Dear Kathy,
Since you graciously agreed (in our recent conversation) to let me present you with some examples of the Bible’s problems, I decided to do it in this way so it would have its own comment thread. As I’ve said, when I was a Christian, one strike against the Bible was not enough to shake my faith — maybe it only seemed problematic, maybe there was an explanation we hadn’t uncovered yet, maybe the historical accounts were wrong, etc. But as the problems began to mount up, I reached a point where I could no longer deny the fact that the Bible had actual errors.
A couple of suggestions before we begin. Try to be as open-minded about this as possible. As you go through these examples, ask yourself if God would allow such problems to exist in a message that he wanted all people to accept and believe? According to the Bible, whenever God sent someone a message, whether it was Pharaoh or Gideon or Nebuchadnezzar or Paul, they had no question whom it was from. They didn’t always follow it, as we see with people like Pharaoh and Solomon, but they didn’t question the source of the message or what it stated. So why would God operate differently today? Why would he want us to be so confused about his message that we’re able to question whether or not it’s really from him?
Another thing to keep in mind is that even if you come to the conclusion that the Bible has actual problems, that doesn’t mean you have to stop believing in God. There are a number of Christians who don’t believe in inerrancy. And even if you lose faith in the Christian god, that still doesn’t mean you have to stop believing in God. A number of people, including several of our founding fathers, were deists. I have a lot of sympathy for that view and plan to do a post on it soon.
Some of the items listed here will have links that provide additional information, especially when the issue is too detailed to list here. I hope that you’ll check out those links, since some of them are quite significant points. And regardless of how this article strikes you, I hope it will help serve as a great springboard to launch you into your own research.
Some of the Problems
Creation
The creation accounts in Genesis do not match what we’ve learned through science. This isn’t shocking news, but it bears looking into. Evolution and the Big Bang Theory had nothing to do with my deconversion, but I’ve learned more about both since leaving Christianity. It’s shocking how much misinformation I had been operating under. Not to say that all Christians are that way — that was simply my experience. But the evidence for both evolution and the Big Bang are far more substantial than I had ever realized. Two good resources for learning more about these issues are the following (though I’d also recommend checking out the recent Cosmos series, as well as some of the PBS NOVA specials):
Another problem with the creation accounts is that Genesis 1 says that plants and trees were made on the 3rd day, while man was made on the 6th. But Genesis 2:5-9 says that man was created before there were any plants or trees in the land. Also, the 1st chapter says that man was created after all the animals, but the 2nd chapter implies that it was the other way around. It seems strange that such discrepancies would exist only a chapter apart, but there are a number of textual clues that suggest the first 5 books of the Bible were assembled over a long period of time from various writings written by a number of different people. Many scholars believe that Genesis 1 and 2 represent two separate versions of the creation story that were both included because the compilers didn’t know which was more accurate. Whatever the reason, there’s no question that the differences exist and are hard to explain.
10 Plagues
During the 10 plagues, God afflicts all of Egypt’s livestock with a disease (Ex 9:1-7), and it specifies that it would affect the “horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks.” We’re told that all of Egypt’s livestock died. But the later plague of boils was said to affect both man and beast (verse 10 of chapter 9). Maybe it meant non-livestock animals. But Ex 11:5 says that the death of the firstborn would also affect Egypt’s cattle, and in Exodus 14, Pharaoh pursues the Israelites with horses.
Hares Chew the Cud
Leviticus 11:6 tells us that hares chew the cud. They do not. Animals that chew the cud are called ruminants. When they eat plant matter, it goes to their first stomach to soften, and then it’s regurgitated to their mouth. They spend time re-chewing it, and then it is swallowed and fully digested. Ruminants (cows, sheep, goats, etc.) are recognizable because their chewing of the cud is very obvious. Hares (rabbits) don’t chew the cud; however, their mouths do move frequently, so it’s possible to see why some people may have assumed that they do chew the cud. Of course, God would know they didn’t, and this is why the passage is problematic. You can read more about this here.
Arphaxad
In the genealogy given in Genesis 11:10-12, we see that Noah fathered Shem and Shem fathered Arphaxad. At the age of 35, Arphaxad fathered Shelah. This information is confirmed in 1 Chron 1:18. But Luke 3:35-36 tells us that Arphaxad’s son was Cainan, and he was the father of Shelah.
Where does Luke get this information? It disagrees with the Old Testament, so who should we believe? Some have suggested that Genesis and 1 Chronicles simply left out Cainan for some reason. But why would they do that? To further complicate it, how could Cainan have fit in there? Genesis tells us that Arphaxad was 35 when he fathered Shelah. Does it really seem likely that Arphaxad became a grandfather by 35, especially when you consider the extreme old ages that people lived to at that time?
Another explanation is that some copyist messed up when copying Luke and Cainan is just a mistake. But this is not much better. First of all, the error would have needed to occur early for it to be in all our copies of Luke. Secondly, are we really comfortable saying that we have the inspired word of our creator, but it got messed up by some guy who wasn’t paying close attention? To me, that doesn’t lend a lot of credence to the idea of inspiration or inerrancy.
Instead, the most likely explanation is that Luke made a mistake. This, of course, would indicate that he was not inspired.
Problems in the Book of Daniel
In Daniel 5, the writer refers to Belshazzar as the son of Nebuchadnezzar 7 different times. Yet we know from multiple contemporary sources that Belshazzar’s father was Nabonidus, who was not related to Nebuchadnezzar. The same chapter says that Darius the Mede took over Babylon, but this person does not seem to have ever existed. Daniel says that he was the son of Ahaseurus, and in mentioning this, the author of Daniel indicates that he was thinking of a later ruler — the persian emperor Darius the Great, whose son was Ahaseurus. This post in particular goes into the problems surrounding the 5th chapter, but if you’d like to learn about the problems in the rest of the book, you can access each article in the series here.
Jairus’s Daughter
In Mark 5:23, Jairus finds Jesus and says that his daughter is at the point of death. While they’re on their way to the house, some of his servants find them on the way and say that she has died and there’s no point in troubling Jesus further.
However, in Matthew 9:18, Jairus already knows that his daughter has died, but tells Jesus that if he’ll lay his hands on her, she’ll live. This may seem like a minor difference, but honestly, there’s only one scenario that could be true. Either the girl was already dead, or she wasn’t. And if Jairus already knew she was dead, then there was no point in his servants coming to tell him that (so of course, they don’t appear in Matthew’s account).
The Centurion
This is similar to the previous issue. Matthew and Luke both record a centurion who asks Jesus to heal his sick servant. Matthew 8:5-13 says that the centurion himself comes before Jesus to ask for help. Luke 7:1-10 says that the Jewish elders went on his behalf, and then he sent servants to follow up. In Luke, Jesus never speaks to, or even sees, the centurion at all.
Hight Priest
In Mark 2:23-28, Jesus talks about the occasion from the Old Testament when David ate the showbread, which Jesus said was in the days of Abiathar the high priest. However, in 1 Samuel 21:1-6, it appears that Ahimelech was the high priest. Some have tried to answer this problem by saying that Abiathar was alive during that particular episode, so Jesus’ statement is still true. But that’s obviously not the intent of the passage. After all, we would correct anyone who said that the tragedy of 9/11 occurred during the days of President Barack Obama. He may have been alive at the time, but that event did not happen while he was President.
430 Years
Galatians 3:16-17 says this:
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
Here, Paul says that the law came 430 years after the promises were made to Abraham. But in Exodus 12:40-41, we see:
Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions left Egypt.
If the Israelites were in Egypt 430 years, then there could not have been 430 years between Abraham’s promises and the law. God made the promises to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, and as we read on through Genesis, we see that Abraham had no children at this time. Later, he had a son named Isaac. When Isaac was 60 years old, he had Jacob (Gen 25:24-26), and Jacob had 12 sons that produced the 12 tribes of Israel. Already, we can see that some time has passed since Abraham received the promise. Once Jacob’s sons were all grown with families of their own, they finally settled in Egypt. Jacob was 130 years old at this time (Gen 47:9), and this marks the beginning of that 430 year period that the Israelites spent in Egypt.
That means that the time between the promise to Abraham and the giving of the law was actually over 600 years. So why did Paul say 430 years? I think it’s obvious that this was a simple mistake. He remembered the 430 year figure because that’s how much time the Israelites spent in Egypt, and so he simply misspoke. It’s not a big deal… except that he’s supposed to be inspired by God.
Jesus’ Birth
There are a number of issues surrounding Jesus’ birth. First, Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts contradict one another on virtually all the details, which you can read about here. Secondly, Matthew seems to invent an episode where Herod kills all the children in Bethlehem who are 2 and under, causing Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to flee to Egypt (instead of just returning home to Nazareth, because only Luke says that they started in Nazareth). Matthew does this in order to “fulfill” some Old Testament passages that actually have nothing to do with Jesus or killing babies. You can read about Matthew’s misuse of the Old Testament here — it’s quite blatant.
The Virgin Birth is one of the most famous aspects of Jesus’ story, and it was supposedly done in fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah. But it turns out that Isaiah was prophesying no such thing — he was talking about an event that was happening in his own time, and Matthew (once again) just appropriated the “prophecy” for his own devices. You can read all the details here.
Another problem concerning Jesus’ birth narratives is that Matthew and Luke both offer genealogies for Jesus, but they are completely different from one another. Worse, they don’t match the genealogies listed in the Old Testament, either. And Matthew claims that there was a pattern in the number of generations between Abraham and David, between David and the Babylonian captivity, and between the Babylonian captivity and Christ. But to get this neat division, he is forced to leave out some names. In other words, that pattern didn’t happen. You can read more about that here.
The Triumphal Entry
While not as blatant as most of these other issues, when Matthew recounts Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he once again borrows from the Old Testament, but seems to make a mistake in his implementation. See here for more info.
Judas’ Death
Judas is well known for being the disciple that betrayed Jesus, but what’s not as well known is there are two different accounts of his death, and it’s very hard to reconcile them. According to Matthew, Judas threw his money down at the chief priests’ feet and went out and hanged himself. We’re not told where he did this. The priests then take the money, and instead of putting it back in the treasury (since it’s blood money), they buy a field to use for burying strangers. Because they bought the field with this money, it’s called the “Field of Blood.”
According to Acts, Judas bought a field with his money (we’re not told that he was remorseful), and he somehow fell down, bursting open in the middle and bleeding to death. The field was called “Field of Blood” after that because of the manner in which Judas died.
To make things more complicated, Matthew (of course) says that this happened in accordance with Jeremiah’s prophecy, but there’s nothing in Jeremiah that matches up. The closest reference comes from Zechariah, not Jeremiah.
These issues really complicate the notion of divine inspiration, and you can read more about them here.
The Crucifixion
There are several big problems with the way the gospels record the events of Jesus’ death, including the fact that different times of day are given for it, and even different days altogether. You can read more about this here.
The Resurrection
There are also a number of problems concerning the resurrection, some minor, some major. They’re too involved to get into here, but you can read all about them here and here.
The Problem of Hell
The notion of Hell is fraught with problems. It might even surprise you to learn that the Bible’s teachings on the afterlife change dramatically between the Old and New Testaments. I go into detail about Hell’s problems here, here, and here.
The Problem of Evil
Another huge problem for Christianity is the problem of evil, which I talk about here. This post also addresses the “problem of Heaven.”
The Bible’s Morality
While a number of people believe that the Christian god is the source of all morality, the Bible is actually filled with some monstrous acts that are either commanded by God, done with his consent, or carried out by him directly. I talk about some specific examples here, and I address some of the common responses to them here.
Conclusion
Kathy, there are a number of other examples that could be given, including the prophecy of Tyre that we’ve been discussing. But to me, these are some of the most significant and clear-cut problems. We could try to manufacture explanations for every one of these — some might be more believable than others. But why should we have to? If a perfect God inspired this book, why should it contain so many discrepancies? And honestly, some of these issues can’t be explained. They’re just wrong. The problems go well beyond internal contradictions and unfulfilled prophecies. There are problems of authorship, problems with the doctrines, and problems with the way the texts were written, transcribed, and compiled.
I’m sure you’ve spent your time as a Christian trying to reach those who are lost. You’ve always believed that Christianity is truth, and it’s the one thing that everyone needs. But could it be that Christianity is just as false as every other religion in the world? And if that’s the case, wouldn’t you want to leave it behind? When one is dedicated to finding truth, they have to be prepared to follow it wherever it leads. It’s not always easy or popular. It’s not even a guarantee that you’re right. All it means is that you follow the evidence where it leads to the best of your ability. If you find out that you’re wrong about something, you adjust course when the evidence dictates. If God exists, and if he’s righteous, what more could he ask for than that? I’ll close with my favorite quote:
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
— Marcus Aurelius
Finding Truth 
Nate, you said:
“If not every word of the Bible is inspired, how do you know which ones are? Jesus said “if I tell you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe when I tell you spiritual things?” So if the Bible can’t get it right in some areas, how can we trust it in others?”
And I said:
We can TRUST the ENTIRE Bible because it was approved by God.
You are focusing on things that are INSIGNIFICANT.. because again, it reveals what is in your heart. If your questions related to contradictions in the actual MESSAGE of the Bible, then I could see your point.. but times and dates.. it just doesn’t matter in the big picture of what Jesus did for US on the cross. You have chosen to make those insignificant things, significant.. WHY??
And I would like to add..
Just because not every word is inspired that doesn’t mean that the rest isn’t valid.
There is no basis to make this assumption. If God can inspire men, He can also make sure that nothing gets in the Bible that He doesn’t want in.. which is why I believe that the seeming contradictions are there because He wants them to be there.. it reveals what is in our hearts.. are you going to use “errors” in trivial details as a reason aka excuse? When it has nothing to do with the actual message??
Also, Judah made an excellent comment.. were you going to address those points?
This one I particularly liked because it echoed the point I had made.. can you address this?
4. ARPHAXAD: It is my understanding that Luke’s genealogy skipped lots of stuff and was never intended to be accurate to the letter. For me, you are confusing inspiration with inerrancy. I can write under inspiration without my writing being perfectly correct. Meanwhile, I must consider possible transcription errors over hundreds of years of copying.
Also, how can witness accounts be God’s words? That would make God the witness, not the writers or those whose story they are reporting. It seems that witness accounts, which John even states that he is a witness are intended to be from those witnesses, so in THAT context, it’s clear that Biblical inspiration does not mean every single word.. aka “all”..
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I am indebted to a local brother, David Marks for two more I have never seen anyone talk about
Israel in the last days having no cities with city walls as protection (unheard of in Biblical times)
Ezekiel 38:11 (Darby)
11 and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will come to them that are in quiet, that dwell in safety, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
Israel having to take some area in the future related to the Gaza strip In Isaiah 11:14
Theres more but those are enough to munch on now with Kathy’s list
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Kathy and Mike, thanks for posting the links on prophecies. I’ll take a look at them and get back to you as soon as I can.
In the meantime, I’ll respond to Kathy’s other comment:
How was it approved by God?
Who decides what’s significant and what’s not?
And how would that look? How would there be contradictions in the message of the Bible, and how would you know they’re contradictions? If the Bible said the streets in Heaven were paved with rainbows instead of gold, how would you know that’s wrong? Again, as Jesus said, there’s no reason to believe his claims about spiritual things if you can’t trust his claims about earthly things? Why? Because we can verify earthly things — we can’t verify spiritual things.
Because if Jesus really lived, and he really died on a cross, and he really rose from the dead, then those facts matter very much. And if the details of those events don’t line up, then there’s good reason to question that they actually happened, especially since some of them are miraculous in nature and would be very unlikely anyway. As Paul said in 1 Cor 15:
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I dunno. I have this sense that we are about to experience the mother of all hand waving
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Would a parent purposefully mislead a child in a way that could lead to death or serious injury? And if they did, could we call that parent “loving”?
Also, Judah made an excellent comment.. were you going to address those points?
This one I particularly liked because it echoed the point I had made.. can you address this?
4. ARPHAXAD: It is my understanding that Luke’s genealogy skipped lots of stuff and was never intended to be accurate to the letter. For me, you are confusing inspiration with inerrancy. I can write under inspiration without my writing being perfectly correct. Meanwhile, I must consider possible transcription errors over hundreds of years of copying.
Luke’s genealogy is actually far longer than either Matthew’s or the ones found in the OT. Furthermore, Luke adds someone to the genealogy right after Arphaxad; he doesn’t skip anyone. Here’s the list from Genesis 11:
The list goes on. The youngest age given for having a child is 29 in this list, and Arphaxad is said to be 35 when Salah is born. According to Luke, Arphaxad would have actually been his grandfather.
God could have helped them remember everything perfectly, even though it’s their memories. 2 Pet 1:19-21 says this:
And two chapters later, he even includes Paul’s writings as “scripture.” And I would imagine that you feel the gospels are scripture as well.
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Nate, continued..
me: “you had asked why God would put the “barriers” of “contradictions” in the Gospels.. that was the context of my question.. why do you believe there are 4 different accounts of the Gospel story IN the Bible?”
you: “The people assembling the Bible were afraid of throwing out anything that was legit. And like Christians today, they were willing to assume that there was some way to resolve the issues, even if they didn’t know how right then.”
How do you know they were “afraid” to throw out anything? Is there any evidence to support this? Because they rejected numerous books/ writings… “afraid”? And for the rest also.. how do you know they 1) assumed there were any contradictions and 2) that they believed it would get “resolved”? What are you basing this answer on Nate??
But, I guess I’m not wording the question right.. in the context of what we were discussing.. you asked why God would put “barriers” aka contradictions in the Bible.. my question is, why would God have 4 different Gospels in the Bible in the first place?
You view the “contradictions” as barriers.. but again, if you apply objectivity, you reason that no one who is falsifying the story is going to include 4 different accounts by different people.. especially if they contained wording that would make it easy to believe there were contradictions.
The Bible is just as God wants it.. you see reasons to fault the Bible because of those seeming contradictions.. believers ask why have 4 different accounts in the first place? It’s clearly to support the AUTHENTICITY of the story.. it’s evidence that supports the truth of the Bible.
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@JudahFirst — thanks for the comment! It’s always good to hear from you 🙂
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“Sorry Ron.. it’s pretty clear that you aren’t going to get the kind of evidence you demand… but.. just keep demanding it.. and see how that turns out.”
I know. That’s why there’s no reason to accept your claims for god’s existence.
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Nate, continued..
You said:
“To your point about evidence, is it impossible for uninspired people to record accurate history? And I’m not aware of any accurate prophecies in the Bible.”
No, it is not impossible. But then the question would be.. WHY would they make up the story and add details that were true? What in the world is the motive for this elaborate hoax Nate?? I’m sure you have an answer.. I’m curious as to what it is..
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Nate cont.
”
me: And so, you are making the claim that the compelling evidence is equal for the God of the Bible and the thousands of others? Equal in martyrs, fulfilled prophecies, archeological evidence? Then where are all of their followers?? Yes, lots of followers for Islam but again.. they get “punished” if they don’t follow Muhammad. So…
you: I think this illustrates one of our key differences. You seem to assume that God exists, so whichever religion is best must be the right one. But I’m not looking for the best of the bunch — I’m looking for the right one. You can look for the best apple in a barrel of rotten ones, but it’s still going to be rotten — that’s what we have with Christianity. ”
Nate, I’m looking for the right one too.. why would I want to follow a false religion? My point about Christianity having the best credentials is to give a starting point for people searching for the truth.. it’s the most reasonable and rational place to get that truth.
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“Even if it is the best (and I don’t think it is), it still has too many problems to be the work of an all-good, all-powerful being.”
What is the best if not Christianity? I really want to know what it is..
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And.. “it still has too many problems to be the work of an all-good, all-powerful being.”
The NT tells us that God is good.. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. Why isn’t that enough?
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”
me: which is why I believe that the seeming contradictions are there because He wants them to be there.. it reveals what is in our hearts.. are you going to use “errors” in trivial details as a reason aka excuse? When it has nothing to do with the actual message??
you: Would a parent purposefully mislead a child in a way that could lead to death or serious injury? And if they did, could we call that parent “loving”?
It’s not God who is misleading you.. it’s yourself, your pride. If you look at the big picture, and don’t dismiss the amazing accuracies, in light of all the challenges, (another good point that Judah made)… accuracies that OUTNUMBER the seeming contradictions, then you wouldn’t be mislead. You would be inclined to give God the benefit of the doubt on those few things. Again, just like the Tyre prophecy.. MOST was amazingly accurate.. but you choose to ignore that and instead INSERT your own qualifier (the word “all”). You mislead yourself Nate.
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It wasn’t made up as a hoax. There really were people who believed in Jesus. But it’s important to realize that the gospels were very likely not written by any of the first-line disciples who actually knew Jesus, like Matthew or John. They were written decades later by disciples of the disciples of the disciples. The gospel story had been circulating for years, and several Christians wrote them down. The four in our Bibles were most likely written by Greek-educated Christians who truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but they never actually knew him. They were no more lying about their beliefs than Mormons lie about theirs today. It was not a hoax.
Again, if you’re honestly interested in this, read Jesus, Interrupted by Bart Ehrman and How We Got the Bible by Neil Lightfoot.
Not if he allowed seeming contradictions, as you suggested.
I’m sorry you see it that way, Kathy. I just don’t view “mostly right” as sufficient for a perfect God.
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me: “Also, how can witness accounts be God’s words? That would make God the witness, not the writers or those whose story they are reporting. It seems that witness accounts, which John even states that he is a witness are intended to be from those witnesses, so in THAT context, it’s clear that Biblical inspiration does not mean every single word.. aka “all”..
you: God could have helped them remember everything perfectly, even though it’s their memories. 2 Pet 1:19-21 says this:
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed,[a] which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,[b] 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God[c] spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
And two chapters later, he even includes Paul’s writings as “scripture.” And I would imagine that you feel the gospels are scripture as well.”
Even though Peter includes the word “scripture”.. I believe he’s talking about prophecy in the OT scriptures.
The witness accounts are not prophecies.. they are witness accounts.. not the same thing.
I’ve always felt that Peter was talking about prophecy when I read those passages. No prophet would dare change anything God has relayed to him as prophecy. (Which is why I believe it’s critical to determine prophecy fulfillment by it’s ACTUAL words… which these passages support that argument as it turns out). But that’s not in the same context as writers giving eye witness accounts. They ARE giving their private interpretation.. with Godly inspiration as we all have in the Holy Spirit.
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“Again, if you’re honestly interested in this, read Jesus, Interrupted by Bart Ehrman and How We Got the Bible by Neil Lightfoot.”
Nate Bart gives his own opinion of things. You quote him like he is giving some science results from some lab results when textual criticism has much to do with opinion , biases and guesses. IN the strictest sense its not real science.
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I’m not saying Ehrman is perfect, but he’s well respected in his field, and his information about the texts themselves is accurate. People can make their own conclusions about what he says, but the facts are legit. And that’s why I also suggested the book by Lightfoot, who is a Christian. May as well get a full picture.
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Kathy I think i know what you are trying to say with assumed errors or perceived contradictions being minor or unimportant as in something you can extend benefit of the doubt to but they are not going to understand it as fall back position of yours. Instead they are going to focus on it as your actual position as if you are agreeing to the contradictions
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Kathy,
Did Paul give any prophecies? That passage in Peter is referring to Paul’s writings as scripture. Plus, there’s 2 Tim 3:16-17:
I know there’s some disagreement among Christians about what these passages mean. I was under the impression that you believe the Bible is inerrant — do you not believe that?
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It’s not God who is misleading you.. it’s yourself, your pride.
“Not if he allowed seeming contradictions, as you suggested.”
But NOT if He ALSO gave you abundant evidence for the Bible’s truth.
He’s giving you a CHOICE.. and you are choosing.
Yes, God is perfect.. but look at us.. His creation is NOT perfect.. and there is no scripture
that suggests the Bible is supposed to be without technical errors… especially when there are accounts written by His imperfect creation.
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“It wasn’t made up as a hoax. There really were people who believed in Jesus. But it’s important to realize that the gospels were very likely not written by any of the first-line disciples who actually knew Jesus, like Matthew or John. They were written decades later by disciples of the disciples of the disciples. The gospel story had been circulating for years, and several Christians wrote them down. The four in our Bibles were most likely written by Greek-educated Christians who truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but they never actually knew him. They were no more lying about their beliefs than Mormons lie about theirs today. It was not a hoax.”
So, you’re saying that the writers, who were not the disciples or other eyewitnesses, believed it, but what they believed was a hoax? Made up by others.. the disciples? Is that right?
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Let me state that I don’t believe there are any contradictions in the Bible.. I’ve found reasonable explanations for all the claimed contradictions that I’ve researched so far.
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“Ruth no one is amazed at your lack of understanding of Christianity anymore. its just a ho hum fact you didn’t have the basics down”
No one is amazed that you would make such a statement , Mike.
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“No one is amazed that you would make such a statement , Mike.”
Nor should they be. Ruth has demonstrated a total lack of basic Christianity. You might as well beg that a “lawyer” is telling the truth about their profession when they don’t understand anything about jurisprudence.
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All I have left to say about my Christianity or lack thereof is this:
There is no such thing as true Christianity because I don’t believe the resurrection happened. I once believed that it did. So much so that I would have been willing to die for that belief. I believed that Adam was created with no sin nature. That God made Adam and Eve and that they were good. That sin entered the world through Adam and that every person after that was born with a sin nature. I believed that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb, the perfect sacrifice, that he gave his life for my sins, and that had I been the only sinner, he still would have done so. He would left the ninety-nine to rescue the one. Had I died – even for that belief – according to you I would have gone straight to hell because I wasn’t a real Christian, even holding those beliefs. I do hope that you realize that I’m not the only one who could be deceived into believing they were a real Christian and that you might have some misunderstanding of “the basics”, so where does that leave you? What if you’ve misunderstood some basic tenet of “the faith”. You could go to your grave believing you have it all understood only to wake up in hell if what you claim is true.
I don’t think any of you, not Kathy, not Mike, not whoever TBlacksman is in any position to judge who is and who isn’t a Christian. You’ve made it perfectly clear that unless people believe exactly as you do, even a simple belief in Jesus won’t save you.
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