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Dealing With Biblical Contradictions

74x12

74x12

Well-Known Member
Skwim said:
There were many languages before the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 10:5
5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
There was only one language before the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 11:1
11 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
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Genesis wasn't written in chronological order. The nations of the gentiles were not divided in their lands until after the tower of babel confusion of languages. So Genesis 10 is an account of how the nations were divided into different tribes based on language and lineage. Whereas chapter 11 gives the story of how different languages came about.

The land wasn't divided among the nations until the time of Peleg. (Genesis 10:25)
Skwim said:
Judas throws the money away, and dies by hanging himself
Matthew 27:5
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Judas buys a field with the money, and dies by falling down.
Act 1:18
18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
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Matthew 27:5 does not say he died. It only says he hanged himself. Do you know what happens when you hang yourself and the rope breaks? You fall.
 
74x12

74x12

Well-Known Member
Skwim said:
You're wrong
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The idea that the writer of Genesis was so absent minded that he contradicted himself so blatantly is far fetched. Citing one website is inadequate to make the case. In fact they don't even explain their point of view. Are we supposed to just accept them as the Biblical authority?

Besides I think they are focusing on how Shem, Ham and Japheth are in 2500 BC where as according to them the tower of Babel comes in 2100 BC. Whatever. I don't necessarily agree with their time line. But even if it were so; of course Shem Ham and Japheth the 3 sons of Noah come before the tower of Babel. I'm not sure why they connect Shem Ham and Japheth with chapter 10 anyway.

But again, according to Genesis; we see the nations were not divided into their own lands until the time of Peleg's birth in Genesis 10:25. So you need to explain how you think even Genesis chapter 10 is contradicting itself. Much less chapter 11.

In conclusion, as I said the idea that the writer was so completely absent minded that he contradicts himself in the same chapter and even in the next chapter is really far fetched.
 
Skwim

Skwim

Veteran Member
74x12 said:
The idea that the writer of Genesis was so absent minded that he contradicted himself so blatantly is far fetched.
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Not at all. Just look at the mess "he" made between Gen.1 and Gen 2.

.
 
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W3bcrowf3r

W3bcrowf3r

Active Member
Skwim said:
I just finished watching a video critiquing another video by Kyle Butts who argues that the Bible has no contradictions. At the end of the video I was watching its host observed that Butt's audience is fine with his contention because Butts, having settled the issue in their minds "don't want to look to closely at the Bible anyway." This got me thinking about all the contradictions I've come across in the Bible . Contradictions such as

There were many languages before the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 10:5
5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.​

There was only one language before the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 11:1
11 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.​

**********************************
8,000 and 500,000 men
2 Samuel 24:9
9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.​

1,100,000 and 470,000
1 Chronicles 21:5
5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.​

***********************************
Judas throws the money away, and dies by hanging himself
Matthew 27:5
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.​

Judas buys a field with the money, and dies by falling down.
Act 1:18
18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.​

***********************************
Jesse has seven sons
1 Chronicles 2:13-15
13 And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third,14 Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh:​

Jesse has eight sons
1 Samuel 17:12
12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.​


and wondered how Christians here on RF handle Bible contradictions. Do they deny them, ignore them, accept them but dismiss them as irrelevant, or wring out an explanation for them all? So, to all the Christians on board here, just what do you do with the contradictions in your Bible?

Just deny they exist and go on about your day.

Admit they exist, but totally ignore them

Accept them, but go on to dismiss them as irrelevant,

Wring out the best explanation you can, in effect rendering them non-contradictory.

Or_______________________________ .

.​
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Most translations, if not all, have translation errors, because they don't use the original Greek New Testament which can be found in the Greek Church and the Hebrew Bible that can be found in the Hebrew Synagogue.

If you want the details. Then go learn Greek and Hebrew.
 
W3bcrowf3r

W3bcrowf3r

Active Member
74x12 said:
Chapter 10 is a genealogy and chapter 11 is a story.
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Brother,

An English translation of the Quran - 74:30 Upon it is nineteen.
An English translation of the Quran - 74:31 And We have made the guardians of the Fire to be angels; and We did not make their number except as a test for those who have rejected, so that those who were given the Book would understand, and those who have faith would be increased in faith, and so that those who have been given the Book and the believers do not have doubt, and so that those who have a sickness in their hearts and the rejecters would say: "What did God mean with an example such as this?" It is such that God misguides whom He wishes, and He guides whom He wishes. And none know the soldiers of your Lord except He; and it is but a reminder for human beings.

Nineteen is a reference to the guardians of the Fire. And its number was a test for you guys as well since RK followers rejected 9:128-129.

May God guide you, protect you, increase your knowledge, and grant you Hes understanding.
 
W3bcrowf3r

W3bcrowf3r

Active Member
Jumi said:
Who is RK?
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Someone who was a Shia and then became a Scripture alone muslim. But he then started creating this code 19 theory and started saying two verses are not Quranic. And he started following Sunni fabrications to make hes code 19 theory stronger etc.

It was just a reply to the user 74x12
 
ChristineM

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
It's My Birthday!
There are many contradictions in the bible @Skwim has mentioned a few. I see the denial of the contradictions explained by interpretation to suit ones expectations, confirmation bias.
 
W3bcrowf3r

W3bcrowf3r

Active Member
ChristineM said:
Judging any book on what it teaches and the effect it has on others is not bias but reality... Right?

Are you saying those contradictions dont exist?
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Judging a Book by its cover is a huge mistake.

Do you know Greek and Hebrew to read the originals?

I have studied most religions, if not nearmy all. And what i found out is that their translations are really poor and nearly all of them also have a huge load of sectarianism injected.

So judging those Books with some translations of them is not right.
 
Kenny

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
Skwim said:
:) Your resolution to the hanging and falling contradiction is an old one, one I recall from my teens, and one which no doubt goes back hundreds of years. The contradiction was only included because it's in the same verse where a true contradiction does occur: Judas is said to have done two very different things with the money.
.
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Actually, it goes back 2000 years ago when it was written. Jollybear was quite right... unless you don't want it to be. :)
 
Kenny

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
ChristineM said:
There are many contradictions in the bible @Skwim has mentioned a few. I see the denial of the contradictions explained by interpretation to suit ones expectations, confirmation bias.
Click to expand...
Or one's not accepting the interpretation confirms bias.

Purely subjective.
 
ChristineM

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
It's My Birthday!
W3bcrowf3r said:
Judging a Book by its cover is a huge mistake.

Do you know Greek and Hebrew to read the originals?

I have studied most religions, if not nearmy all. And what i found out is that their translations are really poor and nearly all of them also have a huge load of sectarianism injected.

So judging those Books with some translations of them is not right.
Click to expand...

You seem to be intimating that i dont know the bible. Sure o haven't studied it to the extent you claim to have done but i have read 3 different versions cover to cover and several books and many verses.

I dont judge a book by its cover but the contents, i cant see any contradictions on the cover, can you? And...does it really matter that translated books are not original, no original of the NT exists anyway. And of course, these myriad new versions are what most of the christian population consider to be the bible.



Considering the OT, where most of the errors are, is more or less a direct (but selective) copy of Hebrew scripture, in which the same contradictions exist i would not agree that we are looking at translation errors.
 
W3bcrowf3r

W3bcrowf3r

Active Member
sealchan said:
So far from my study of Genesis I find that the contradictions can be allowed as stories that have overlapping concerns (like the "two creations stories") but could be so easily corrected to not contradict that their contradiction is minor. This does make a good case for the Bible NOT being the perfect Word of God, but rather a collection of teachings and stories woven together by imperfect authors (you know, actual human beings). Overall, the weave is of high quality in Genesis IMO, but there are some tricky spots.

The contradictions between the gospels I find much more compelling and indicate clearly that even to the original collators of the canon that such contradictions weren't as important as the stories themselves. Clearly these are not consistent eyewitness accounts but rather creative elaborations of story-tellers who worked from similar source material but felt free even as they were inspired to creatively reorganize, remove and create content in the process.

There is no reasonable ground for arguing the Bible's perfection on this ground unless contradiction is seen as a sign of perfection.
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I wonder if you studied the originals in Greek and Hebrew.

Translations have errors.
 
W3bcrowf3r

W3bcrowf3r

Active Member
Guys if you study the Greek original you read that Acts 1:18 doesnt say that Judas bought it with those silver pieces!

Matthew 27:7 talks about how the Priest bought the land.

And Acts 1:18 talks about how Judas acquired that kind of death because of the unjustness.

Acts 1:18 doesnt even mention the silver or the word bought etc. at all.

These Bible haters are wasting their time by using translations to prove a correct Book in another language has errors!?



 
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