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Is the Bible full of contradictions, like atheists claim?
I've debated atheists on this countless times. They always take verses out of context and claim that they support whatever ignorant position they hold. It's either willfull ignorance, or simple laziness on their part. No one has ever proven any part of the Bible to be incorrect or to contradict itself. Many have made claims, but they simply do not hold up to close scrutiny. One must use Biblical, as well as cultural and historical context, for a proper understanding of Scripture.
OK, genius. Why don't you select one of those, and I'll show you how you're wrong. Remember. I want an example of how the Bible is flat out wrong, or contradicts itself.
OK, genius. The example they gave on the website right under the infographic clearly states: "Where did Moses receive the Ten Commandments?" Either Mt Sinai or Mt Horeb.
Exodus 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communicating with him upon mount sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Exodus 34:4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount sinai, as the lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
(plus 3 others that mention mt sinai in exodus and leviticus)
1 Kings 8:9 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, then the lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt
2 Chronicles 5:10 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb
Malachi 4:4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb
Oh my god you don't even have evidence to back up your claims! I just did a quick search for "Horeb" and the only thing that popped up was Mount Horeb. At least you could've come back with what other scholars speculate (but haven't agreed on)- that Mt Horeb and Mt Sinai were two names for the same place.
I'm not playing this game where you consistently find the smallest detail to try to prove your point. I gave you an entire website with all of the contradictions and I'm not going to sit here and copy and paste them for you- go read on your own.
I stand by what I said. The Bible does not call horeb a mountain. Also, the two names for the same mountain are just one possible explaination. And how can anyone know where mt horeb is, when they can't find mt sinai?
Psalm 121:3-4 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Psalm 44:23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast [us] not off for ever.
John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven.
2 Kings 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, [there appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
Actually this is kind of fun! (Although a terrible way to procrastinate my studying...)
Well, in fact, I already have and you chose the weakest rebuttal out there. Most textual critics agree that it is the same person in both verses. There is a much better rebuttal out there for the 800 vs 300 contradiction (though it still involves some scribal error), but apparently the first link you found while googling it wasn't it.
I'll skip to my favorite one since one would think that the last words of Jesus might be something important.
I don't see a contradiction here. We have three eye witness accounts. Each person recorded the same event. But each one recorded and wrote about it through their own perceptions. The simple fact is that Jesus said all of these things. And nothing that Jesus said, contradicted anything else He said.
Ask any police officer about eyewitness testimony. Several people can describe the same event. Each will be slightly different, and yet still be the truth.
Listen up, you clown. The apostles recorded these events several years after they happened. Everything they wrote down was important. None of them contradicted the other in what they claim Jesus said. At worse, they got the order of events wrong, which is not really a contradiction of what Jesus said. Also, if all three accounts were exactly the same, you would be screaming about collusion. The fact that the accounts are ever so slightly different actually lends credibility to the account, since three people describing an event will not see it exactly the same way.
I don't need to read it. I've been studying the Bible for thirty years.nothing she has to say could change my mind. I have the Bible, and the Holy spirit.Spirit. that's all any Christian needs.
I don't need to read it. I've been studying the Bible for thirty years.nothing she has to say could change my mind. I have the Bible, and the Holy spirit.Spirit. that's all any Christian needs.
I would like to add that one must also have a knowledge of the original languages it was written in. I've noticed that most atheists use an English translation to make their case. How ignorant is that?
I you have the time read Barbara Thiering, she is not an atheist, but a biblical exegete specialising in the origins of the early Christian Church who challenges christian orthodoxy.
She has a completely different take on the entire narrative and so quite naturally has alienated dogmatic religious believers.
Like any ancient text, it is full of interpreted contradictions.
There is no way to know the original intended meaning of something written 2600 years ago (OT). Considering no one here has access to primary sources; everyone is just continuing the cycles of re-interpretation.
The main proof would be the many different denominations that hold different interpretations to be the true interpretation.
The author and religious historian I mentioned above has spent a significant amount of research "interpreting" the dead sea scrolls and that is the basis of her questioning christian orthodoxy. Interpretations are all we have to go on and as such therein lies the debate.
At first glance, this appears to be a contradiction. There are a few ways to explain this. One is that Benjamin originally had ten sons and five died without having children of their own, thus being removed from the list.
Another is that the two accounts were referring to two separate accounts, several years apart, one of which was written before all of his sons were born. I believe the former explanation is the most probable.
We can't know for sure what happened, but as you can see, there are a few ways of explaining this apparent contradiction.
An example is in Galatians 3:28 it says "There is neither... male and female for you all one in Chris Jesus". This seems to make out that men and women are equal but 1 Timothy 2:11-14 says this:
"A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[b] she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner."
Again, it would be so easy for you to look this up yourself. This is the last time I do this. I have shown every supposed contradiction posted on here to have a reasonable explaination as to why it's not a PROVEN contradiction. Time to start doing this on your own.
This is a tough one. There doesn't seem to be a way to resolve it. However, as contradictions go, this one is very minor. It doesn't change anything about Jesus' message of salvation. In fact, it dosn't really affect anything that matters. This is what I meant when I said there were no contradictions. That there are no contradictions that affect the meaning of scripture. Nothing is lost or gained because of this. And that's all that really matters.
This is a tough one. There doesn't seem to be a way to resolve it.
Agreed. Thanks for being big enough to admit it.
However, as contradictions go, this one is very minor.
Actually it is one of the most significant things possible for any Christian.
Being ultimately forsaken by God (in two books) and fulfilling prophecy (in one) are vastly different and speak directly to Jesus' message of salvation more than nearly any other verse possibly could.
In fact, it dosn't really affect anything that matters. This is what I meant when I said there were no contradictions. That there are no contradictions that affect the meaning of scripture.
Websites like the one you referred to before would disagree with you there.
"Being ultimately forsaken by God (in two books) and fulfilling prophecy (in one) are vastly different and speak directly to Jesus' message of salvation more than nearly any other verse possibly could."
How are they different? They are actually the same. Jesus was required to take on the sins of the world, on the cross. He did this. While He was doing this, God had to turn away, because He cannot abide the presence of all that sin. Or am I missing something here?
"Being ultimately forsaken by God (in two books) and fulfilling prophecy (in one) are vastly different and speak directly to Jesus' message of salvation more than nearly any other verse possibly could."
How are they different? They are actually the same. Jesus was required to take on the sins of the world, on the cross. He did this. While He was doing this, God had to turn away, because He cannot abide the presence of all that sin. Or am I missing something here?
Any thought on whether inerrancy is important? Or, can the Bible have errors and people just need to assume none of the errors are anything important? (Including Jesus' last words on Earth.)
I would like to add that one must also have a knowledge of the original languages it was written in. I've noticed that most atheists use an English translation to make their case. How ignorant is that?
No, not like atheists claim. Atheists generally assert that contradictions are a death blow to Christianity, which is absolutely false given the long history of biblical interpretation.
There are two ways of treating this problem:
1) Biblical contradictions is only problematic if the bible is "inspired" in a way where it would achieve divine "Holy" status, to which the bible doesn't even claim any authority for itself. In this view, biblical theology should be treated the way we treat philosophy: bits and pieces you can accept, but don't be inclusive about everything.
2) Early church father Saint Origen (184–254) suggested a non-literal interpretation of the whole of scripture. In this view, the Bible is inspired, but not in a literalistic way and therefore not amenable to argument. Notably, Swedenborg^ agrees with this view, which is another way of escaping the fact of literal contradictions.
^Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a world famous scientist/psychic/theologian who wrote a multi volume interpretation of scripture titled The Arcana Celestia that was allegedly dictated to him by angels. Helen Keller's spiritual autobiography is about his writings, while D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966) calls him, "Buddha of the North", coming from a scholar of Buddhism.
NT Scholar Marcus Borg (r.i.p.) on Biblical Literalism
