Contradictions in the Bible

[Good-Ole-Rebel]

Do you realize that that verse calls God a liar?

God sends the lie to those who reject the Truth. If you want to believe a lie, God will give you a lie to believe.

Good-Ole-Rebel

 

[Good-Ole-Rebel]

So, god's a liar and punishes people for using a skill known as critical reading?

God sends the Truth. When that Truth is rejected, He sends the lie. What you call 'critical reading' God calls a rejection of the Truth.

And yes, people are responsible in their rejection of the Truth for which God will punish.

Good-Ole-Rebel

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I suspect....scripture is a litmus test

I suspect a Rorschach test.

 

[Good-Ole-Rebel]

"Apparent contradictions"? How much clearer of a contradiction can one get than:

Ahaziah was 22 years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign;

2 Kings 8:26
Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
​

And then asserting Ahaziah was 42 years old when he began to reign;

2 Chronicles 22:2
Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.​

Or have "found god" and are honest enough to admit there are contradictions in the Bible.

.

Two different Ahaziah's. Note their different deaths. (2 Kings 9:27-28) (2 Chron. 22:7-9)

And two different Athaliah's. Note (2 Chron. 22:2) "His mothers name also was Athaliah...."

Good-Ole-Rebel

 

[stvdv]

A common conception of the Bible is that it contradicts itself. It sure does look that way. I can't argue that. And yet it claims to be the truth,

* Contradictions are not so bad IMHO:
It does keep us sharp
It does teaches us not to believe blind
Works great, as not all are in same class

What alternatives?

• To whom is God speaking in any part of the Bible? We commonly say one thing to one person or group, and something totally different to another

Thanks for bringing up this point. This is my favorite. Bible "God" was speaking to people in Israel. In India "God" was speaking using Vedas and other Scriptures. And for the Buddhists Buddha is the way to go. Humanist practice to be humane (not against Bible). Etc.

What alternatives?

• To what time period do the two "contradictions" belong? It's nothing new; times change. We all know that in our daily life. Well, God can do that also.

So the Koran does make sense it seems, according to your idea. An update 700 years after the Bible.

 

[Subduction Zone]

God sends the lie to those who reject the Truth. If you want to believe a lie, God will give you a lie to believe.

Good-Ole-Rebel

The excuse does not matter, you said that your God lied.

 

[stvdv]

Do you realize that that verse calls God a liar?

Does the verse say "God is a liar"?

Would be Ad hominem attack

It just says God lies I think

A subtle difference

Of course it's an interesting observation. Bible God is lying. No problem for me though. After all He allegedly created humans in His Image. I know at least 1 human who has lied, hence it seems correct "God does lie".

But to say "God is a liar" would mean that lying is all God is doing. That of course is not true (assuming God exists).

But there seeem to be quite a few contradictions in the Bible IMHO. Keeps me sharp, not to believe blind.

 

[stvdv]

God sends the lie to those who reject the Truth. If you want to believe a lie, God will give you a lie to believe.

Good-Ole-Rebel

Assuming God is true, I agree there is a lot of lying going around. Even those that accept Bible truth lie a lot in my experience

Normally it's just humans sending lies around. I can't recall at this moment that God did the lying. Not from first hand experience. It's all hearsay so far.

 

[wellwisher]

A common conception of the Bible is that it contradicts itself. It sure does look that way. I can't argue that. And yet it claims to be the truth,

John 17:17,

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
​

Well, there is something in the Bible that doesn't even need "interpretation." It's a pretty straight forward declaration. While belief in the statement is optional, it would nonetheless be hard to make it say anything other than that God's word, the Bible, is truth. But how can it be truth if it is full of contradictions?

A more fundamental question though might be, is it really full of contradictions, or do many jump to conclusions before doing any exhaustive study for themselves? I find that question particularly relative considering how many already know it is contradictory without having considered alternatives.

What alternatives?

• To whom is God speaking in any part of the Bible? We commonly say one thing to one person or group, and something totally different to another.
• To what time period do the two "contradictions" belong? It's nothing new; times change. We all know that in our daily life. Well, God can do that also.
• What is the context? You tell your kids not to shout in the restaurant, and then tell them shouting is OK when walking in the forest.
  
• Are we sure two different accounts are talking about the same event? There are times when recognizing that what seems to be the same event are actually two, albeit similar, events. Lot's of similar events in the Bible.
  
• Are we sure the Bible version we use is true to the original Hebrew and Greek texts? It wouldn't be unusual for a scribe to make an honest mistake. It might just be possible that the scribe interjected their own "view" on doctrinal matters. I know of one "contradiction" that vanishes when a comma is removed. The original texts had no punctuation at all. The comma was added by some scribe and is therefore devoid of any diving authority.

There are other considerations, but I've found that those 5 clear up 99% of the apparent contradictions in the Bible. So now I have no trouble seeing that God's word is truth. It just takes a little bit of "getting under the hood" to see how the engine runs.

The human brain has two sides, with each side of the brain processing the same input data differently. The left side is more differential; 2-D and the right side of the brain is more integral; 3-D. Like in calculus the left brain finds the slope of the curve at a given point; differentiation, while the right brain finds the area under the curve from A to B; integration.

As an example of the processing differences between the two sides of the brain, if you were from the West and went to a baseball game in Tokyo, the right brain would notice how the majority of the fans all look oriental. It would integrate all these face into common facial trends; oriental. The left brain would see differences in each person, allowing you to find your Japanese friend at the concession stand. Science is more left brain and can see subtle differences in nature. However, is generates more differential data that it can integrate with theory. This is due to less conscious right brain development.

In terms of the bible, right brain dominant people do not see contraction but rather they see integral completeness; truth. Whereas left brain people, which is the product of western education and science, will see distinctions that differentiate reality and appear to contradict. If said, God is the alpha and omega with height, width and depth, this is defining all encompassing completeness. To the left brain, each of these parameters can be treated separate and may appear contradictory or illogical when presented together as one composite thing.

Jesus spoke in parables which are symbolic and are connected to the language of the right brain. For example, the Kingdom of God is like the mustard seed. This makes no sense to the left brain, since the statement tries to unite what appears to be two unrelated things. The right brain understands the symbolism and has less problem with this symbolic statement.

The bible was actually written for right brain people. The right side of the brain is closer to the generic impulses of natural instinct and the personality firmware. It is the older conscious part of the human brain. The left brain developed later and help the ego to differentiate itself. I think therefore I am. Before that, the right brain centric human merged with instinct and nature; paradise.

 

[stvdv]

A common conception of the Bible is that it contradicts itself. It sure does look that way. I can't argue that. And yet it claims to be the truth,

John 17:17,

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Well, there is something in the Bible that doesn't even need "interpretation." It's a pretty straight forward declaration. While belief in the statement is optional, it would nonetheless be hard to make it say anything other than that God's word, the Bible, is truth. But how can it be truth if it is full of contradictions?

Before going into the contradiction part

We have the Bible
We have John
And John's verse claiming God said...

This is "John's word" claiming it's "God's word". That is totally different from "This is God's word" IMO.

I would call this hearsay. Not to belittle what is said, but just to be accurate.

Now we can debate whether it's truly God's word or not. Only God knows. And that's where the problem starts. Get God to talk.

And beware not to end up in the same predicament as with John which seems a problem, unless you talk personally to God.

Then better not share, as "John problem starts all over again". And then you have exactly what it was meant to be in the first place IMO, "a belief", meaning "personal".

At least now it's the most recent update (All windows users know how important it is to have the latest update).

Before solving the above I think it is no use to talk about contradictions.

 

[Pipiripi]

The Bible interpreted itself. Why people break God's Ten Commandments? Read Revelation 12:17 and 14:12. Are you one of them?

 

[Windwalker]

God sends the lie to those who reject the Truth. If you want to believe a lie, God will give you a lie to believe.

And what does this say about the character of God? Spiteful? Petty? Lacking compassion? Lacking grace?

 

[Windwalker]

What you call 'critical reading' God calls a rejection of the Truth.

Where does God say this? Do you do view using the brain God gave you a sin? Do you call knowledge sin? Do you call education a sin? Do you believe God thinks like you do on these matters?

 

[Marcion]

A common conception of the Bible is that it contradicts itself. It sure does look that way. I can't argue that. And yet it claims to be the truth,

How can a book, a non-living thing claim anything?
Your quoted text was created by one living person, but that person was at the time not at all referring to the biblical scripture collection we know now because at that time that specific collection of texts did not exist and on top of that you cannot be sure what in reality the author was referring to.

So the discussion becomes a useless one.

 

[exchemist]

God sends the lie to those who reject the Truth. If you want to believe a lie, God will give you a lie to believe.

Good-Ole-Rebel

So your belief is that God lies.

Now, at last, I understand why the American Religious Right voted for Trump in such large numbers.

 

[BilliardsBall]

The biggest contradiction I know is:

How do you stay in good favor with god who -asked- you a yes/no question, you pick no, and he says it's your fault you rejected, then become bad in his favor for choosing the wrong answer to his yes/no question?

All religious books have some sort of contradiction. I don't know of any religion that says their books are literally right. They don't seem to care about the accuracy of dots and commas.

People are offered the Christ by God multiple times over a lifetime, it's never a binary yes/no, and many who reject initially trust Jesus for salvation.

 

[BilliardsBall]

[Duplicate post]

 

[Audie]

This is so funny.

God gives 'apparent contradictions' to those who are looking for contradictions.

They are not looking for God. They are looking for any reason not to follow God. And so God gives it to them.

God gives them the lie. (2 Thess. 2:11). "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."

Would God do that? You bet He would.

Good-Ole-Rebel

And so many of your fellow-goddies say that "god never lies",
and that it is Satan what is the great deceiver.

What is funny is nominal adults who believe
fairy tales like "Noah's Ark."

 

[Unveiled Artist]

People are offered the Christ by God multiple times over a lifetime, it's never a binary yes/no, and many who reject initially trust Jesus for salvation.

For some people. Anyone can come back from rejection. Some Christians confuse that with disbelief. Usually spiritual growth in the former. The latter it takes strength not to feel pressured to conform to the majority. They usually find their path somewhere else that speaks to them.

Depends on the person.

 

[Audie]

The Bible is inspired, true and in fact infallible in the original texts. We have a pretty good idea what the originals were given the many copies and fragments and the range of things passed down.

Contradictions? No. Much ink has been spilled on this and there are arguably none.

Infallible in the original but nobody knows what they said.

If there even ever were "originals" for oral traditions.

Does your pretty good idea include whether noahs ark
is true? World wide flood and all?

Of course whether it is all true is arguable.

Whether Batboy has a secret moon base is arguable,
though not among sensible people.