|
|
|
A List of Biblical Contradictions Contradictions
The Bible is riddled with
repetitions and contradictions, things that the Bible bangers would be quick to
point out in anything that they want to criticize. For instance, Genesis 1 and 2
disagree about the order in which things are created, and how satisfied God is
about the results of his labors. The flood story is really two interwoven
stories that contradict each other on how many of each kind of animal are to be
brought into the Ark -- is it one pair each or seven pairs each of the
"clean" ones? The Gospel of John disagrees with the other three
Gospels on the activities of Jesus Christ (how long had he stayed in Jerusalem
-- a couple of days or a whole year?) and all four Gospels contradict each other
on the details of Jesus Christ's last moments and resurrection. The Gospels of
Matthew and Luke contradict each other on the genealogy of Jesus Christ' father;
though both agree that Joseph was not his real father. Repetitions and
contradictions are understandable for a hodgepodge collection of documents, but
not for some carefully constructed treatise, reflecting a well-thought-out plan.
Of the various methods I've seen to "explain" these: 2. "There was more there than...." This is used when one
verse says "there was a" and another says "there was b", so
they decide there was "a" AND "b" -which is said nowhere.
This makes them happy, since it doesn't say there WASN'T "a+b". But it
doesn't say there was "a+b+litle green martians". This is often the
same crowd that insists theirs is the ONLY possible interpretation (i.e. only
"a") and the only way. I find it entertaining they they don't mind
adding to verses. 3. "It has to be understood in context" I find this
amusing because it comes from the same crowd that likes to push likewise
extracted verses that support their particular view. Often it is just one of the
verses in the contradictory set is suppose to be taken as THE TRUTH when if you
add more to it it suddenly becomes "out of context". How many of you
have goten JUST John 3:16 (taken out of all context) thrown up at you? 4. "there was just a copying/writing error" This is
sometimes called a "transcription error", as in where one number was
meant and an incorrect one was copied down. Or that what was "quoted"
wasn't really what was said, but just what the author thought was said when he
thought it was said. And that's right - I'm not disagreeing with events, I'm
disagreeing with what is WRITTEN. Which is apparently agreed that it is
incorrect. This is an amusing misdirection to the problem that the bible itself
is wrong. 5. "That is a miracle". Naturally. That is why it is
stated as fact. 6. "God works in mysterious ways" A useful dodge when
the speaker doesn't understand the conflict between what the bible SAYS and what
they WISH it said. REFERENCES:
The King James version of the
Bible. quotes provided. William Henry Burr ISBN 0-87975 416 -8 Self-contradictions of the Bible / William Henry Burr ; with an introduction by R. Joseph Hoffmann. [Buffalo, NY : Prometheus Books], c1987. Series title: Classics of Biblical criticism. UCB Moffitt BS533 .B798 1987 UCD Main Lib BS533 .B798 1987 The "Holy Scriptures" analyzed, or, Extracts from the Bible : shewing its contradictions, absurdities and immoralities / by Robert Cooper. 2nd ed., to which is added, a vindication of the work. Manchester, [Greater Manchester] : J. Cooper, 1840. Series title: Goldsmiths'-Kress library of economic literature ; no. 31887. UCLA AGSMgmt H 31 G57 Microfilm 508 answers to Bible questions : with answers to seeming Bible contradictions / M.R. DeHaan. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Zondervan, [1968?], c1952. UCSB Library BS538 .D43 1968 The reconciler of the Bible inlarged : wherein above three thousand seeming contradictions throughout the Old and New Testament are fully and plainly reconciled ... / by J.T. and T.M. .. London : Printed for Simon Miller ..., 1662. Series title: Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1052:9. UCSD Central MICRO F 524 Current Periodical Microform Annotations upon the Holy Bible. Vol. II : wherein the sacred text is inserted, and various readings annex'd, together with the parallel scriptures : the more difficult terms in each verse are explained,... The third edition, with the addition of a new concordance and tables, by Mr. Sam. Clark; the whole corrected and amended by the said Mr. Sam. Clark and Mr. Edward Veale .. London : Printed for Thomas Parkhurst [and 6 others], MDCXCVI [1696]. Series title: Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1041:1. UCSD Central MICRO F 524 Current Periodical Microform A good source of _literal_
Biblical self-contradictions is (surprise) "Self-Contradictions of the
Bible", written by William Henry Burr in 1859 as a response to
fundamentalism. It is currently published by Prometheus Books, 700 East Amherst
St., Buffalo, NY 14215. P.B. also publishes a large number of books on religious
inquiry and biblical critiques, the majority of which have a
humanistic/atheistic slant. As far as "Self-Contradictions ..." goes,
it contains about 140 textual inconsistencies, classified under
"Theological Doctrines", "Moral Precepts", "Historical
Facts", and "Speculative Doctrines." Additional contributions were
given by: JHAYNES@MPS.OHIO-STATE.EDU loren%sunlight.llnl.gov@lll-lcc.llnl.gov lmoikkan@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU gerry@cs.cmu.edu gerry@frc2.frc.ri.cmu.edu smith_w@apollo.hp.com icsu7039@caesar.cs.montana.edu XWUU@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU bjorn%consens.UUCP@nac.no EETLO29%TECHNION@TAUNIVM.TAU.AC.IL refling@envy.eng.uci.edu mgo@inel.gov rkp@drutx.att.com daveh@sequent.com markn%mot.com@tin.berkeley.edu aa485@cleveland.freenet.edu (John Strekal) 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. 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. Who was
at the Empty Tomb? Is it :
MAT 28:1 In the end of the
sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. MAR 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary
the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come
and anoint him. JOH 20:1 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. Is Jesus
equal to or lesser than?
JOH 10:30 I and my Father are
one. JOH 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come
again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the
Father: for my Father is greater than I. Which
first--beasts or man?
GEN 1:25 And God made the beast
of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that
creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. GEN 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should
be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. The
number of beasts in the ark
GEN 7:2 Of every clean beast
thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that
are not clean by two, the male and his female. GEN 7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of
fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, GEN 7:9 There went in
two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had
commanded Noah. How many
stalls and horsemen?
KI1 4:26 And Solomon had forty
thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. CH2 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. Is it
folly to be wise or not?
PRO 4:7 Wisdom is the principal
thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. ECC 1:18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that in-
creaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. 1 Cor.1:19: "For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and wil bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." Human vs.
ghostly impregnation
ACT 2:30 Therefore being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, ac- cording to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne; MAT 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as
his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came togeth- er, she was
found with child of the Holy Ghost. The sins
of the father
ISA 14:21 Prepare slaughter for
his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor
possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. DEU 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the chil- dren,
neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be
put to death for his own sin. The bat
is not a bird
LEV 11:13 And these are they
which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten,
they are an abomina- tion: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, DEU 14:11 Of all clean birds ye shall eat. Rabbits
do not chew their cud
LEV 11:6 And the hare, because
he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 'Gerah', the term which appears in the MT means (chewed) cud, and
also perhaps grain, or berry (also a 20th of a sheckel, but I think that we can
agree that that is irrelevant here). It does *not* mean dung, and there is a
perfectly adequate Hebrew word for that, which could have been used.
Furthermore, the phrase translated 'chew the cud' in the KJV is more exactly
'bring up the cud'. Rabbits do not bring up anything; they let it go all the way
through, then eat it again. The description given in Leviticus is inaccurate,
and that's that. Rabbits do eat their own dung; they do not bring anything up
and chew on it. Insects
do NOT have four feet
LEV 11:21 Yet these may ye eat
of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above
their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; Snails do
not melt
PSA 58:8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. |
|
|
