biblical contradictions: hit me

[Mark Bryan]

ANYTIME!

Mark Bryan Reviewed by Mark Bryan on 04-25-2007. biblical contradictions: hit me ok, so i hear over and over "there are tons of contradictions in the bible." there are myriads of websites that list apparent contradictions. i spent a couple years studying biblical greek and hebrew, and i'd like to see if i can take on some apparent contradictions. i believe the bible, in its original writings, is the inspired word of God. i believe jesus christ is my savior of my sins. i also know that there there are differences in the manuscripts we have today, so some of them must have Rating: 5

[hazetwostep]

jesus also appears in writings of Josephus (who was NOT a follower or believer)...

here is a question Bobby...

According to the Bible, those who do not believe in and accept Jesus as their Savior cannot go to heaven. God created a place for those (both angelic and human) who do not believe. This place is called "Hell" and is described as a place of complete seperation from God as well as utter torture and misery (fire and brimstone).

If God truly is love, then why did he create hell to add more misery to eternal seperation from HIMSELF? That seems to contradict who he says he is. What would God have to gain or prove from not only eternally seperating himself from them, but actually trying to add more to the misery of eternal seperation by adding other forms of misery???

understood that sin cannot be in a perfect place, so sinners cannot enter heaven... that is logical. why would he try to add more misery?!?!?!?! it isn't to teach the beings a lesson since there is no redemption after damnation. isn't eternal seperation enough without the extra torture???

or is the Bible inaccurate in its description of hell...?

[Oneironaut]

Okay, how about this one? When the women arrive at Jesus' tomb, according to Luke, Mark and John, the tomb was open, but according to Matthew it was closed.

And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.

Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away.

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

But:

The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

Or how about these two Biblical passages, which clearly contradict each other:

Thou shalt not kill.

If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,

And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:

Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:

And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;

And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;

And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:

Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;

Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.

So, God makes a commandment prohibiting killing, and then makes another commandment to kill your wife if she's had her cherry popped, and one to kill women who are raped in the city if they don't scream loud enough.

Regardless of whether or not this is a contradiction, this is a stinking heap of extremely barbaric misogyny.

[LaidZeppelin]

My big problem with God and all that is...doesn't it seem a little too convenient that thousands of years ago people saw miracles and burning bushes and giant man eating whales (stomach acids would digest you in seconds, not to mention other digestive processes apparently absent from completely hollow fish) and now nothing. Anything that doesnt make sense is simply explained by saying. "god works in mysterious ways or sense you arent God you cant understand it" thats BS. I thought God gave me intelect and rationality so i could understand things like that. Our GOD GIVEN rationality tells us to reject concepts that dont make sense within our physical world... I think that the Bible was written by many naive people, like greeks who thought there was a SUN GOD or GOD of WAR. Remember it was only 600 years ago that man thought you fell off the end of the earth if you sailed to far...and we are to take the words of men 1800 years or so ago as facts...Also very convenient that when Jesus rose from the dead only 12 guys saw him and a couple ladies i think. He couldnt of gone to market that would of gotten the message out that hes meeans business...

[halo]

jesus also appears in writings of Josephus (who was NOT a follower or believer)...

here is a question Bobby...

According to the Bible, those who do not believe in and accept Jesus as their Savior cannot go to heaven. God created a place for those (both angelic and human) who do not believe. This place is called "Hell" and is described as a place of complete seperation from God as well as utter torture and misery (fire and brimstone).

If God truly is love, then why did he create hell to add more misery to eternal seperation from HIMSELF? That seems to contradict who he says he is. What would God have to gain or prove from not only eternally seperating himself from them, but actually trying to add more to the misery of eternal seperation by adding other forms of misery???

understood that sin cannot be in a perfect place, so sinners cannot enter heaven... that is logical. why would he try to add more misery?!?!?!?! it isn't to teach the beings a lesson since there is no redemption after damnation. isn't eternal seperation enough without the extra torture???

or is the Bible inaccurate in its description of hell...?

Honestly I do not think hell is all that bad. In fact, I bet it is a lot like earth. The actual definition of hell is absence from God. Many of us are absent from God right now such as atheists for example. It was Dante's Inferno that gave us the images of hell we imagine. A fiery place with torture and such. I also think that all religions hold truth and i believe in reincarnation. I think that we can only enter heaven after we have learned enough. And since it is impossible to learn enough in one lifetime we must live multiple lifetimes until we are spiritually ready for heaven and God. Of course that is just my opinion and i could be 100% wrong.

To the original question though. There are plenty of contradictions in the bible, especially b/w the Old Testament and the New Testament. I read the bible as more of a metaphor of what was going on and i try to read it in context. The Bible cannot be read literally because people of that time had no idea what they were seeing. The describe bright lights, voices, chariots of fire et cetera. They lacked our vocabulary and described certain visions and apparitions with the words they had. Just read the first couple pages of ezekiel and you will understand what i mean. Ezekiel speaks of a metallic object in the sky and a creature with 4 faces and other odd features. Well i'm done with this rant for now.

[40oz]

so if your questioning jesus' existence at all then there you go....its a pretty common truth that jesus was a historical person and did exist....the only thing up in the air is if he rose from the dead....we can even take the fact that he performed "magic" as stated by ancient rabbis of proof of some miracles....that or maybe jesus was just a really good illusionist...i really dont know

Was Jesus the only one that had the name jesus back then?

[Stemis516]

its hard to say really...the bible doesnt mention any others, thats for sure....his name wasnt actually jesus it was jeshua....which is the hebrew name joshua....the greek goes by jesus though, they are all the same

i do know that he was jesus of nazareth son of joseph....jesus not being a very common name back then, its safe to say he was the only jesus of nazareth son of joseph...and this is how he is referred to officially in both the talmud and roman records

[krazy chino]

hey LAIDZEPPLIN in isaih 40:22 it says the earth is round

[Triple-P]

christianity and the roman cathlic church are 2 of the worst things to ever happen to this planet

think of how many have died (and are still dying) by them

do i have to mention that the vatican were the ones that were saying the sun relvolves around the earth...think of what could have been accomplished if galileos work wasnt banned

[bobbygreenbear]

sorry for forgetting about this thread

I have a question greenbear. What other historical documents does jesus appear in besides the bible?

that's a great question. i actually don't know. i believe historians such as Josephus chronicled his existence. this really is a good question, i'm honestly not sure.

ah here you go:
Extra-biblical references to Jesus and Christianity

yeah, josephus is the most famous new-testament era chonicler. a lot of criticism is focused on him because he stands mostly alone in providing the early extra-biblical record.

really great question