Why is it...?

Question

...every time someone points out a contradiction or stupidity in the [insert holy book], that person is taking it out of context; yet when a person who follows the religion of the [insert holy book] takes a single verse of how great his/her god is, he/she is speaking the truth and it's not out of context?

J Moe: the genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3 don't contradict each other?

SL: No, they are most definitely both genealogies through Joseph's line. The most blatant contradiction in the genealogies is who Joseph's dad, two generations away from Jesus, was.
Matthew 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Luke 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.

Do some research yourself before you tell someone else to do so.

Ode, are you waiting on me?

Answer 1

That's not true. The contradictions are in context.

The problem is that people take holy books literally. That's why they contradict themselves on the little details, because they're not important. What are important are the metaphors and symbols in the stories.

Answer 2

the geneologies do not contradict each other.

i read somewhere that one genealogy is talking about the Jospeh's family, and the other genalogy was talking about Mary's family.

something along that line. cannot remember.

but i remember that this "contradiction" can be resolved.

go do some research if u r interested



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Matthew and Luke present different genealogies of Jesus--one through David's son Solomon (the royal line) and the other through David's son Nathan (the non-royal line). The royal line is traced in Matthew; the "natural" line in Luke. Matthew's genealogy goes only back to Abraham (to show the Jewish character of the King); Luke's goes back to Adam (to show the universal aspect of the Savior). Matthew's emphasizes Jesus' royalty; Luke, his humanity. It is generally accepted (but not unanimously) that the genealogy in Matthew belongs to Joseph's family, and the one in Luke applies to Mary's line. (The historical evidence is fairly strong that both Mary and Joseph were of the house of David.) Both genealogies are 'aware' of the virgin birth: Luke adds the phrase "He was the son, SO IT WAS THOUGHT, of Joseph" (3:23) and Matthew switches verbs from "X begat Y" to "Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom (feminine pronoun) was born Jesus".

Answer 3

The Bible has NO one definite point of view, no one answer for life and faith, no one answer for our reason for life.

Truthfully, a lot of religions take the Bible out of context. But, it's hard to say who is right and who is wrong. The bible has too many possible interruptions.

In all honesty, who knows who's right. No one living today was around when the Bible was put together. Also, the Bible was written over centuries by different writers. So, who's to say, what they were thinking or trying to prove.

Answer 4

Normally, a person who is speaking a single verse understands the text in which they are speaking. They have probably read the verses before and after that verse and know exactly what it means. People who try to point out contradictions usually find and read one verse to try and prove a point, but they normally take it out of context. They don't read the whole story of what happened before and after. They just use that verse to try and make a point, but that may not be exactly what that verse says. If you are talking about the Bible, I have studied enough to know that it does not contradict itself at all. Normally people who assume the Bible contradicts itself have probably not studied enough to understand it.

Answer 5

The genres of the Bible include narrative, poetry, proverbial literature, wisdom discourse, a treaty (that's what Deuteronomy is), legal codes, genealogies, biography (that is what the Gospels are), personal letters and general letters, rhetoric (an art form in the ancient world), riposte, and apocalyptic. Treating each one as a newspaper -- written yesterday and with our own ideas in mind -- is a mistake constantly made by critics who impose their own absurd demands on the text.

Answer 6

Good question.

Atheists are accused of not being able to see the "big picture". When actually most of us seem to be taking in and processing all of the information... leading us to rational thought. That's what happens when you don't skip over the difficult parts.

Plus we aren't blinded by "giddiness" when we read about what the "good god" has to say.

Answer 7

Line upon line and precept upon precept
You must compare 2 or three verses of scripture to know it is right that is in the Bible
How do you know, you have to have discernment and know the word
out of context means only one scripture and no others that mean the same

Answer 8

Discernment

Answer 9

So further demonstrates that perception is reality; I mean, your reality is subjective (as is mine). What you see is what you get (cogito ergo sum). Look around, for the least of whatever this God-thing you speak of is contained within a mere book!

Answer 10

The bible makes the universe to be static yet it's been proven to be expanding. I don't see how that's been taken out of context, mind explaining to me how it is?

[edit:] Still waiting for an explanation (11:27 p.m.)

Still waiting (11:37 p.m.)