Biblical Contradictions (for those of us trying to seek "the truth".

[ZANEX]

I found this post on the Opeth forum and thought it was interesting. Ledmag and I have discussed "biblical contradictions" many times at length. this is for those interested:

some fun Biblical conrtradictions for ya (as though it wasn't ridiculous enough!)

ON THE SABBATH DAY
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." -- Exodus 20:8

"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." -- Romans 14:5

ON THE PERMANENCY OF THE EARTH
"... the earth abideth for ever." -- Ecclesiastes 1:4

"... the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." -- 2Peter 3:10

ON SEEING GOD
"... I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." -- Genesis 32:30

"No man hath seen God at any time..."-- John 1:18

ON HUMAN SACRIFICE
"... Thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God..." -- Leviticus 18:21

[In Judges, though, the tale of Jephthah, who led the Israelites against the Ammonoites, is being told. Being fearful of defeat, this good religious man sought to guarantee victory by getting god firmly on his side. So he prayed to god] "... If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering" (Judges 11:30-31).

[The terms were acceptable to god -- remember, he is supposed to be omniscient and know the future -- so he gave victory to Jephthah, and the first whatsoever that greeted him upon his glorious return was his daughter, as god surely knew would happen, if god is god. True to his vow, the general made a human sacrifice of his only child to god!] -- Judges 11:29-34

ON THE POWER OF GOD
"... with God all things are possible." -- Matthew 19:26

"...The LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron." -- Judges 1:19

ON DEALING WITH PERSONAL INJURY
"...thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. " -- Exodus 21:23-25

"...ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." -- Matthew 5:39

ON CIRCUMCISION
"This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised." -- Genesis 17:10

"...if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." -- Galatians 5:2


ON INCEST
"Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of this mother..." -- Deuteronomy 27:22

"And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter...it is a wicked thing...." -- Leviticus 20:17

[But what was god's reaction to Abraham, who married his sister -- his father's daughter?] See Genesis 20:11-12

"And God said unto Abraham, As for Sara thy wife...I bless her, and give thee a son also of her..." -- Genesis 17:15-16


ON TRUSTING GOD
"A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD..." -- Proverbs 12:2

Now consider the case of Job. After commissioning Satan to ruin Job financially and to slaughter his shepherds and children to win a petty bet with Satan. God asked Satan: "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause." -- Job 2:3


ON THE HOLY LIFE-STYLE
"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart..." -- Ecclesiastes 9:7

"...they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not..." -- 1 Corinthians 7:30

ON PUNISHING CRIME
"The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father..." -- Ezekiel 18:20

"I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation..." -- Exodus 20:5

ON TEMPTATION
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." -- James 1:13

"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham..." -- Genesis 22:1


ON FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
"Honor thy father and thy mother..."-- Exodus 20:12

"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. " -- Luke 14:26


ON RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
"...he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. " -- Job 7:9

"...the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth...." -- John 5:28-29

ON THE END OF THE WORLD
"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. " -- Matthew 16:28

"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. " -- Luke 21:32-33

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." -- Romans 13:11-12

"Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." -- James 5:8

"Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time." -- 1 John 2:18

"But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." -- 1 Peter 4:7

These words were written between 1800 and 1900 years ago and were meant to warn and prepare the first Christians for the immediate end of the world. Some words are those supposedly straight out of the mouth of the "Son of God." The world did not end 1800 or 1900 years ago. All that generation passed away without any of the things foretold coming to pass. No amount of prayer brought it about; nor ever so much patience and belief and sober living. The world went on, as usual, indifferent to the spoutings of yet another batch of doomsday prophets with visions of messiahs dancing in their deluded brains. The world, by surviving, makes the above passages contradictions.

 

[darth]

ON CIRCUMCISION
"This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised." -- Genesis 17:10

"...if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." -- Galatians 5:2

----


the first one is abraham's agreement with god. the second is a letter by paul to the galatians. when paul was writing there was a debate among christians as to how one becomes a christian. should one become a jew first, and then a christian? or can one become a christian right away? peter felt you should become a jew (get circumcized), and paul felt you could become a christian right away--he calls peter a hypocrite in that letter because peter advocates circumcision but isn't circumcized himself. the entire thing is pretty amusing.


i noticed most of the apparent contradictions posted here are those between the old and new testaments. while the bible is full of contradictions, i don't think it's fair to compare the old testament to the new. jesus came up with some amendments. like here:

ON DEALING WITH PERSONAL INJURY
"...thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. " -- Exodus 21:23-25

"...ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." -- Matthew 5:39
-----
here's the full quote by jesus, beginning with matt 5:38 -- "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."
--------

jesus knows what he's saying is different from the old, but he's saying that way of thinking doesn't work anymore. also, the eye for an eye business tells us the measure of the punishment. that is, the punishment shouldn't be more than the crime. a murder is punished by death, but theft shouldn't be. jesus, in a sense, says the same thing, in that revenge isn't a good thing.

if you're interested, read job. it basically asks, where does it say that god is good? where does it say that god is just?

then read ecclesiastes. it says that there might not be any god at all, and if there is one, it makes no difference. (also notice that this is where the lyrics of "embody the invisible" by in flames come from).

the bible is pretty good for ethics, but it fails miserably at explaining the world.

also, check this out from genesis 3:22, after adam and eve eat from the tree of knowledge: 'And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."'

what does god mean by "'one of us'"? isn't god one? he's also a jackass for not wanting people to live forever, isn't he?

 

[ledmag]

well, you say jesus came up wioth them. but jesus didnt write them, the appost wrote it. ANd all their writings were different. WHo knows what jesus said. No one does.

I agrree ion the old and new contradictions.


here is an idea....read all the new test but rev....how do you think the letters staand against what Jesus supposedly said.?



ZANEX>>>cool you postye dthis.

 

[AjDeath]

The Old Testament and the New Testamnent were/are two different books written by people with differeing philosophies, they should have never been lumped together, wars over this are still being fought, plain stupidity.

 

[darth]

well, you say jesus came up wioth them. but jesus didnt write them, the appost wrote it. ANd all their writings were different. WHo knows what jesus said. No one does.

I agrree ion the old and new contradictions.


here is an idea....read all the new test but rev....how do you think the letters staand against what Jesus supposedly said.?



ZANEX>>>cool you postye dthis.

"well, you say jesus came up wioth them. but jesus didnt write them, the appost wrote it. ANd all their writings were different. WHo knows what jesus said. No one does."

you're right of course. but i think of him as a character in a bunch of stories written by different authors--like any tv show with more than one writer. homer simpson is still homer simpson in each episode, but a different writer (or many different writers) does each episode. when jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, ... But I tell you..." i think of that as an amendment--this is the old way, and here is the new way. in the story jesus is making it up. so, i say jesus came down with a bunch of new amendments.

"how do you think the letters staand against what Jesus supposedly said.?"

what do you mean? whose letters? paul's? john's?

there's a bunch of stuff that wasn't canonized. like the gospel of thomas, which is called "the sayings of jesus." the virgin birth isn't mentioned.

 

[wildfyr]

The NT is full of contradictions mostly because of the Epistles of Paul (Saul of Tarsus), which some reject.

That's true, darth. There was shit left out. There are some links which you may or may not know about already. If you do, good on you. If not...

http://www.metalog.org/
http://www.gnosis.org/
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhlintro.html#1
http://members.aol.com/GeoSomsel/home.htm

Aye, and read what the Catholics have to say on the above

http://www.newadventg/cathen/06592a.htm

:zombie:

When we look back over the past, we see repressed men, sadistic popes, and a cruel priesthood, that on the one hand denounced, and rightly so, the cruel child sacrifices of Moloch, but on the other racked, tortured, and burnt women, children, and babies (some born to women in the process of being burnt and tossed back on to the flames) for no crime other than malicious gossip, the fact that they were old and lived alone with a cat for company, had property the Church wanted, or held a different belief - even if it was a Christian belief like that of the Cathars - from their own. The Protestants hated the Catholics, the Catholics hated the Pagans, Luther hated the Jews, Calvin hated everything . . . and they all slaughtered each other every chance they got. - Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki

 

[Kvlt Wench]

And it says God loves all his children and would never hurt them, but then it tells you all the terrible things that happen if you don't believe in him.

 

[Captain Beard]

It's a ok book to read if you're bored, but I wouldn't believe in it any more than I would believe in the "Cat in the Hat." The author(s) were obviously amateurs, liars, and likely Republicans, seeing that they seem to have lots in common.

 

[OrestesMantra]

Well, when you consider that:

-All those examples are taken extremely out of context

-No translation is going to be perfect

-The Bible was God-breathed through men who still retained unique writing styles

of course, there will be some petty contradictions that dont do anything to destroy the doctrine of Christianity.



p.s. this a a metal forum, dingleberry.

 

[ledmag]

darth>>yeah, like the gospel of PHILLIP. HE said Jesus and Mary M were a number. his writings were left out as well.

By the letters, i ment all of them....what few are there, in the actual bible. (tim, hebrews, titus....)

 

[Arch]

...

When we look back over the past, we see repressed men, sadistic popes, and a cruel priesthood, that on the one hand denounced, and rightly so, the cruel child sacrifices of Moloch, but on the other racked, tortured, and burnt women, children, and babies (some born to women in the process of being burnt and tossed back on to the flames) for no crime other than malicious gossip, the fact that they were old and lived alone with a cat for company, had property the Church wanted, or held a different belief - even if it was a Christian belief like that of the Cathars - from their own. The Protestants hated the Catholics, the Catholics hated the Pagans, Luther hated the Jews, Calvin hated everything . . . and they all slaughtered each other every chance they got. - Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki

Amen!

 

[Captain Beard]

This is a metal forum, exactly. You're in the wrong house to be trying to preach about Jesus.