Hi atheists! Q: Do you eliminate the possibility that maybe you haven't interpreted the Bible correctly?

Question

I wonder: Do you believe humans are infinite in wisdom and understanding? What if the Bible really holds no contradictions?

I'd like for all of you to test me. Give me one Biblical contradiction, and I'll give you one example of a misinterpretation! Please refer back to the question.

Thanks in advance for responding.

The Great Gazoo: "If you live in a desert and never leave it, you won't find a shred of evidence for the existence for polar ice caps or polar bears. If you live a world apart from God and never venture beyond it, you won't find a shred of evidence for God."

Source: http://snapshotsofgod.com/evidence.htm

PROTIK: "We believe in science."

I believe in science too.

PROTIK: I think the religious fundamentalists think they are infallible.

Some of them do, I don't follow religious fundamentalists though, I follow God and the Bible.

alucard: "...also if most christians say the bible is literal..."

Do you believe everything you hear? Are we to trust "Christians" over God or the Bible?

This source deals with your issue: http://snapshotsofgod.com/hockey.htm

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

These are all answered.

The 13th questioner finally gives an example, interesting.

Shawn B: http://www.rationalchristianity.net/war_peace.html

phil: 26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

and

7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

1:26 is saying that God created us in Their (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) likeness, which means God created the spirit of the man in the likeness of the spirit of God. It doesn't imply anything physical whereas in 2:7 is when He created our living (physical) souls.

Answer 1

I need to be convinced that God is real and concerned with human affairs before I can believe that the Bible has any meaning. In order to be convinced of that, I need there to be some sort of evidence that points to God's existence or involvement in a straight forward way. No such evidence exist, so why should I care what the Bible says about anything any more than I care about what is said in the many novels I have read?

Answer 2

Although I'm not an atheist by any means, I can't resist not offering an answer to this question. Of the multitude of contradictions, I can think of two that haven't been answered successfully by christians who attempt to harmonize four texts that have different origins & probably work from different sources & try to inculcate somewhat different beliefs.

Contradiction 1: Matthew 2:23: & he came & dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
There is no such utterance by any prophet, or indeed, there is no such utterance anywhere in the jewish scriptures, & christians have had 2000 years to find it, & haven't yet succeeded. Candidates have been proposed in order to save the evangelist's claim, but they depend on an ignorance of hebrew.

Contradiction 2: Matthew 2 sets the birth of Jesus during the reign of Herod the Great; Luke 2 sets the birth of Jesus during a census decreed by Augustus. Herod died in -4, so the birth of Jesus according to Matthew occurred before -4. The census is dated to +6.
Again, a lot of cleverness has been expended on this point, but the simple fact is that the census was of the territories of the empire. If the census really did include Judaea, then it had to postdate the death of Herod the Great, because it wasn't until a number of years after his death that Judaea became part of the empire. While Herod was alive, & for a few years after his death, Judaea was simply a client kingdom, hence not part of the empire. The client kingdom would have paid tribute, but it wouldn't have been directly taxed, the way an imperial territory would have been.

Answer 3

Why do you automatically assume the Bible is anything more than a book. There are lots of good books that provide wisdom and inspiration, in 322 AD a bunch of men, not saints, not angels but men, voted and decided on the content of the new testament going forward, 300+ years after Jesus. So even if its true that Jesus is the son of god how can you believe in the accuracy of the bible?

Answer 4

Being an atheist doesn't really have to do with what you think of the Bible... usually. There are a ton of holy books out there, why just the Bible?

People don't believe in your god for the same reason you don't believe in my Isis or Horus. The difference is that I'm okay with others not being the same as I am.

Answer 5

You understand, I hope, that - fool that I am - I don't really feel the need for a PhD in Fairyology in order to find their existence impossible?

If you'd like to play 'no it isn't' with Biblical contradictions, you should look for the Skeptics Bible or the like. I've read the thing and found it most unconvincing, but it seems to me that the integrity of the Bible is a poor guide to the existence of a deity.

CD

Answer 6

Not at all! It's easy to misinterpret the Bible and it's very likely I have got some of the details wrong on one or another occasion.

Why would it matter? I would still see no reason to accept the Bible as evidence of anything except the delusions and crimes of a no-account Bronze Age tribe.

Answer 7

I will just start at the beginning.

Genesis 1:26-28


and

Genesis 2:7,Genesis 2:20-22,Genesis 2:23-24

Answer 8

This sounds like a good game to play over in Christianity_Debate here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Christianity_Debate/

It's going to be difficult here because you can't respond to people directly, and they can't re-respond to you. You need a discussion forum for that.

And yes, I agree with many other folks who have responded here. Most atheists (or other non-Christians) don't disbelieve just because there are contradictions in the bible (and there are). It's because of other things. The contradictions are just one small drop in the bucket.

Answer 9

I really don't think that every contradiction can be explained away as "misinterpretation". Read John 3:22 and John 4:2.

Answer 10

War or Peace?
EXO 15:3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

ROM 15:33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen

Remember God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.