Robert you put qualifications in the statement made by God.
23
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Bible Contradictions
PAUL SAID, "God is not the author of confusion," (I Corinthians 14:33), yet
never has a book produced more confusion than the bible! There are hundreds
of denominations and sects, all using the "inspired Scriptures" to prove
their conflicting doctrines.
Why do trained theologians differ? Why do educated translators disagree
over Greek and Hebrew meanings? Why all the confusion? Shouldn't a document
that was "divinely inspired" by an omniscient and omnipotent deity be as
clear as possible?
"If the trumpet give an uncertain sound," Paul wrote in I Corinthians 14:8,
"who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter
by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is
spoken? for ye shall speak into the air." Exactly! Paul should have
practiced what he preached. For almost two millennia, the bible has been
producing a most "uncertain sound."
The problem is not with human limitations, as some claim. The problem is
the bible itself. People who are free of theological bias notice that the
bible contains hundreds of discrepancies. Should it surprise us when such a
literary and moral mish-mash, taken seriously, causes so much discord? Here
is a brief sampling of biblical contradictions.
Should we kill?
* Exodus 20:13 "Thou shalt not kill."
* Leviticus 24:17 "And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to
death."
vs.
* Exodus 32:27 "Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his
sword by his side, . . . and slay every man his brother, . . .
companion, . . . neighbor."
* I Samuel 6:19 " . . . and the people lamented because the Lord had
smitten many of the people with a great slaughter."
* I Samuel 15:2,3,7,8 "Thus saith the Lord . . . 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, ox and sheep, camel
and ass. . . . And Saul smote the Amalekites . . . and utterly
destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword."
* Numbers 15:36 "And all the congregation brought him without the camp,
and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses."
* Hosea 13:16 "they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be
dashed in pieces, and their women with children shall be ripped up."
For a discussion of the defense that the Commandments prohibit only
murder, see "Murder, He Wrote", chapter 27 (Losing Faith In Faith:
From Preacher To Atheist).
Should we tell lies?
* Exodus 20:16 "Thou shalt not bear false witness."
* Proverbs 12:22 "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord."
vs.
* I Kings 22:23 "The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all
these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee."
* II Thessalonians 2:11 "And for this cause God shall send them strong
delusion, that they should believe a lie."
Also, compare Joshua 2:4-6 with James 2:25.
Should we steal?
* Exodus 20:15 "Thou shalt not steal."
* Leviticus 19:13 "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob
him."
vs.
* Exodus 3:22 "And ye shall spoil the Egyptians."
* Exodus 12:35-36 "And they spoiled [plundered, NRSV] the Egyptians."
* Luke 19:29-34 "[Jesus] sent two of his disciples, Saying, Go ye into
the village . . . ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man
sat: loose him, and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, Why do
ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need
of him. . . . And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof
said unto them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, The Lord hath
need of him."
I was taught as a child that when you take something without asking
for it, that is stealing.
Shall we keep the sabbath?
* Exodus 20:8 "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy."
* Exodus 31:15 "Whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall
surely be put to death."
* Numbers 15:32,36 "And while the children of Israel were in the
wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath
day. . . . And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and
stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses."
vs.
* Isaiah 1:13 "The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with; it is iniquity."
* John 5:16 "And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to
slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day."
* Colossians 2:16 "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath
days."
Shall we make graven images?
* Exodus 20:4 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven . . . earth . . . water."
* Leviticus 26:1 "Ye shall make ye no idols nor graven image, neither
rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of
stone."
* Deuteronomy 27:15 "Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten
image."
vs.
* Exodus 25:18 "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten
work shalt thou make them."
* I Kings 7:15,16,23,25 "For he [Solomon] cast two pillars of brass . .
. and two chapiters of molten brass . . . And he made a molten sea . .
. it stood upon twelve oxen . . . [and so on]"
Are we saved through works?
* Ephesians 2:8,9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith . . . not of
works."
* Romans 3:20,28 "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight."
* Galatians 2:16 "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of
the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ."
vs.
* James 2:24 "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not
by faith only."
* Matthew 19:16-21 "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good
Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And
he [Jesus] said unto him . . . keep the commandments. . . . The young
man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up:
what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and
sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven."
The common defense here is that "we are saved by faith and works." But
Paul said "not of works."
Should good works be seen?
* Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men that they may see
your good works."
* I Peter 2:12 "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that
. . . they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify
God in the day of visitation."
vs.
* Matthew 6:1-4 "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be
seen of them . . . that thine alms may be in secret."
* Matthew 23:3,5 "Do not ye after their [Pharisees'] works. . . . all
their works they do for to be seen of men."
Should we own slaves?
* Leviticus 25:45-46 "Moreover of the children of the strangers that do
sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, . . . and they shall be your
possession . . . they shall be your bondmen forever."
* Genesis 9:25 "And he [Noah] said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of
servants shall he be unto his brethren."
* Exodus 21:2,7 "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall
serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. . . . And
if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out
as the manservants do."
* Joel 3:8 "And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand
of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to
a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it."
* Luke 12:47,48 [Jesus speaking] "And that servant, which knew his
lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his
will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did
commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes."
* Colossians 3:22 "Servants, obey in all things your masters."
vs.
* Isaiah 58:6 "Undo the heavy burdens . . . let the oppressed go free, .
. . break every yoke."
* Matthew 23:10 "Neither be ye called Masters: for one is your Master,
even Christ."
Pro-slavery bible verses were cited by many churches in the South
during the Civil War, and were used by some theologians in the Dutch
Reformed Church to justify apartheid in South Africa. There are more
pro-slavery verses than cited here.
Does God change his mind?
* Malachi 3:6 "For I am the Lord; I change not."
* Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son
of man, that he should repent."
* Ezekiel 24:14 "I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I
will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I
repent."
* James 1:17 " . . . the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning."
vs.
* Exodus 32:14 "And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do
unto his people."
* Genesis 6:6,7 "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the
earth . . . And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth . . . for it repenteth me that I have made
him."
* Jonah 3:10 ". . . and God repented of the evil, that he had said that
he would do unto them; and he did it not."
See also II Kings 20:1-7, Numbers 16:20-35, Numbers 16:44-50.
See Genesis 18:23-33, where Abraham gets God to change his mind about
the minimum number of righteous people in Sodom required to avoid
destruction, bargaining down from fifty to ten. (An omniscient God
must have known that he was playing with Abraham's hopes for mercy--he
destroyed the city anyway.)
Are we punished for our parents' sins?
* Exodus 20:5 "For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation." (Repeated in Deuteronomy 5:9)
* Exodus 34:6-7 " . . . The Lord God, merciful and gracious, . . . that
will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the
third and to the fourth generation."
* I Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, . . ."
vs.
* Ezekiel 18:20 "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father."
* Deuteronomy 24:16 "The fathers shall not be put to death for the
children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers:
every man shall be put to death for his own sin."
Is God good or evil?
* Psalm 145:9 "The Lord is good to all."
* Deuteronomy 32:4 "a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right
is he."
vs.
* Isaiah 45:7 "I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these
things." See "Out of Context" for more on Isaiah 45:7.
* Lamentations 3:38 "Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not
evil and good?"
* Jeremiah 18:11 "Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you,
and devise a device against you."
* Ezekiel 20:25,26 "I gave them also statutes that were not good, and
judgments whereby they should not live. And I polluted them in their
own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that
openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that
they might know that I am the Lord."
Does God tempt people?
* James 1:13 "Let no man say . . . I am tempted of God: for God cannot
be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man."
vs.
* Genesis 22:1 "And it came to pass after these things, that God did
tempt Abraham."
Is God peaceable?
* Romans 15:33 "The God of peace."
* Isaiah 2:4 ". . . and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
vs.
* Exodus 15:3 "The Lord is a man of war."
* Joel 3:9-10 "Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of
war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and
your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong."
Was Jesus peaceable?
* John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."
* Acts 10:36 "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel,
preaching peace by Jesus Christ."
* Luke 2:14 " . . . on earth peace, good will toward men."
vs.
* Matthew 10:34 "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came
not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the
daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be
they of his own household."
* Luke 22:36 "Then said he unto them, . . . he that hath no sword, let
him sell his garment, and buy one."
Was Jesus trustworthy?
* John 8:14 "Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true."
vs.
* John 5:31 "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true."
"Record" and "witness" in the above verses are the same Greek word
(martyria).
Shall we call people names?
* Matthew 5:22 "Whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of
hellfire." [Jesus speaking]
vs.
* Matthew 23:17 "Ye fools and blind." [Jesus speaking]
* Psalm 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
Has anyone seen God?
* John 1:18 "No man hath seen God at any time."
* Exodus 33:20 "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see
me, and live."
* John 6:46 "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of
God [Jesus], he hath seen the Father."
* I John 4:12 "No man hath seen God at any time."
vs.
* Genesis 32:30 "For I have seen God face to face."
* Exodus 33:11 "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man
speaketh unto his friend."
* Isaiah 6:1 "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the
temple."
* Job 42:5 "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine
eye seeth thee."
How many Gods are there?
* Deuteronomy 6:4 "The Lord our God is one Lord."
vs.
* Genesis 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image."
* Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one
of us, to know good and evil."
* I John 5:7 "And there are three that bear witness in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."
It does no good to claim that "Let us" is the magisterial "we." Such
usage implies inclusivity of all authorities under a king's
leadership. Invoking the Trinity solves nothing because such an idea
is more contradictory than the problem it attempts to solve.
Are we all sinners?
* Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
* Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one."
* Psalm 14:3 "There is none that doeth good, no, not one."
vs.
* Job 1:1 "There was a man . . . who name was Job; and that man was
perfect and upright."
* Genesis 7:1 "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house
into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this
generation."
* Luke 1:6 "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."
How old was Ahaziah?
* II Kings 8:26 "Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to
reign."
vs.
* II Chronicles 22:2 "Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began
to reign."
Should we swear an oath?
* Numbers 30:2 "If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath . . .
he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth."
* Genesis 21:22-24,31 " . . . swear unto me here by God that thou wilt
not deal falsely with me . . . And Abraham said, I will swear. . . .
Wherefore he called that place Beersheba ["well of the oath"]; because
there they sware both of them."
* Hebrews 6:13-17 "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he
could swear by no greater, he sware by himself . . . for men verily
swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end
of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the
heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an
oath."
See also Genesis 22:15-19, Genesis 31:53, and Judges 11:30-39. |
