Why do people call me an unbeliever just because I point out some of the errors in the Bible? Do you expect me

Question

to be dishonest? I don't think God wants Christians to be dishonest.

Answer 1

The people who do that are fundamentalists. They have a stake in the irrational concept that there is no such thing as an error or a contradiction in the Bible. Now, anyone who actually reads it knows that there are plenty of things in there that you absolutely cannot take literally. Lots of Christians recognize that and just say something like "Well, that was in a different time and place, and we don't know what they really meant by it." Or they say "That's a metaphor; it's not meant to be taken literally. What it really means is . . ." and then go on to some fairly reasonable interpretation.

Fundamentalists are not permitted to do any of that. So they develop this huge cognitive dissonance, which causes neurosis, if not psychosis. Try to be sympathetic, they are really in a bad way. We need to be patient with them, no matter how irritating they are.

Answer 2

I certainly agree with you, and it is wrong of people to call you an unbeliever. It is not our place to judge you, but it is Gods. I had a similar discussion with my mother the other night. I said to her that..."I believe the Bible to be God's word as far as it is translated correctly". My mother about flipped out and started telling me that I don't believe in God basically, and how could I say such things. I tried to explain that I don't believe that God is fallable, but I do believe men are. You can look back and see how scriptures that were once included in the original cannon of the Bible have been taken out, why was this? Words have been changed in different translations, which even changes the meaning of scriptures, why is this? Since the original translation that have been at least 30 different kinds of translations, each saying different things.

And no I don't think God wants Christians to be dishonest at all.

Answer 3

You can and should disagree if thats how you feel, you dont have to be dishonest and neither should anyone, no matter which faith they preach. If some people are dishonest I think is because of ignorance, you know, when we dont know the facts and we dont want to know them we will be dishonest with ouerselves. Ignorance is really dangerous because we never see it, we think we dont have any trace of ignorance but we all do, and another thing is that you cant really be mad at ignorant people, or better said at Ignorance itself, the best thing you can do is try to eliminate that ignorance by the example you give....But thats my opinion!!!

Good luck

Answer 4

I think you should always be honest.

Of course there are some minor errors due to translation. Also the bible was put together over a more than a 100 year period. Some collectors had to try to enterpet the writings of others, and there were some mistakes made.

But I will say the errors are very minor, and it does not take anything away from the message.

Answer 5

If you pick and choose what parts you're going to believe, then you've elevated yourself to the status of God. Do you really believe that God would write us an eloquent letter, intend for us to read it, then allow it to contain errors? Do you believe that he would allow the men doing the dictation and translation to make a critical error? If you're going to believe that, then I think you should just discard the whole thing.

If you think you've found and error, then I suggest that you dig deeper and do some studying of related passages, contex, and the original languages (Greek, Chaldee, Hebrew). I've personally never been shown an error that didn't have some explanation upon closer examination and the more I look for them the more certain I am that they do not exist.

Answer 6

If the Bible had errors in its original records, then it wouldn't be God's Word. It depends on what "errors" you're talking about. There a few errors in the English translation but none of those affect major doctrines. The history given in the Bible is accurate.

Answer 7

I knew a guy who told me that when he was in Sunday school as a kid, he pointed out some mistakes in the bible. One was that when God created the world, it took him six days to do it and he rested on the seventh day. What he pointed out is that it is never specified on which day exactly that God created the world. For example, God might have begun creation of the world on a Wednesday and finished up on Monday and took a break on Tuesday. The guy told me that he pointed out so many mistakes in the bible that the priest eventually got angry and shouted at him, "Shut up, you blasphemer. You devil worshipper." I agree there are many stories in the bible that contradict each other.

Answer 8

There are a few errors, usually due to weak translation into English. There are even some discrepancies between seperate authors of the same account. But, nowhere will you find contradictions.

You will also not find any errors or discrepancies which will disprove the Bible as being true.

Answer 9

Such people only acknowledge two types of humans. (1) Those who think and sound exactly like they do and (2) Unbelievers.

Nobody expects you to be dishonest. Only the fanatical will expect you to go to hell because of your honesty. Just remember that some humans are more tolerant. Christ's message was "Love one another", not "Judge your brothers and sisters and argue with those who disagree".

Do your best to focus upon the Divinity in Humanity and to ignore those who believe that they are somehow closer to Divinity than you are. Express yourself. If some have trouble with your honest expression, that is their problem, not yours.

Answer 10

There is nothing wrong with having an individual interpretation of verses in the Bible. This is not correcting, but opinion. However, if you say the Bible is wrong about something, such as the resurrection or the second coming, this is a sin.