Morpheus

i just came clean to my parents, who are biblical inerrantists, and told them that i no longer accept christianity as truth. one of the reasons for my deconversion is the fact that i find the bible to contain many contradictions, historical inaccuracies, etc.

i told this to my parents, and they asked that i give them a few of these purported contradictions and inaccuracies, so that they could presumably look into plausible resolutions to them.

instead of just giving them the couple examples that immediately came to mind, i said that i would get back to them in a day or two. they agreed.

i already have some idea of the examples i'm going to present, but i thought it would be a good idea to bring this up here, because you guys probably know of some better examples than i do. so, what do you think are the most convincing examples of biblical contradictions, historical inaccuracies, etc.?

thanks for the input.

Quantum Ninja

For a list of contradictions in the Bible, check out this link:

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra.html

There are some trivial things in there, but there are also a lot of good ones. You'll just have do dig around a little and decide which contradictions you want to present to your parents.

Aerik Von

Paul vs. James on faith vs. works is a good place to start. Your good works cannot save you, but what is faith without good works?

Godless Wonder

Mark 9:1 is very succinct and has a certain "in your face" quality, though I'm sure the apologists have some explanation for it, and probably have had for a long time, pecisely because it is such a blatant contradiction, if read in a straightforward way.

Here it is:

And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

It sounds on the face of it like Jesus is predicting the end of the world within the lifetimes of some of the people standing before him.

Aerik Von

That one is very in your face, but...the return arguement probably centers around literal death vs. spiritual death.

Magus55

Think this is the 8th time iv'e explained this verse. Jesus was speaking about the generation that sees the end times He just described. When read in context, it makes sense. The Bible is addressed to future generations. Why would the Apostles need the Bible, when they can hear from Jesus first hand? They were dictating Jesus' words, so future generations would know what He said and look out for the warnings.

I'm so sick of this verse coming up its not even funny. Get over it already - it is NOT a contradiction. :banghead:

Magus55

Not a contradiction. Salvation comes through faith, not works. But works come from being saved. Works are a sign of the Holy Spirit living within the believer. If you don't show good fruits ( works/deeds) after you claim to be saved, then obviously you didn't truly have enough faith that God could save you, therefore you were never saved in the first place. Works come as a result of salvation, not as a corequisite.

Roland

Morpheus -

Look at Luke's account of Jesus' first appearance to the disciples after his resurrection. He states that Jesus appeared to the ELEVEN. (24:33)

In John's account of the same event, Thomas is missing.

Magus55

Some trivial things? The entire thing is trivial. That is the dumbest skeptical site on the net.

ex-xian

Where the hell did you get this idea? It clearly says "some of them that stand here."
So what, in your opinion, is the best?