Where mankind may contradict themselves, God sure doesn't. Many atheists try to complain about the KJV Bible and claim it has so many contradictions. On the surface that may be how it appears. If you do the research though, and change the presuppositions you have about the Bible, every point can be explained. The original Bible is infallible, inspired, and inerrant word of God without FAIL. Modern translations omit verses, but GNV & KJV were preserved.On my last post about Dan Barker he devoted a great deal of his book to so called 'contradictions' in the Bible I started to answer some of them. Then I thought this would be a great opportunity for people to voice there concerns about the Bible in hopes we can resolve the confusion. So We will devote this post to that cause.
Here is an assembled list of wonderful websites that have devoted their time to explain the claimed 'contradictions'. I haven't read everything, so if you see something that is unacceptable in the explanation then bring it up we will help you find the truth. Instead of listing each one individually, I enjoy the websites that provides us a list that you can click on for whatever subject you wish. Many atheists write off some of these ministries, out of fear I might add, but the list is very organized and answer some tough questions.
The List:Countering the Critics
Jim Meritt's list of Bible Contradictions
Countering Bible Contradictions
101 contradictions
Introductions and Outlines to each book of the New Testament
Greenleaf’s Harmony of the Resurrection Accounts
Using common sense and logic you will be able to understand the common misconceptions made by non believers. What you shouldn't do is depend on mankind for your salvation. The ones that do care about you are the people trying to help you with your relationship with God. If someone is trying to talk you out of the validity of the Bible, like Dan Barker or Sam Harris and the like, one must look at the motives of the individual. An Atheist may claim they want to open your eyes, but they are leading you down a path of destruction. I look for, and usually find, resolutions to passages I do not understand, and trust that there is a resolution for those that I do not.
One tactic for Atheists to claim that God doesn't exist by stating that the Bible has mistakes in it.
First, "[B]iblical documents are 98.5% textually pure. The 1.5% that is in question is mainly nothing more than spelling errors and occasional word omissions. This reduces any serious textual issues to a fraction of the 1.5% and none of these copying errors affects doctrinal truths. Dead Sea Scrolls showed how accurately it was transmitted." ~ carm
Second, an analogy for the failed atheistic "contradictions complaint" would be a debate about: Is there a president of the United States.
My position would be YES there is a President of the United States and furthermore his name is George W. Bush.
The Atheists position would be NO there is no President of the United States and to prove it let me tell you about the failed policies George W. Bush in Iraq and giving tax breaks to the rich and not the poor…
This is not an augment about the President of the United States not existing, this is merely gripes, your complaints about the President of the United States does nothing to prove that the President doesn't exist, and the same is true for Christianity.
To sit and argue about the Bible being full of mistakes, or that there are different interpretations and translations, or God allows certain evils to happen is pointless. These are not arguments to show that God does not exist. These are complaints and gripes.
bit.ly/textuallypure
Dan- I can't speak for all atheists, but I'm not all that interested in making converts. Most important to me is the usual stuff most people want: peace on Earth, freedom from want and tyranny, a sustainable economy, preservation of beauty and biodiversity, etc. If people behave nicely, I couldn't care less what they believe, and I have friends who are atheists, agnostics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and pagans of many stripes.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the Bible (and the Koran, and the Zendavesta, etc.) were the work of mortal people, and that they have many contradictions, and I love arguing about them, but that's purely secondary. Being good to one another is far more important than that.
cheers from sunny Vienna, zilch
zilch,
ReplyDelete"If people behave nicely, I couldn't care less what they believe"
We have been down this road.
If a house was on fire and you look inside to see a child unknowingly playing with the toys. Would you do anything to save them?
"If a house was on fire and you look inside to see a child unknowingly playing with the toys. Would you do anything to save them?"
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a rigged question which will allow you to continue the answer with convincing but ultimately flawed logic which eventually will lead into something I disagree with, but I'll play along.
On behalf of every non-sociopath in the world: Yes. We would attempt to save the child.
Now you tell me why this indicates that your beliefs are correct, and I'll tell you where your argument fell apart for me.
Quasar,
ReplyDelete"On behalf of every non-sociopath in the world: Yes. We would attempt to save the child."
Good that is all we are doing here, you are that child and we, as Christians, are just trying to pull you from a lake of fire.
"If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for." C.H. Spurgeon
Dan:
ReplyDeleteI am not a child; and I see no fire. I do see what appear to be madmen saying "you're gonna burn, burn, burn." Unless you have something a little stronger than your "holy book" to show that my perception is wrong, you will fail here.
Dan- quasar and pvblivs answered for me. Of course I would rescue the child- who wouldn't? But we're talking about real fire here. And until I see evidence for a "lake of fire", I will continue to believe that it, like Hades, Jahannam, and the lump of coal in my stocking Santa will give me if I'm naughty, is an imaginary stick wielded by an imaginary being, to encourage submission to a particular set of laws purportedly from this being.
ReplyDeleteChristianity is just one in a long series of institutions which have evolved to help build and maintain societies. We humans are social animals, but our genetic heritage alone does not provide enough incentive for cooperation to make the kind of large and complex cultures we enjoy: we need rules, in some way or form. Because we know of our death, and don't want to die (Hazlitt said it well: "The long habit of living indisposeth us to dying"), that suggests the possibility of a hook: follow the law, and live happily ever after.
Of course, this hook only works if people believe in an afterlife, and in a God capable of granting the boon of Heaven (this is of course the imaginary carrot) and the penalty of Hell (the stick). We atheists have to fall back upon reason and love to behave nicely. Luckily, as we can see, they work pretty well: I don't eat babies, there are proportionally no more atheists in prison than Christians, and in fact, there is less crime in the less religious nations.
But as I said, whatever floats your boat is okay by me- as long as you behave nicely, it's secondary to me why you behave nicely.
cheers from sunny Vienna, zilch
So you are saying that descriptions of the earth are just typos? That it also claimed the sun revolves around the earth was also a bunch typos. If so, it repeats this typo on every single occasion when it is brought up. People who believe the bible is all facts are why scientific knowledge had been held back putting mankind hundreds of years behind where they could be. There are also all the references about slavery and how to keep your slave from leaving by keeping his family hostage. Are you sure that's not a contradiction because it does not sound very christian to me. Slavery is just the tip of the iceberg. There is also genocide, mass murder, sexism, and so on. Either all those things are repeated typos or the bible justifies evil deed by claiming it is the will of god. Wait, a just and loving god that condones those things. Oops, must have been another typo.
ReplyDelete"That it also claimed the sun revolves around the earth was also a bunch typos."
DeleteWe still today refer to it as "sun rise" and "sun set" are we lying every time we speak of dawn and dusk then?
"There are also all the references about slavery and how to keep your slave from leaving by keeping his family hostage"
I would like to see your references here. God doesn't condone slavery like we know it. "Slaves" or better translated "bond servants" were people who worked to pay off a debt or chose that position in order to have some sort of life other than the homeless poverty stricken one they had. In the case of taking the slaves from conquered enemies, there were still laws about how that person should be treated. Read Exodus 21.
"There is also genocide, mass murder, sexism, and so on. Either all those things are repeated typos or the bible justifies evil deed by claiming it is the will of god. Wait, a just and loving god that condones those things."
For a Holy God to bring justice to those who oppose him does not make him evil. Just like it is not evil when you reward punishment to your child for when they do something wrong. I understand, you will oppose killing because that is too drastic for your standards. However, we are talking about the creator of all things who wants us to obey and we, the small creatures that we are, we oppose him on a daily basis.
If you're looking for proof, it forces me to ask the question, what proof will you accept? Because if you refuse to accept anything, then what point is there in giving it to you?
Great points, and we did a post about slavery that says the same as you did here. Good job, glory to God.
DeleteYou asserted many things here. How are you certain your reasoning is valid? First, from what moral law, or standard, are you appealing to in order to make such claims? Second, if you know what a Sunrise is then you could possibly understand what literary devices used in Scripture. I flesh the whole flat earth literary devices at bit.ly/flatearth. Just remember, there are OBVIOUS parables, hyperbole, and poetry that would be silly to be taken literally. I Scripture should not be taken literally, but literary. Howard Huge difference.
ReplyDeleteBTW, science, most prominent discoveries, and the scientific methods, and most all universities, were introduced by theists because closer to truth is closer to God. It's a straw man to claim Christians ruined science. Also, I will tell you what is NOT science. A philosophical unfounded position of Naturalism. It's that worldview that has "ruined" because it places a primer paradigm BEFORE the evidence has a chance to speak.
All that being said, we don't discuss Scripture with those that don't hold it as authoritative. We all have rescuing devices. We're going to interpret Scripture with the revelation that God does not lie. You will interpret it with your "subjective" view of logic, that God does lie, etc. I can reconcile certain things the Bible says to a Christian, and we do. I am not going to reconcile with non Christians because you are going to bring your assumptions that God doesn't exist, that God can lie... ...If you are not entering with God cannot lie, then you are entering with an incorrect assumption, and there is no reason to discuss anything about God or the Bible with you. You're going to come in with your interpretation, just as I am going to come in with my interpretation based on God's revelations. The most important point here, that you are unable to UNDERSTAND or know the truth UNTIL you repent. Repentance comes BEFORE knowledge of truth, not after: 2 Timothy 2:24-26