I was recently presented with a list of supposed inaccuracies and contradictions in the Bible.
No matter how you read it, it's incontrovertible that God promised that Tyre would be 'erased from the map' and that never happened.
Alexander the Great razed the city, executed the men, and sold the women
and children into slavery. This seems like being wiped from the map,
even if they did later rebuild the city.
Judas explodes in a field AND hangs himself
Only twice does the term "hanged" appear in the Bible. In the first,
2 Sam 17:23, it explicitly states that the person "hanged himself;
and died...." Matthew's account does not go on to state that he died.
Hanging is not always a reliable method of suicide, especially when
attaching the rope to a tree branch. "Falling on your sword" as the
ancient Romans did is similar to the method described in Acts, and has
a far greater chance of success. Thus, it is perfectly reasonable to
believe that he failed in his first attempt.
However, there is another possibility. Under Jewish law, it was forbidden to touch the corpse of a suicide. Thus, Judas Iscariot would've hung on the tree for quite a while until someone finally got up the nerve to climb the tree and cut the rope. By that point, the body probably would've been bloated and quite probably would've burst open upon hitting the ground.
Jesus' lineage is different in Matthew and Luke
Only one of the lineages claims be physically his. He would've been
considered an adopted son of Joseph, and thus under Jewish law able to
lay claim to Joseph's lineage as well as Mary's. Joseph was the son-in-law to Mary's father. Since lineage was a matter of the law, Joseph would be considered the son of Mary's father.
Different people show up at his tomb to find different scenarios, depending on the book you're reading
The Bible doesn't say that all these occur at the same time, either.
Jesus appears in four different places after his 'resurrection,' depending on the book you're reading.
He actually appears in ten different places. These occur over time. If I
were to say that I'm taking Physics, US Gov't, English, and Calculus, do
I prove myself wrong?
The Bible is so contorted, it often contradicts itself in the same section, sometimes in the same passage!! Here's a few examples:
Man was created before the animals Genesis 2:18-19
But: Man was created after the animals Genesis 1:25-27
Man was created spiritually before the animals and physically after
the. Look at the language more closely.
God is satisfied with his works; it is good. Genesis 1:31
Then: God is dissatisfied with his works, decides to destroy it all. Genesis 6:6
Man hadn't sinned yet in Genesis 1:31. In Gen 6:6, all men have become
sinful except Noah and his family.
God punishes his chosen people (Israel) repeatedly for their wickedness
Numbers 11:1, 11:33, 16:35, 16:44-49, 21:5
Yet: God has not seen wickedness in Israel Numbers 23:21
At the time of Num 23:21, the wickedness of the previous chapters is in
the past. In Num 23:21, Balaam is reciting God's message to him, and is
saying that God is delivering a blessing because Israel is not currently
wicked.
Robbery is forbidden by God Exodus 20:15; Leviticus 19:13
And...Robbery is commanded by God Exodus 3:21-22, 12:35-36
The easiest response is to once again point out that God forbids
stealing after earlier "commanding" it. However, a better response is to
point out that in Exodus 3:21-22,35-36, God is commanding the Hebrews to
recover that which was stolen from them by the Egyptians. He doesn't tell the Hebrews to break into the houses of the Egyptians and burgle them. He tells them to ask the Egyptians for valuables, and basically says that he will cause the Egyptians to give (the implication is permanently, and not loaned) these items to the Hebrews. Since all that has been created belongs to God anyway, he can do with it as he pleases.
Making of graven images is forbidden Exodus 20:4
Making of graven images is commanded Exodus 25:18,20
The Bible actually refers to idols in these passages, with special
reference to graven images as idols. The Ten Commandments in Ex. 20:4
ban making idols for oneself. This was in response to the practice
at the time of having personal gods other than YHWH. The Ark of the
Covenant described in Ex. 25:18-20 is not for the Israelites to worship,
but for the glorification of God. Thus, it is not an idol, and is not
forbidden by the Ten Commandments.
God forbids Moses from counting the Levites in the Israeli census Numbers 1:48
God commands Moses to count the Levites in the Israeli census Numbers 3:15
God forbids counting the Levites when Moses is taking a census for the
purposes of raising an army. Later, God commands Moses to count the
Levites, since they are to belong to God alone, and not to the Hebrew
administration. Once again, God commanding one thing at one time and
commanding something else later is not an inaccuracy. If I say at 10AM
that I'm not hungry, and at noon that I am hungry, I haven't refuted
myself.
Good works are to be seen of men Matthew 5:16
Good works are NOT to be seen Matthew 6:1
In the first passage, Christ is commanding that good works be done, and
that it is to be hoped that people see and follow their example so that
they might also do good. In the second passage, Christ is saying to not
do good deeds in order to make other think more highly of you, as the
Pharisees do. The difference is between doing good works to inspire
others and doing good works to make others admire you.
No one can ever see God, lest they die Exodus 33:20, 34:20
Moses speaks face-to-face with God regularly Exodus 33:11
Before anything else, I'd like to point out that Ex. 34:20 has nothing
to do with this, but is concerned with rules of sacrifice. In Ex. 33:11,
it is said that God spoke with Moses "face to face, just as a man speaks
to his friend." In Ex. 33:20, Moses asks God to reveal his face to him.
If Moses had already seen God's face, why would he ask him to show it to
him? The answer is that the first passage is idiomatic, like saying that
I spoke to a female friend in a "man to man" manner. Furthermore, the
first passage doesn't say that Moses actually saw God's face, just that
he communicated with it. This means that he spoke and heard, rather than
saw a pillar of fire or a plague of locusts.
Jesus states that if he ever witnesses himself, then his witness will be a
false one John 5:31
Jesus bears witness of himself John 8:18
Jesus says that if he alone witnesses himself, his testimony will be
false. However, he later states that both he and God the Father through
the Old Testament witness Christ. He points out that under Jewish
law, the testimony of two men is to be considered true. As he has two
witnesses, his testimony is true.
It was unlawful for the Jews to put Jesus to death John 18:31
It was lawful for the Jews to put Jesus to death John 19:7
Not quite. The Jews said that a man who claimed to be God should be
put to death, but that they did not actually have a law to do so. Many
people believe that adulterers should be considered criminals. However,
American law (not counting the military) does not consider it a criminal
offense, (though you can be sued for it). Thus, the Jews needed the
Romans, who actually had capital punishment, to execute Jesus for them. More important, of course, was that the Romans, as an occupying power, had the power of execution, while the Jews, as subjects, did not.
Risen Jesus says 'Touch Me' John 20:27
Risen Jesus says 'Do Not Touch Me' John 20:17
In John 20:17, Jesus tells Mary to stop clinging to him and go tell the
disciples that Christ is risen. In John 20:27, Jesus tells the doubting
disciples to touch him. The difference is that in verse 17, he wants
the news of his resurrection to be spread, and Mary cannot start this
while she's still clinging to him. In verse 27, Jesus is proving to the
disciples that he is not just a hallucination, but a physical fact.
And, my two favorites:
Jesus promises that he will build his church upon Peter and give him
the keys to Heaven, whatever Peter decrees will be true in Heaven and
on Earth Matthew 16:18-19
Jesus calls Peter "Satan", describes him as offensive, accuses him of
selfish, evil materialism, and demands that Peter get lost Matthew 16:23
The first passage is in the future tense. In the second, Jesus is
rebuking Peter for his doubts. These do not contradict each other. At
boot camps, the drill sergeants tell the recruits that they will be made
into soldiers, but that they are not soldiers yet. Do they contradict
themselves?
Anyone who calls another a fool is liable to Hell Matthew 5:22
Jesus says that anyone who hears his words and does not do them is a
fool Matthew 7:26
Not quite. In the second passage, Jesus says that those who do not
believe are like fools. If you are like something, you are not actually
such. I am not like a student at Virginia Tech, I am a student at
Virginia Tech. In any case, the purpose of the second passage isn't to
define who is and who is not a fool, but to state the consequences of
unbelief (which is like building a house on sand).
These are examples provided to me from the same listserv, showing where math and the Bible don't always agree.
(1) I Chronicles 3:22 --> 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6
(2) 1 Chronicles 25:3 --> 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6
1 Chron. 25:3 says �Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: [1]Gedaliah, [2]Zeri, [3]Jeshaiah, [4]Shimei, [5]Hashabiah, [6], Mattithiah....� QED.
(3) Joshua 15:33-36 --> 15 cities = 16 cities
(4) 1 Kings 7:23, 2 Chronicles 4:2 --> 2 * pi * 5 cubits = 30 cubits
(5) 1 Chronicles 3:19-20 --> 7 males + 1 female = 5 persons
1 Chron 3:19-20 says �19...And the sons of Zerubbabel were Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith was their sister; 20 and Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed, five.� The five clearly refers to the sons in verse 20, not to the entire family.
(6) Joshua 15:21-32 --> 29 cities = 36 cities
(7) 2 Chronicles 21:20, 22:1,2 --> Son is 2 years older than father!
Jehoram died at the age of forty, having ascended to the throne at age 32 and dying eight years later. His son Ahaziah became king at the age of 22, meaning that he would�ve been born when his father was 18, which is reasonable.
(8) Ezra 1:9-11 --> 1000 + 29 + 30 + 410 + 1000 = 5400
The Apocryphal (which doesn�t mean wrong, but simply not canon) book 1 Esdras lists the items slightly differently, and comes up with 5469 items. As was common practice at the time, the largest round number (5400) is given as the total.
(9) Joshua 19:2-6 --> 13 cities = 14 cities
(10) Ezra 2:3,64; Neh. 7:8,66 --> 42,360 = 29,818 = 31,089
The list in Nehemiah is later than that in Ezra, and is updated. Both passages list only the �sons� and �men of� in the figures of 29,818 and 31,089, while they list �the whole assembly,� presumably including women, as 42,360.
Examples 1, 3, 6, and 9 do appear to be errors, most likely from translation. In each case, a list is simply miscounted. It is also possible that portions of the list got lost, and the Dead Sea Scrolls may be able to help fill in the gap. In none of these cases are things of theological significance missing. If grammatical and spelling errors were enough to conclude that something was wrong, then I shouldn�t have paid any attention to my Physics or Zoology professors last semester. Only when things directly contradict each other should this be brought up. There is a legal principle that �the law takes no notice of small things,� and a similar scientific principle called the Five-percent Rule.
�Twentieth-century standards of scientific, historical precision and accuracy on the biblical writers does not hold true for any ancient writings. For instance, the Scripture describes things phenomenologically�that is, as they appear to be, even as they appear to us. It speaks of the sun rising and setting. Of course, we know that the sun doesn�t actually rise and set but that the earth rotates. We use sunrise and sunset, even in an age of scientific enlightenment, because this is a convenient way of describing what appears to be happening. Consequently, we cannot charge the Bible with error when it speaks phenomenologically. It speaks in this way, as have people of all ages and cultures.
The same standards of exactness in historical matters were not used in ancient times. Although illustrations abound of the wars, dynasties and reigns of kings in the Bible, round numbers were used rather than precise figures. Today we also do this. When the police estimate a crowd, we know the figure is not precise but close enough for their purpose.
Some apparent errors may be errors in transcription when hand copying the texts. Gutenberg invented the printing press and printed the first Bible in Latin in the 1450s. Although tedious, hand copying had been the method used previously to make Bibles during the centuries before Gutenberg. Remarkably, evidence has demonstrated the overall accuracy of the text from copy to copy over time with very minor mistakes due to the utmost care given to each copy.
In comparing these thousands of biblical documents, some problems as yet do not yield a ready explanation. We can freely admit this, remembering many times in the past when possible discrepancies in a text were resolved when more data became available. Therefore, the logical position would be, where there are areas of seeming contradictions, to hold the problem in abeyance. We can admit our present inability to explain and await the possibility of new data. The presence of problems does not prevent us from accepting the Bible as the supernatural word of God.�
-Paul E. Little, Know Why You Believe
�There is a close parallel between science and Christianity which surprisingly few seem to notice. As Christianity assumes that all in the Bible is supernatural, so the scientist assumes that all in nature is rational and orderly. Both are hypotheses based, not on all of the evidence, but on the evidence �for the most part.�
Science devoutly holds to the hypothesis that all of nature is mechanical, though, as a matter of fact, the mysterious electron keeps jumping around as expressed by what is called the Heisenberg principle of uncertainty.
How does science justify its hypothesis that all of nature is mechanical, when it admits on other grounds many areas of nature do not seem to conform to this pattern? The answer is that since regularity is observed in nature �for the most part,� the smoothest hypothesis is to assume the same throughout the whole.�
�E.J. Carnell, An Introduction to Christian Apologetics