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[Kelli's note: I neither compiled this list, nor wrote the following brief introduction.]

Scholars have estimated that the Bible contains over two thousand explicit or implicit contradictions. Some are major, some trivial. This list is only a small selection.

Through history, attempts to resolve these contradictions have produced thousands of volumes, few of which agree. And in the process, men have spilled thousands of gallons of blood. Yet, the contradictions remain. What do you make of them?

Perhaps the best answer is the simplest: that the Bible is not all the perfect, infallible word of God.

Interestingly, the Bible itself confirms this. It tells us that all scripture is by inspiration of God (II Timothy 3:16), but also tells us that some of its parts are not from divine inspiration (I Corinthians 7:6, 5:12; II Corinthians 11:17). What could be clearer?

Our purpose is not to make believers into non-believers, but simply to make some non- questioners into questioners.

I hope we have succeeded.

Genesis 3:14,17 God punished Adam & Eve for disobeying His warning and eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Genesis 2:25. 3:6-7, 3:22 But as God admits, until Adam & Eve ate from this tree, they did not know right from wrong. Therefore they could have not known it was wrong to disobey God's warning.

Exodus 4:21. 7:1. 10:1 It was actually God who caused Pharaoh to be obstinate about freeing the Jews. (Pharaoh's refusal was not an act of free will.)

Exodus 21:17 God proclaimed that a child must be put to death if, in a moment of anger, he reviles either of his parents for any reason.

Exodus 21:20-21 God also proclaimed that it is permissible for a man to beat a slave, as long as death does not occur immediately. The reason: "For the slave is the man's property."

Exodus 22:28 God commanded us not to revile or denigrate other "gods."

Exodus 24:12. 31:18, 32:19. 34:1.4,10-28 These passages demonstrate great confusion about the identity of the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue inscribed on both the first and second set of stone tablets, which Moses placed in the Ark of the Covenant. The traditional version of the commandments appears in Exodus Chap. 20. According to Exodus, however, these are not the true Ten Commandments -- Read the passages carefully.

The true Commandments appear in Exodus 34:10-26, and they include such curious injunctions as: "Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk," and "Do not offer a sacrifice to the Lord along with anything containing yeast."

Deuteronomy 5:4-22 The traditional Commandments appear here.

Exodus 32:27-28 Moses had the Levites murder their brothers, neighbors and companions over a religious difference. Three thousand people die.

Leviticus 19:21 God declared it a sin to trim your beard or sideburns.

Leviticus 19:28 God said that tattoos are a sin.

Leviticus 25:44-46 God authorized slavery.

Numbers 15:32-36 God commanded a man to be stoned to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath Day.

Numbers 31:17-18 Moses ordered innocent women and children killed and commanded his officers to keep the virgins alive for themselves.

Deuteronomy 2:34 Again Moses ordered the slaughter of women and chiidren captured in war.

Further bloody injunctions from Moses to the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 13:6-10 A man must slay his daughter, wife, son or friend for a difference in religion.

Deuteronomy 13:12-16 Whole cities must be destroyed. plundered and burned, the inhabitants all slaughtered, for the same reason.

Deuteronomy 20:12-17 God's injunction to Moses: If a city does not enslave itself to him immediately, lay seige to it. Kill all the males and take women and children as slaves. Some cities, however, must be destroyed utterly: even women, children and babies must be murdered.

Deuteronomy 21:11-14 Female prisoners-of-war, said God, must be subject to the sexual whims of their captors. They may have only one month of mourning for slain parents. Thereafter, when the captor grows tired of a prisoner, he may cast her aside.

Deuteronomy 22:25-29 The penalty for raping a betrothed virgin is death, but the penalty for raping an unbetrothed virgin is to pay a fine to the father and then marry the woman. (This is the only Biblical injunction against rape!)

Deuteronomy 23:1-3 A man who has suffered sexual injury or mutulation has no right to worship in church (i.e. "enter the assembly of the Lord"). Illegitimate children, or children of incestuous relationships, also may not worship or enter. In fact. you may not attend if any of your ancestors were illegitimate, up to ten generations back.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12 If a wife attempts to rescue or protect her husband from an assailant, and if in so doing she deliberately or accidently touches the assailant's private parts, her hand must be cut off. This is God's direct command.

Joshua's acts of mass murder, commanded or condoned by the Lord:

Joshua 6:21 After capturing Jericho, the Israelites under Joshua's command slaughtered women, children and old men. Even the animals of the city were killed.

Joshua 8:2, 24-25 Under God's command. Joshua killed all the inhabitants of the city of Ai, including women and children.

Joshua 10:28-37, 40 Continuing in this fashion, Joshua obliterated the complete populations of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Gezer, Eglon, Hebron, and all who dwelled in "the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs'' (KJ version). He destroyed everything that breathed, and did not even spare suckling babies.

Joshua 7:20-26 A man named Archen kept some of the plunder from Jericho for himself, instead of turning it all over to the priests. He confessed to the crime. As punishment, Joshua not only had Archen stoned and burned, but Archen's innocent sons and daughters as well. This deed appeased God.

Judges 8:16 Gideon, the son of Joshua (and the same Gideon for whom the Gideon Bible is named) used torture on the captive elders of Succoth.

Judges 11:24 The Bible recognizes the existence of the Ammonite god Chemosh.

Intimations of human sacrifice in the Bible:

Judges 11:30-32, 34, 39 God delivered Jepthah's enemies into his hands in exchange for a human sacrifice.

Leviticus 27:28-29 Human beings "devoted" or made sacred to God must be put to death. (See also Exodus 22:28-29 in this

II Samuel 21:1, 8, 9, 14 God accepts the sacrifice (by dismemberment) of seven innocent men, and removes a famine.

I Samuel 15:3, 8 On God's orders, Saul killed all the Amalekits, including women, infants and suckling babies.

II Samuel 6:6-7 Uzzah saved the Ark of the Covenant from tipping over by steadying it with his hand. God's response was to strike him dead.

II Samuel 12:14-18 God punished a man by killing his innocent child.

II Kings 2:23-24 The prophet Elisha (protege of Elijah) caused bears to tear children apart for laughing at his bald head.

David, the "favorite of God," lived by robbery and unprovoked massacre of neighboring tribes, slaughtering both men and women (I Sam 27:8-9), lied afterwards about the killings (I Sam 27:10-11), ordered the blind and lame of the city of Zion to be killed (II Sam 5:8), murdered prisoners of war (II Sam 8:2), maimed horses (II Sam 8:4), tortured and killed more prisoners of war (II Sam 12:31 & I Chron 20:3, KJ version). With his last breath, he betrayed an oath and advocated murder (I Kings 2:8-9).

I Kings 11:6, 15:3, 5; Acts 13:22 David followed the Lord completely. All his deeds were right in the eyes of God except for those regarding Uriah (a little matter of adultery, betrayal and a single murder: see II Sam 11). David was a man after God's heart.

I Chronicles 16:30 The earth does not move through space.

Matthew 4:8; Luke 4:5 Also, two verses that suggest the earth is flat.

II Chronicles 1:11-12 God promised that Solomon would have material wealth greater than any other king, before or since. History shows otherwise. Solomon was weathy, but several kings in Solomon's day (and many since) were much wealthier. Some have been so wealthy they could have replaced the value of all of Palestine without missing it. Note that if you reinterpret "wealth" to mean "spiritual wealth", the prophecy also fails because Solomon lived his later years in spiritual darkness.

Job 1:6-12 Satan saw God.

III John 1:11 Those who have seen God do not do evil.

The Bible (KJ version and source texts) seems to insist that the soul, or consciousness, exists in the kidneys (reins) and heart.

Psalms 73:21 "Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins."

Psalms 16:7 "My reins also instruct me in the night seasons."

Psalms 7:9 "God trieth the hearts and reins."

Proverbs 23:16 "My reins shall rejoice when my lips speak right things.''

Revelation 2:23 "I am He which searcheth the reins and heart."

On the other hand, the Bible never mentions the brain as the center of anything mental or spiritual.

Psalms 109:9-10, 12 A holy psalm which cruelly calls down misery and suffering on a man's innocent wife and children.

Psalms 139:21-22 A holy psalm which declares "nothing but hatred" on those who oppose God.

Psalms 137:9 This psalm proclaims happiness for those who dash Babylonian children against rocks.

Biblical statements and prophecies about the "son of man" (KJ version):

Psalms 146:3 Put not your trust in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Job 25:6 The son of man is a worm, or like a worm.

Psalms 8:4 & 144:3, in the KJ version, also belittle the "son of man".

Proverbs 14:15 The wise man does not have blind faith in everything said to him, but looks for proof. (Clearest in the New English Bible.)

Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 Men are as beasts: they have the same fate, the same "breath" (spirit): all go to the same place: none know if the breath (spirit) of man and beast have different destinies.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-10, 12 The preacher or teacher who wrote these things was wise, and what he wrote was true. Be warned of any attempt to add to his words or change them.

Isaiah 23:17-18 Revenue from prostitution will be used to provide abundant food and fine clothes for those living in God's grace.

Jeremiah 19:9 God intentionally forces people into acts of cannabalism. The victims are innocent children.

Hosea 13:16 Because Samaria rebelled against God, God ordained that its pregnant women will be ripped open and innocent children dashed to the ground.

(KJ version only:)
Exodus 32:14 God does evil.

Isaiah 45:7 God creates evil.

Jeremiah 26:3 God inflicts evil.

Amos 3:6 God causes evil.

Lamentations 3:38 Evil comes from the mouth of God.

Mark 4:11-12 Jesus deliberately spoke in parables in order to exclude some people from being converted and being forgiven their sins. See also: John 12:39-40: Isaiah 6:10.

Matthew 5:31-39 Jesus admitted that scripture contains errors. He disagreed with several specific teachings from the Old Testament, in particular Deut 24:1, Ex 21:24, Lev 24:20, Deut 19:21.

John 14:12 Jesus declared that anyone who believes in him will perform the same miracles and greater miracles than He performed. (Thus, anyone who does not perform greater miracles is, by Jesus's own words, an unbeliever.)

Mark 16:17-18 Also, that believers will be immune to poison and poisonous serpents, and will cure the sick by laying-on of hands. (Note: The passage from Mark is absent from the two earliest, most reliable Greek manuscripts of the gospel).

Matthew 5:33-37 The Bible prohibits oaths or vows in any form, even oaths before God or oaths on the Bible.

Matthew 10:34-36 Jesus' purpose on earth was not to bring peace, but conflict, strife, discord.

Luke 12:49, 51 Jesus came to spread fire on the earth, and to cause not peace but division.

Luke 22:31 Jesus commanded his followers to procure swords.

Matthew 15:22-28 A Canannite woman pleaded with Jesus to he|p her afflicted daughter. Jesus refused to answer. She continued to plead. The disciples reviled her. Jesus announced that he will only help Israelites: to help Gentiles would be like taking bread from the Jews and casting it to dogs. The woman continued to humiliate herself. Finally, Jesus relented and agreed to heal the child, using the occasion the deliver a little homily on the virtues of faith and persistence.

Luke 7:36-50 By Jesus's own words, a woman was saved by her faith even before the crucifixion. Thus the crucifixion was not absolutely necessary for salvation.

Luke 15:7 A verse that implies that some people need no repentence.

(KJ version & New International version:)
Luke 14:26 Jesus demanded that his disciples hate their parents.

Matthew 10:35-36 Jesus said he came to turn children against their parents.

Luke 19:27 Jesus implied, in a parable. that those who do not accept him are to be killed.

Matthew 19:17; John 14:28 Verses implying that Jesus believed he was not God, but less than God.

John 14:28 God is Jesus' God as well as our God. Again, it appears that God and Jesus are not identical.

Matthew 19:21; Luke 14:33; Mark 10:21: Luke 3:11 Verses implying that those with wealth will never enter heaven.

Matthew 19:28 Speaking to the twelve disciples, Jesus gave his solemn word and prophecy that all twelve of them (including Judas!) will sit on twelve thrones in Heaven and judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel. (This was clearly when Judas was still a disciple.)

Matthew 24:29, Revelation 6:13 In the days of the Apocalypse. the stars will fall from the sky and land on the earth like ''figs". In other words, the stars are small and subject to earthly gravity.

Matthew 27:52-53 At the moment of Jesus' death, many of the Jewish saints or patriarchs rose from the dead. They waited in their tombs until after Jesus' resurrection three days later, then came forth and wandered about Jerusalem. The resurrection of the Jewish saints is easily the most spectacular miracle in Jesus' career, yet one hears very little of it. Not a word of it appears in the other gospels!

Acts 5:10 Ananias, a new convert to Christianity, sold his land and turned most of the money over to the apostles, but kept part for himself. Saint Peter, who wanted all the money, considered this deceitful. Peter reviled and criticised Ananias, and Ananias fell down dead. Heartlessly, Peter's followers threw him into a grave without telling his wife what had happened. Three hours later, the wife came looking for him. Peter reviled her the same way. She also expired on the spot, and the same followers threw her summarily into the ground.

Romans 13:1-7 Civil authorities receive their power from God, and everyone should submit to them. To rebel against governmental authority is to rebel against God. (See also Titus 3:1 and I Peter 2:13-14.) Therefore, faithful Christians must not disobey or oppose laws they regard as distasteful--e.g., laws regarding abortion, taxation, the teaching of evolution, and even restriction of worship in Communist countries.

What about Universalism, the doctrine that all souls must eventually be saved? Many fundamentalists regard it as a terrible heresy, and yet some passages in the Bible seem to support it.

Psalm 72:11, Daniel 7:14-27 All nations. all kings, all people will serve and obey the messiah.

Joel 2:27-28 God will pour out his spirit upon all flesh.

Lamentations 3:31 The Lord will not reject anyone forever, or keep His anger forever.

Colossians 1:20 God will reconcile all things to himself.

Romans 11:26 All Israel shall be saved; salvation will be universal among the Jews.

II Peter 3:9 It is God's will that none will perish, that all will come to repentance.

I Corinthians 11:5 When women pray, they must have their heads covered.

I Corinthians 12:24-37 There will be only harmony and no conflict or disagreement (discord) within the "body of Christ" (the Christian church). 2000 years of conflict and schism show this is untrue. Or else, nearly all Christians are damned.

I Corinthians 14:34-35 Women may never speak in chruch.

II Corinthians 12:2 There is more than one Heaven.

Galatians 5:2-3 Saint Paul insists that Christ is of "no use" to those who have themselves circumcised. Anyone circumcised is obligated to obey the entire Jewish law.

Philippians 3:5; Luke 2:21 And yet. Paul himself was circumcised: Jesus was circumcised.

I Timothy 2:11-12 No woman is to teach, nor to have authority over men.

(In the KJ and Revised KJ versions:)
I Timothy 3:2.12; Titus 1:6 Bishops may wed.

I Timothy 6:1; Titus 2:9 Two of many passages in the New Testament which explicitly condone slavery.

Ephesians 6:5; I Peter 2:18; Colossians 3:22 Slaves should serve their masters in all respects--never question, never rebel.

Revelation 21:1 After the Apocalypse, the new Earth will have no sea.

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