Potoooooooo

found this quote on another site http://wastelandofwonders.yuku.com/t...dictions-.html
Yes, there are contradictions and/or errors in the Bible, like 'the hare chewing the cud' or 'Peter denying Jesus 3 times before the @#%$ crowing twice'. The first is an error and the second is a contradiction.

But what I meant to say was that aren't nearly as many as I'd once thought. For years I'd heard about the hundreds of contradictions being in the Bible. This didn't worry me too much, since I'm a liberal theist.

I've only become a theist in the last few years, but I've always been a skeptic. So when I started to look into the claims of contradictions myself, I found that a vast majority simply weren't contradictions. They'd been listed about 100 years ago with little knowledge of the Bible, and passed on uncritically since then.

I've actually found a great deal of integrity in the Bible, which kind of frightens me! Still, I think it is important to look into these claims, though it is done more as a hobby than as a religious pursuit
So just what are some of the major errors/contradictions and are they or are they not as in error as they seem?

MSMEskeptic

I think the best contradiction is Matthew 27:5 and Acts 1:18. These both give different accounts of how Judas died.

I agree though that the majority of 'contradictions' don't lead to a good argument for discrediting of the bible. The creation stories, miracle stories, and other ridiculous things do it for me.

Toto

You are quoting our own GakuseiDon from another board. Is there some reason you are bringing this here and not discussing it on that board?

This subject is too large for one thread. There are lists of contradictions and errors and moral blunders in the Bible all over the internet and in the II Library. I wouldn't know where to start.

John Kesler

A contradiction for which I have never seen an acceptable explanation involves the length of the Israelites' sojourn in Egypt. Exodus 12:40 states that is was 430 years, but other passages are inconsistent with this assertion. This article by Farrell Till lays out the problem, and subsequent articles by Till--available here under the heading "Egypt"--address some common reconciliation attempts. I have discovered additional extrabiblical sources which also cast doubt on the "skipped-generations" theory--from the Babylonian Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Jewish midrash. I can send this to you off list, or post it here if there is sufficient interest.

I mention what I consider to be additional errors in this post, and this one.

Doug Shaver

Some of them allow for reasonable disagreement about whether they are in fact erroneous or contradictory. The only good answer to the thread title is "It's indeterminate."

Reason

To keep it manageable, the way I figure it:

The babble is divided into 1189 chapters.

Assuming one error or contradiction per chapter, that's 1189 errors/contradictions.

Seriously, as another poster mentioned, the combination of illogic, errors, contradictions, and just pain oogah-boogah nonsense (talking snakes and donkeys, wresting with gawd, a woman turned into a pillar of salt, and pair of cities inhabited by violent, militant homosexuals, etc. ad nauseum) is more than sufficient to expose the babble for the collection of mythological bullshit that it is.

Adonael

Becareful not to confuse contraries with contradictions.

spamandham

I'm not aware of any modern scholarly attempts to categorize all the contradictions. Why does it matter? Suppose there were no contradictions at all, so what?

mike.davis

Potoooooo, if you find that the Bible has "a great deal of integrity" then I can only suppose that you have not looked hard enough. There are many contradictions in the Bible, and not just trivial ones, but fundamental doctrinal contradictions. For a start, try www.bibleblunders.com for a basic list. Then, you might look at www.atheistsbiblecompanion.com, which presents contradictions and more in a Bible commentary format. Finally (or perhaps first!) my recent book, The Atheist's Introduction to the New Testament, is an introduction to the contradictions of the New Testament, and shows how the Bible not only contradicts itself, but also undermines the central teachings of Christianity. I guarantee that when you're done with these three sources, you'll have a different opinion of the Bible's "integrity."

Ben C Smith

A distinction needs to me made between a contradiction and a difficulty or error.

A contradiction is both X and not X at the same time. It is purely a verbal phenomenon. An error or a difficulty may not take the form X and not X, yet may be far more serious.

For example, the most startling and obvious contradiction in the Bible...:

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, that he not be wise in his own eyes.

...is not much of a difficulty or an error, since the effect seems quite intentional (almost like something a Zen Buddhist would say), at least on the part of the editor who united these sayings (Proverbs 26.4-5).

Ben.