101 Clear Contradictions in the Bible

[czgibson]

Greetings,

I know that people do everything they can to try and come up with a "contradiction" in the Bible. But you know, every single one of these 101 "Contradictions" have been cleared up.

I'm going to try and make what may be a controversial point here, especially since it's one that potentially applies to my own attitudes, and I may well fall flat on my face, but here goes:

Muslim: "The Qur'an is perfect: handed down by god to a single man and utterly free from error."

Christian: "The Bible contains god's word, as transmitted by him to many different people over a great deal of time. Being divinely inspired, it is, in a theological sense, inerrant."

Atheist: "Sorry: both of your scriptures contain clear contradictions, which no amount of circumambient peripherisation will conceal. Someone actually went to the trouble of compiling '101 contradictions in the Bible', and someone delivered a comparable effort in attempting to refute that document. Think of all the things they could have been doing instead!"

I suppose the point I'm making is this: while there are strong feelings on both sides, to what extent do these issues have any bearing on reality? Of course, the endless theism vs. atheism discussions that people like me are very fond of are in pretty much the same category, but how much does all of this differ from Medieval scholastics in the Christian tradition debating how many angels could dance on the head of a pin?

Peace

 

[khairullah]

ony one Question from Christains.

DO YOU CHRISTIANS ATTRIBUTE ALL THESE CONTRADICTIONS TO GOD ALMIGHTY?

 

[Zilam]

ony one Question from Christains.

DO YOU CHRISTIANS ATTRIBUTE ALL THESE CONTRADICTIONS TO GOD ALMIGHTY?

God never contradicts in His Word. Our understanding of His Word might contradict at times though, only because we are human.

 

[Joe98]

45. When Jesus entered Jerusalem did he cleanse the temple that same day?
• Yes (Matthew 21:12)

• No. He went into the temple and looked around, but since it was very late he did nothing. Instead, he went to Bethany to spend the night and returned the next morning to cleanse the temple (Mark I 1:1- 17)

The Christian view:

In the time of Christ, the job of janitor had a low status in Jewish society.

Christ entered the temple and cleaned it. He was trying to show that everybody is equal and there should not be any status in society.

We can all learn something from this.


The Muslim view.

The time discrepancy means neither book were written by God. Therefore Islam is the correct religion. There is nothing to learn here – move along now.




The time discrepancy

Mathew and Mark were both men. Neither claimed to be God. They were witnesses to events and their books were written many years after the events. Possibly when they were very old men or even written after they died by their followers after they died.


Conclusion:

Athiests can learn from the Bible but not from the Koran.

-

 

[khairullah]

God never contradicts in His Word. Our understanding of His Word might contradict at times though, only because we are human.

only because you are human doesnt mean you must change the words of God.

you blasphemed God and you call this not understanding?

 

[Pygoscelis]

Does it really matter if the bible has contradictions?

I mean, it has talking snakes and donkeys. Is that not enough for you?

 

[Malaikah]

The time discrepancy

Mathew and Mark were both men. Neither claimed to be God. They were witnesses to events and their books were written many years after the events. Possibly when they were very old men or even written after they died by their followers after they died.

The problem is that Christians claim the Bible was inspired by God. If it were inspired, it would not have contradictions, no matter how late in life it was written. Unless you want to think that God inspired them with the wrong information?

Conclusion:

Athiests can learn from the Bible but not from the Koran.

Wow, conclusion that has nothing to do with the discussion! How amazing. :rollseyes

 

[rav]

The problem is that Christians claim the Bible was inspired by God. If it were inspired, it would not have contradictions, no matter how late in life it was written. Unless you want to think that God inspired them with the wrong information?

Well I am not exactly sure if their is an actual agreement on the origins of the Bible, because when debating missionaries I have come across many belief systems. For example, I recently debated a Baptist; who claimed every word of the entire "Christian Bible" was the actual word of G-d. I had never heard such a claim before because Judaism at its most Orthodox levels teach the entire Torah (Not Jewish Bible, but just the 5 books of Moses) are the word of G-d. I asked her about contradictions etc, because contradictions do indeed exist in the Tanakh (Hebrew scriptures). The books of Isaiah, Pslams, Jeremiah etc. may be inspired by G-d, and have G-d's word quoted in it, but many times it is the prophet himself speaking, and since we know man is not infallible, he may have wrong information etc. When he says "G-d said" or "He saw in a vision" etc, then it is G-d, but the amount of horsemen at a battle, when one record says (example not real) 7000 and another says 10,000... well such things do not effect the message nor do they have anything to di with G-d. It may be human error, or they may be rounded up in a certain way, they may be a poetic device to rhyme a phrase etc. No actual laws of halakha (Jewish law) come from anywhere but the Torah, so therefore the rest of Tanakh can be considered historical, inspiring, and a way to judge prophecies and future events if you believe we are in a time of a soon coming redemption. But the actual law can only be taken from the Torah, which is our word of G-d.

 

[guyabano]

Wow, conclusion that has nothing to do with the discussion! How amazing. :rollseyes

But a conclusion may make part of a discussion, and the bitter pill to swallow is, that he's right !

 

[Malaikah]

But a conclusion may make part of a discussion, and the bitter pill to swallow is, that he's right !

The only way he can make that conclusion is by extensive word to word study of both the Quran and Bible. Since he came no were near doing this, in fact, the topic of his post as not even related to that, his conclusion is 100% baseless and pointless, just like almost almost every single one of his comments on this forum.

Thanks rav for your comments. But I never got the impression that Christians beleive the Bible contain a phrase here or there that was spoken by God and only what was inspired. they seem to believe the whole thing was inspired. I can understand why the Bible would have contradiction since it was written by men very much after the event, but I don't understand why it would have contradictions if it was inspired by God.:rollseyes

 

[Keltoi]

The only way he can make that conclusion is by extensive word to word study of both the Quran and Bible. Since he came no were near doing this, in fact, the topic of his post as not even related to that, his conclusion is 100% baseless and pointless, just like almost almost every single one of his comments on this forum.

Thanks rav for your comments. But I never got the impression that Christians beleive the Bible contain a phrase here or there that was spoken by God and only what was inspired. they seem to believe the whole thing was inspired. I can understand why the Bible would have contradiction since it was written by men very much after the event, but I don't understand why it would have contradictions if it was inspired by God.:rollseyes

Considers what you mean by "inspired". Do you believe God takes possession of an individual and writes it Himself? Or do you believe that God "speaks" through the mind and hand of an individual? As the Bible is much more than simply reciting the statements of God, meaning it is full of historical events and re-tellings, it would be wrong to conclude that every word in the Bible is a statement from God. What God has commanded is written. However, God commanded human beings, not lifeless scrolls. What God has inspired will always and naturally be incorporated into the larger picture of life. Contradictions, or whatever one wishes to call them, will naturally occur when different people re-tell the same event. I do not think of the Bible as being, word for word, statements from God. They are the writings of men who were inspired by God's command and Message.

 

[Joe98]

If it were inspired, it would not have contradictions,

The story I quoted teaches us that everybody is equal. Nobody's status is higher than anybody else.

Where is the contradiction????

-

 

[IbnAbdulHakim]

They're not smear campaigns, go into a debate with a christian they'll hit you with misinterperted quran verses, it's only fair and wise we know some of their books fault so we have some ammunition to show them what they hold to be true is false.

assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah

if someone holds onto a piece of rock like its the most precious thing to them, and you keep attacking that piece of rock saying "your rock cannot benefit you!" it will not helP!, they will keep defending it and perhaps become more stubborn and hard hearted in the process. But if you show them the beautiful gem you hold, they will drop that rock and take your gem




muhammad alshareef may Allah grant him jannah had said that::

Dont tell people they are hiding sand behind their backs, but show them your gem, they will gladly let the sand slip through there fingers and clutch onto this beautiful gem

 

[Md Mashud]

IbnAbdulHakim has hit the spot perfectly. People, lets leave the prideful act of insulting Christians beliefs - even if we believe they are wrong. Lets open there hearts by showing them why the Quran and Islam is correct rather than why there bible is wrong - Inshallah it will get through to them.

The same way you feel when someone attacks the Quran, they equally feel that pain back!

 

[Grace Seeker]

Jazakhallah khair for the info bro! It just proves for the millionth time that Islam is the only true religion.

No. It doesn't.

First, it says nothing about Islam. So it cannot prove anything about it one way or the other.

Second, they are claims of contradictions. Rather than saying 101 Clear Contradictions, it would be better to have said 101 Apparhent Contradictions.

Third, the validity of Christianity does not rest on any of these texts.

 

[Grace Seeker]

The problem is that Christians claim the Bible was inspired by God. If it were inspired, it would not have contradictions, no matter how late in life it was written. Unless you want to think that God inspired them with the wrong information?

Thanks rav for your comments. But I never got the impression that Christians beleive the Bible contain a phrase here or there that was spoken by God and only what was inspired. they seem to believe the whole thing was inspired. I can understand why the Bible would have contradiction since it was written by men very much after the event, but I don't understand why it would have contradictions if it was inspired by God.:rollseyes

But inspired is not the same as dictated. It may be that this removes God from the Bible's creation to such an extent that you no longer view it as a credible record. I'll have to live with that.

I, for one, have no problem with the way Rav explained it even though I would say that the whole Bible was inspired. As Keltoi says, the writers were inspired by God to write, but they were also free to shape that writing in a way that reflected what they understood (an in some cases even misunderstood) about God. (Regarding that last comment, I think that some of the passages in the Tanakh where the Israelites interpret a victory as proof that God was with them and a loss a proof that God had abandoned them because of some sin, are just so much interpretations of the human authors, and not necessarily revelatory of God's actual will, even though I think that God can and sometimes does use such events for his purposes.)

 

[rav]

Shalom (Peace),

Lavikor201 refuted the first supposed contradiction so let us look at the second one just for some curiousity:

2. In that count how many fighting men were found in Israel?
• Eight hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9)
• One million, one hundred thousand (I Chronicles 21:5)

Here are the two verses:

And Joab presented the sum of the number of the people to the king; And Israel consisted of eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. (2 Samued 24:9)

And Joab gave the number of the census of the people to David, and all Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men who draw the sword, and Judah was four hundred seventy thousand men who draw the sword. (1 Chronicles 21:5)

So let us see what Rashi says about these two verses.

On his commentary of the verse in Samuel Rashi points out the word "sum". He says: If sum why number? And if number, why sum? Joab made two lists, a long and a short one. He said: I shall show him the short one but if he gets angry then I will show him the longer one. This is why it says מפקד which is an expression of lacking. So it is explicated in the Pesikta.

He then says: Now in I Chronicles 21:5 it is written “one million, one hundred thousand.” In the Aggadah of the Amoraim [the post-Mishnaic rabbis of the Talmud] we find: R. Joshua the son of Levi said: The verses add here what they omitted elsewhere, [i.e.,] the two tribes that were not counted, for it is written in I Chronicles (2:6): But Levi and Benjamin he did not number among them; for the king’s word was abominable to Joab. Joab said, From these I can free myself by claiming that the tribe of Levi is not [to be] counted among the other tribes but from one month and above [while the other tribes were counted from ages twenty to fifty]. Now concerning Benjamin it is enough that they were diminished and [nearly] destroyed in the incident of the Concubine in Gibeah (Jud. Ch. 20). Also in the thirty-two rules [of interpretation] of R. Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosi of Galilee we learned: One verse states that “all of Israel were one million and one hundred thousand… and Judah was four hundred seventy thousand [men],” while another verse states that “Israel consisted of eight hundred thousand… and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.” We thus find a discrepancy of three hundred thousand between them. What is to be said concerning these three hundred thousand? Comes the third verse (in I Chron. 27:1) and clarifies “And the children of Israel after their number, the heads of father’s houses and the captains of thousands and of hundreds and their officers that served the king, in any matter of the divisions which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year of each division were twenty-four thousand.” We learn from here that these three hundred thousand were written in the royal record and required no [additional] accounting. How [do we derive this sum]? Twenty-four thousand [multiplied] by twelve [tribes] totals two hundred and eighty-eight thousand leaving twelve thousand who were the rulers of Israel."


On his commentary on 1 Chronicles he says: But in Samuel (II 24:9) it is written: “eight hundred thousand, etc., and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men,” which apparently means that there were not so many of Israel as are stated here. The truth is that because the anger of the Holy One, blessed be He, was upon David, Scripture did not write there the number of all of those whom he had counted. Neither did Joab count all the tribes, as it is written (verse 6): “… because the word of the king was repugnant to Joab.” But here, because of David’s honor, he does mention the number and the reckoning that he counted, because it is his honor that such a massive army was in his tribe. And the following is proof to what I explained: that even that small part of Israel that he counted, he did not write their entire number in Samuel, but here, [the Chronicler] did write the entire number that he counted, because it is written here: “and all Israel were,” whereas in Samuel it is not written: “all.” And it is explicitly proven here before us, as it is written: (below 27:24): “Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count but did not finish, and with this there was anger upon Israel, and the number did not reach the number of the chronicles of King David.”

So there we go. Please object to anything you may think is not true written above. Until then, I can say with conviction that the first two 'contradictions' presented are not contradictions at all. Not to say that there may not be a contradiction in the Tanakh, but dishonesty, or pure ignorance dominates the writers of such works as the original post wrote.

 

[Woodrow]

I just moved this to the top as some members were asking about it.

 

[ricardo_sousa]

I think all "God Books" like the Torah, Koran, Bible, etc, have lots of mistakes.... Many as a Harry Potter books...

 

[Omari]

I think all "God Books" like the Torah, Koran, Bible, etc, have lots of mistakes.... Many as a Harry Potter books...

I disagree with you. And I challenge you to find me ONE mistake or contradiction in the Quran. And people have tried for 1000 years and should they try 1000 more years, they will not find a single mistake in the Quran. For allah says, I will protect this book from harm.

[Peace be with you broter ](My challenge is not just for you but for everyone)
Omari