CONTRADICTIONS IN THE BIBLE

We hear a lot about the Bible being the only reliable source that man has concerning God. We hear a lot of people saying that we should take the Bible literally because it is God's revealed wisdom. We hear a lot about the Bible being infallible and inspired by God.

Why then are these contradictions and mistakes in an infallible book? And this is just a short list....


Is God good to all, or just a few?

PSA 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.


JER 13:14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

God of 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.


Who is the father of Joseph?

MAT 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.


LUK 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.


Solomon's stalls and horsemen?

1KI 4:26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.


2CH 9:25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.


Moses' personality

NUM 12:3: "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the fact of the earth."

NUM 31:14, 17, 18: "And Moses was wroth...And Moses said unto them, "Have ye saved all the women alive? ... Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman, ... But all the women children ... keep alive for yourselves."


The fate of the righteous


PSA 92:12: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree."

ISA 57:1: "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart."


The death of Judas

ACT 1:18: "Now this man (Judas) purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

MAT 27:5-7: "And he (Judas) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests...bought with them the potter's field."


Can God be seen or not?

EXO 24:9,10; AMO 9:1; GEN 26:2; and JOH 14:9
God CAN be seen:
"And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my backparts." (EXO 33:23)
"And the Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend." (EXO 33:11)
"For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (GEN 32:30)

God CANNOT be seen:
"No man hath seen God at any time." (JOH 1:18)
"And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live." (EXO 33:20)
"Whom no man hath seen nor can see." (1TIM 6:16)


CRUEL, UNMERCIFUL and DESTRUCTIVE; or KIND, MERCIFUL, and GOOD:

"I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy." (JER 13:14) "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling."

"The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." (JAS 5:11)
"For his mercy endureth forever." (1CH 16:34)
"The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." (PSA 145:9)
"God is love." (1JO 4:16)


Temptation by God?

"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham." (GEN 22:1)

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." (JAS 1:13)


Ascend to heaven

"And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." (2KI 2:11)

"No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, ... the Son of Man." (JOH 3:13)


Did those with Saul/Paul at his conversion hear a voice?

ACT 9:7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

ACT 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

We hear a lot about the Bible being the only reliable source that man has concerning God. We hear a lot of people saying that we should take the Bible literally because it is God's revealed wisdom. We hear a lot about the Bible being infallible and inspired by God.

Why then are these contradictions and mistakes in an infallible book? And this is just a short list....


Is God good to all, or just a few?

PSA 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.


JER 13:14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

God of 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.


Who is the father of Joseph?

MAT 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.


LUK 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.


Solomon's stalls and horsemen?

1KI 4:26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.


2CH 9:25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.


Moses' personality

NUM 12:3: "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the fact of the earth."

NUM 31:14, 17, 18: "And Moses was wroth...And Moses said unto them, "Have ye saved all the women alive? ... Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman, ... But all the women children ... keep alive for yourselves."


The fate of the righteous


PSA 92:12: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree."

ISA 57:1: "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart."


The death of Judas

ACT 1:18: "Now this man (Judas) purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

MAT 27:5-7: "And he (Judas) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests...bought with them the potter's field."


Can God be seen or not?

EXO 24:9,10; AMO 9:1; GEN 26:2; and JOH 14:9
God CAN be seen:
"And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my backparts." (EXO 33:23)
"And the Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend." (EXO 33:11)
"For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (GEN 32:30)

God CANNOT be seen:
"No man hath seen God at any time." (JOH 1:18)
"And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live." (EXO 33:20)
"Whom no man hath seen nor can see." (1TIM 6:16)


CRUEL, UNMERCIFUL and DESTRUCTIVE; or KIND, MERCIFUL, and GOOD:

"I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy." (JER 13:14) "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling."

"The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." (JAS 5:11)
"For his mercy endureth forever." (1CH 16:34)
"The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." (PSA 145:9)
"God is love." (1JO 4:16)


Temptation by God?

"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham." (GEN 22:1)

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." (JAS 1:13)


Ascend to heaven

"And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." (2KI 2:11)

"No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, ... the Son of Man." (JOH 3:13)


Did those with Saul/Paul at his conversion hear a voice?

ACT 9:7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

ACT 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

a very good reason not to believe "them"...

You've missed out the biggest contradiction. The difference in the angry Hebrew God of the Old Testament (to be feared) compared to the God of love in the New Testament!!!

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by amy green

You've missed out the biggest contradiction. The difference in the angry Hebrew God of the Old Testament (to be feared) compared to the God of the New Testament!!!

I don't think of that as a contradiction so much as a result of Roman influence on Hebrew culture. They had the roads to bring in new ideas from around the world. Jesus probably embodied a significant shift of thought around that time. The New Testament is different from the old because it's a gentile influenced offshoot of Hebrew religion.

[Native spirit]

Its just as well that i dont read the bible then isnt it, i follow my own religion spiritulism.


Namaste

Originally Posted by Seawolf

I don't think of that as a contradiction so much as a result of Roman influence on Hebrew culture. They had the roads to bring in new ideas from around the world. Jesus probably embodied a significant shift of thought around that time. The New Testament is different from the old because it's a gentile influenced offshoot of Hebrew religion.

To me they are 2 different Gods - the Old Testament God is a god of anger and the New Testament God is a god of love....you couldn't get more stark contrasts. Can you explain how this can possibly be reconciled/squared? I pity a would-be Christian having to contend with this dilemma.

[Morpheus]

Yes, there are answers. But here is the reason you will not get them...

"dis·af·fect·ed
adj



Definition of DISAFFECTED

: discontented and resentful especially against authority : rebellious <disaffected youth>

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disaffected

Originally Posted by Morpheus

Yes, there are answers. But here is the reason you will not get them...




http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disaffected

You have chosen a (laughably) inappropriate word to define my post, i.e. disaffected since I am neither discontented (I am actually indifferent) or resentful! Why would I be resentful? If Christianity serves you, all well and good. (Thanks for the 'disaffected youth' definition - I'll take what I can get at the age of 62!!)

Apparently I am deemed not worthy of getting an answer to my post (questioning the 2 different Gods) by you. Although you have wrongly judged me (i.e. you haven't even accurately perceived me), you somehow feel yourself to be superior. All I can say is that this fits the blinkered vision I feel orthodox religion has. I'm so glad to have an open mind!

Originally Posted by Morpheus

Yes, there are answers. But here is the reason you will not get them...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disaffected

Actually, I had all the answers in spades when I really followed that particular path very stringently.. But then as time went on, I found out that all of those answers were untrue. People lied about history, lied about scientific evidences and lied about why the Bible said two different things. And the odd part was that I wasn't trying to disprove or argue against anything... I would just be going along my merry way and stumble upon some information that contradicted what my Christian roots had told me; and when I checked it out, I found I had been duped!!!

So please friend, don't give me the old rebellious sinner, blind to the truth argument; because truth just seemed to trickle into my life when I least expected it, and that trickle began to erode many untruths that I had been taught and believed dearly for many years. It was not an easy thing to fac at the time; but face it I did and am no longer worried that I am a rebellious sinner who has been led astray by Satan. Satan is said to be a liar; so what would that make all of the many pastors, priests and scholars who had given me false information over the years?

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

Actually, I had all the answers in spades when I really followed that particular path very stringently.. But then as time went on, I found out that all of those answers were untrue. People lied about history, lied about scientific evidences and lied about why the Bible said two different things. And the odd part was that I wasn't trying to disprove or argue against anything... I would just be going along my merry way and stumble upon some information that contradicted what my Christian roots had told me; and when I checked it out, I found I had been duped!!!

So please friend, don't give me the old rebellious sinner, blind to the truth argument; because truth just seemed to trickle into my life when I least expected it, and that trickle began to erode many untruths that I had been taught and believed dearly for many years. It was not an easy thing to fac at the time; but face it I did and am no longer worried that I am a rebellious sinner who has been led astray by Satan. Satan is said to be a liar; so what would that make all of the many pastors, priests and scholars who had given me false information over the years?

Very well argued and depicted Mind's Eye. I can see you have been through a lot and it is good to see you are a truth seeker. Well done for daring to stand up for your findings - you have my respect!