others, Daniel and Esther. They did so even though these books had been regarded as canonical since the beginning of Church history.

When examining the question of what books were originally included in the Old Testament canon, it is important to note that some of the books of the Bible have been known by more than one name. Sirach is also known as Ecclesiasticus, 1 and 2 Chronicles as 1 and 2 Paralipomenon, Ezra and Nehemiah as 1 and 2 Esdras, and 1 and 2 Samuel with 1 and 2 Kings as 1, 2, 3, and 4 Kings—that is, 1 and 2 Samuel are named 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Kings are named 3 and 4 Kings. The history and use of these designations is explained more fully in Scripture reference works.


"To get the full flavor of an herb, it must be pressed between the fingers, so it is the same with the Scriptures; the more familiar they become, the more they reveal their hidden treasures and yield their indescribable riches."-- St. John Chrysostom, A.D. 347-407



The Process of Lectio Divina
A VERY ANCIENT art, practiced at one time by all Christians, is the technique known as lectio divina - a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures which enables the Bible, the Word of God, to become a means of union with God. This ancient practice has been kept alive in the Christian monastic tradition. Together with the Liturgy and daily manual labor, time set aside in a special way for lectio divina enables us to discover in our daily life an underlying spiritual rhythm. Within this rhythm we discover an increasing ability to offer more of ourselves and our relationships to God, and to accept the embrace that God is continuously extending to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

Lectio - reading/listening
THE ART of lectio divina begins with cultivating the ability to listen deeply. When we read the Scriptures we should try to imitate the prophet Elijah. We should allow ourselves to become women and men who are able to listen for the still, small voice of God (I Kings 19:12); the "faint murmuring sound" which is God's word for us, God's voice touching our hearts. This gentle listening is an "attunement" to the presence of God in that special part of God's creation which is the Scriptures.

THE CRY of the prophets to ancient Israel was the joy-filled command to "Listen!" "Sh'ma Israel: Hear, O Israel!" In lectio divina we, too, heed that command and turn to the Scriptures, knowing that we must "hear" - listen- to the voice of God, which often speaks very softly. In order to hear someone speaking softly we must learn to be silent. We must learn to love silence. If we are constantly speaking or if we are surrounded with noise, we cannot hear gentle sounds. The practice of lectio divina, therefore, requires that we first quiet down in order to hear God's word to us. This is the first step of lectio divina, appropriately called lectio - reading.

THE READING or listening which is the first step in lectio divina is very different from the speed reading which modern Christians apply to newspapers, books and even to the Bible. Lectio is reverential listening; listening both in a spirit of silence and of awe. We are listening for the still, small voice of God that will speak to us personally - not loudly, but intimately. In lectio we read slowly, attentively, gently listening to hear a word or phrase that is God's word for us this day.

Meditation
ONCE WE have found a word or a passage in the Scriptures which speaks to us in a personal way, we must take it in and "ruminate" on it. The image of the ruminant animal quietly chewing its cud was used in antiquity as a symbol of the Christian pondering the Word of God. Christians have always seen a scriptural invitation to lectio divina in the example of the Virgin Mary "pondering in her heart" what she saw and heard of Christ (Luke 2:19). For us today these images are a reminder that we must take in the word - that is, memorize it - and while gently repeating it to ourselves, allow it to interact with our thoughts, our hopes, our memories, our desires. This is the second step or stage in lectio divina - meditation. Through meditation we allow God's word to become His word for us, a word that touches us and affects us at our deepest levels.

Prayer
THE THIRD step in lectio divina is prayer: prayer understood both as dialogue with God, that is, as loving conversation with the One who has invited us into an embrace; and as consecration, prayer as the priestly offering to God of those parts of ourselves that we have not previously believed God wants. In this consecration-prayer we allow the word that we have taken in and on which we are pondering to touch and change our deepest selves. Just as a priest consecrates the elements of bread and wine at the Eucharist, God invites us in lectio divina to hold up our most difficult and pain-filled experiences, and to gently recite over them the healing word or phrase God has given us in our lectio and meditation. In this prayer, this consecration-prayer, we allow our real selves to be touched and changed by the Word of God.

Contemplation
FINALLY, WE simply rest in the presence of the One who has used the Scripture word as a means of inviting us to accept a transforming embrace. No one who has ever been in love needs to be reminded that there are moments in loving relationships when words are unnecessary. It is the same in our relationship with God. Wordless, quiet rest in the presence of the One who loves us has a name in the Christian tradition - contemplation. Once again we practice silence, letting go of our own words; this time simply enjoying the experience of being in the presence of God.




"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." -- St. Jerome, A.D. 340-420

Answer 2

Fifty years ago when I learn about the Bible it was told to me you had to believe the whole thing and there are so many mistakes in it that a 7 year old could find them. I now believe that The Bible was written by man to control others and it has caused a lot of strife on this planet. Contradiction and reversals are not nearly as bad as the impossible things take a king 42 who took over for his dying father who was 40. Not even a miracle could explain this but it is in the King James version of the Bible. Some want me to believe that it is a bad translation but changing it to make sense in a later version is changing a fact if the Bible is meant to be believed in its entirety

Answer 3

It's all good.
That there are *apparent* contradictions, should not stumble you.
Personal interpretation of Scripture has caused much conflict in the world. See 2Peter 1:20 Without a proper authority as a guide, you can easily be led astray (as have many). The only authority of Scripture is the organization that made the Bible (guided by the Holy Ghost, the Catholic Church determined which books were to be included). Remember, the Church was here, before the Bible.

Answer 4

When you see contradictions, there are multiple possibilities:

1) Bad translation from the original Hebrew. This is probably the most common.
2) The text need not to be taken literally, specially when written in a language different than the original.
3) You don't know the exact meaning of the apparently contradictory verses.
4) Your biblical knowledge is not deep enough and you see "contradiction" where it really there isn't.

Answer 5

Jefferson did.

EDIT: How could anyone have been reading the Bible for years and not noticed any contradictions? The crucifixion stories don't match up, Jesus' genealogies are different between the Gospels, there are contradictions on how many animals Noah took on the ark ... and those are just off the top of my head.

Answer 6

Think: is there anything contradictory about the human beings you know and live with? For example, is your mother sweet one day and a monster the next day?

If you can extract the good from the human beings you know and live with their contractions, you can do the same with the Bible.

The Bible has a basic character that believes in honor to God and to human beings, and in love, charity, justice, and mercy. Those are the major themes of the Bible. I think in the light of that, you can live with the minor contradictions. (Who cares, really, whether Judas or the priests bought that potter's field?)

Now if you see major contradictions--such as the wrath of God versus the mercy of God--look at God's overall character. What does he really want? To have a great relationship with us, or to destroy us? What do you think?

Answer 7

We are not robots; but human beings. God may have given us more than 1 way to deal with a situation; we in America call it freedom presently. Scripturally, (for Christians) it is Matt. 18:16, 2 Cor.13:1 along with 'sticking' to his word 2 Tim. 3:16-17.
The Jews had the same principles.

Answer 8

You are right the Bible is full of contradictions for many reasons. I wouldn't take the good out......I'd take what is good and incorporate it into your beliefs.

Answer 9

It is OK. It would be better to just look at the bible as what it is, a collection of discordant writings from ancient times.

Answer 10

The bible is a collection of writings spanning many ages and cultures. Our ancestors treasured what had been written down and it was subject to changes and multiple interpretations. Our task, as I see it, is to read it as a whole, as a full experience of what it means to be touched by something so much bigger than we can ever imagine. It is, I have come to understand, meant to be read with our hearts and minds, bringing our full selves to it, including what isgood within us, but also what is stupid, evil, ignorant, infantile and blind. All parts are brought before and spoken to and revealed to us as part of a Divine whole that sees us, and wishes for us to see ourselves in our full complexity- for us to grow by that self-awareness.It is said that all scripture is the human response to being touched by the Divine. There are many ways to read scripture, but I encourage you to not stop at one model, but include as many as you can, test them out, open your heart to them, and study as many different perspectives about it as you can, including ones that seem at odds to your own tradition. G-d is bigger than all of us, and even our ideas about G-d's nature.

Answer 11

What contradictions? I've been reading the bible for years and haven't found any.