Originally Posted by Thunderstick
Originally Posted by DBT
Originally Posted by Ringman
Originally Posted by DBT
There are too many contradictions in the bible and between religions for all of their claims and beliefs to be true.


List your favorite three or four "contradictions in the bible," please.


I don't want to get bogged down with multiple examples. There are websites that have whole lists of contradictions.

I'll give one example that deals with the nature of God as described in the bible. The stark contradiction between a cruel vindictive deity and a god of love;


God is love. - 1 John 4:8
Love is not jealous. - 1 Corinthians 13:4
God is jealous. - Exodus 20:5


So let's begin with what God describes as His character--God is love and God is jealous. Contextually how do we understand these attributes. God so loved the world He gave His only Son and in another passage He loved us while we were yet sinners. That is a picture of His unconditional love for sinful man. God is jealous--but in what way is God jealous? Jealousy needs defined because it presumes jealousy about something or over something and can be a positive or negative inference.

This is a classic example of the alleged contradictions posed by the skeptics--the contradictions are only in their own minds because they want the contradictions to be there so they can dismiss the message of the Bible. Most of these examples are easily resolved with context, common sense, and an honest desire to know the truth.



Only if you ignore what is written and throw logic and reason out of the window.

The full context of this contradiction gives a definition of Love, what love entails, how love is expressed....which is in stark contrast to descriptions of the same god behaving vindictively, killing for trivial reasons, ordering slaughter, condemnation of generations for the 'sins' of their forbears, etc.


1 Corinthians 13; Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.''

1 John 4:7-8; Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

As opposed to

Exodus 20:55 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,


so YHWH will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nothing; (Deut 28:63)

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes. (Proverbs 1:26)


Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?" (Amos
3:6, KJV)

"Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? "
(Lamentations 3:38)



The two opposing sets of descriptions are clearly not compatible. They are irreconcilable.

So, on the contrary, it is the believer who dismisses these contradictions with no consideration, perhaps not understanding the argument, or even what a logical contradiction happens to look like.