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 
“Ark I actually have a standing invitation for Ruth to ask me anything she wants. Girls tend to earn things boys tend to beg.
Still even if you had earned an invitation Sorry couldn’t find another party hat for you. I’ll send some cake home with Ruth.Probably for the best since all that spittle with cake would be sight to behold at my party. :)”
earned the right to talk to you? and who’s the arrogant one?
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@William – RE: “only draw attention to yourself by trying to get in the way of others…” – and yet some of you guys keep responding to him, which is the only reason he stays —
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@Mike
lol I really wish I was allowed to label you a D******d as you wear the mantle so well.
So, I guess we’ll just have to acknowledge you have Jack on this issue.
Yeshua the ”world-maker”. Hilarious! And Little Mikey the delusional sycophant.
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Girls tend to earn things boys tend to beg.
Wow, really? Cuing the gender equality rant, now. Geez.
Boys don’t beg. They expect. Women have to work to earn what men expect should be theirs to begin with. Respect.
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“lol I really wish I was allowed to label you a D******d as you wear the mantle so well.”
I’m all for it Ark. I think that people ought to be allowed to use words that reveal their of minority age status. That way you know whether to laugh at them or have them baker acted.
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Yes William its come to that. I read ark more.
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“Boys don’t beg. They expect.”
You are too kind my lady. Boys beg. Men …meh..sometimes.
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Hi everyone 🙂
In regards to Genesis,
Personally for me, some of the reasons why I believe stem from my limited observation of nature. during my short time on earth I’ve seen things that strike me as strange.
For example.
Genesis 1:14-19 reads (King James Version)
I find it bizarre and pretty amazing when I stop and think about it, that above us all there is a huge uninhabited natural satellite in the sky, that is in effect revolving around the earth reflecting light directly from the sun. This interaction allows us to have a huge light during the night time.
I think I take this for granted most nights, but when I consider how that there is only one very close, very large, natural satellite that provides this light. I find it strange.
I don’t find it strange in the sense that its unusual, for its part of the world we are born into…I find it strange that we call this huge light “the moon” and not necessarily think too much more about it. I don’t think heaps about it most of the time…but when I do
I find it strange that our solar system is running in such a way that as a consequence we are provided with this light at night…this does strike me as very strange, well not strange since it is the way things are, but odd that things are this way.
Another example, which might be a bit cliché is rainbows 🙂
But seriously why should it be considered cliché?
I mean, on stormy or/and rainy days I’ve seen quite distinct and clear rainbows, recently I even saw a double rainbow. You can see variations of rainbows from the household hose or sprinkler. This phenomenon, although I can take it for granted, is another thing that strikes me as odd.
Genesis 9:11-17 reads
I do find it odd this phenomenon of rainbows, coming about through reflection and refraction of light in moisture (clouds) and water droplets, is a thing that just comes and signifies itself as a clear, distinct sign. An arch of multiple colours both in the sky and whenever this process occurs through water and rain.
Does this not seem odd to anyone else that phenomenons like this occur in this world we find ourselves in? Try to remove yourself from the fact that they are regarded as “normal”… the processes themselves are pretty bizarre. At least they are when I think about them.
Another verse that I think about sometimes is
Romans 1:20
I may not exactly understand what this means…but I am struck by how odd this set-up is in this world. It seems odd to me anyway.
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Since I won the prize (
), isn’t it technically my party?
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arch, i know you’re right, but i’m weak, and have compulsions…. I’ll work on it.
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arch, i know you’re right, but i’m weak, and have compulsions…. I’ll work on it.
Don’t we all…
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what? know arch is right?
ah, couldn’t resist. I knew what you meant, ruth.
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@Portal – RE:
Portal, yes, the moon and sun and our solar system are remarkable. But the authors of the bible were writing about what they saw and thought.
The fact that they wrote about them doesn’t mean they had any real knowledge of them, it could easily means they saw them and found them remarkable like you do – and they assigned god to it to have an explanation.
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Here’s an illustration of Hebrew cosmology based on scripture:
The Three-Story Universe
And here’s another:
http://ncseprojects.org/image/ancient-hebrew-cosmology
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Wow, quite a salvo.
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Here’s a textual criticism of the Genesis accounts:
What Are the J, E, and P Texts of Genesis?
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@Ark
“It is nothing but a story.
This is fact and there is not a recognised secular archaeologist who will question this.
Neither any but the most fanatical orthodox Rabbi.
In fact, a great many Christians recognise the fictional nature of the Pentateuch.”
What is the evidence they use to support their claim?
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Guys,
I was just expressing one aspect of why I believe in God, I’m familiar with quite of few criticisms. I’m sure I haven’t read them all.
I’ll check these out when I get the time. I do find DarkMatters videos really tasteless though
I have to say, that was like a barrage of links 🙂
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William, you said:
“But let me ask, since you’re claiming to be objective, what makes you believe the claims of the men who wrote, assembled and translated the bible?
Would you believe any man who claimed to speak for god and who claimed that you should because they also claimed to have witnessed miracles?
what sets the bible apart?”
What sets the Bible apart is it’s credentials. A solitary man, like say Joseph Smith, has very little credibility. The Bible has many witnesses that span over thousands of years. That’s just one of several examples of what makes the Bible credentialed.
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Here’s something completely unrelated to leave you with. Its late in Australia
Goodnight 🙂 and hope your afternoons go well.
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@Portal – RE:
You’re aware, of course, that our “great light,” Sol, is in fact, a third-generation star. The verse above makes it sound as though your god created the stars as an afterthought – he had a little material left over, and didn’t want to see it go to waste, so after he finished carefully crafting our tiny insignificant planet, he created our average star and single satellite, the moon, then tossed out a few billion galaxies, each with a few billion stars.
It couldn’t have happened that way, because I wear a gold ring, with an attractive hematite setting – very nice, actually. What does that have to do with anything? Originally, the only element in existence was hydrogen, with it’s little single electron – the lightest element there is. But as hydrogen is consumed, it gives off as it byproduct – “ash” if you will – helium, a slightly heavier element. When all of the hydrogen in a star is consumed, it begins burning helium, the bi-products of which are Carbon-12 and Oxygen-16. Eventually, the gravity of the star can no longer balance the outward thrust of the combusting materials, and the star explodes, throwing off it’s outer layer, scattering the contents throughout regional space. In time – millions of years – this material joins with other material, including more hydrogen, which is free-floating in space – and forms another star, and the events repeat themselves. It takes three such novas to produce the heavier elements, such as lead and gold. We therefore KNOW that the stars were existing LONG before the earth came into being. (BTW – HAD the earth, sun and moon been “created” first, then the stars thrown in as additional lights upon the earth, understand this: the nearest star to us is Alpha Centauri, 4.5 light years away – it would take SO long for the light for all of the other stars to reach earth, even at 186,000 miles per second, that even Methusulah wouldn’t have had more than a handful to light his way to the outhouse in the middle of the night)
As for the “lesser light,” which isn’t a light at all, but merely a reflection of the original light, Sol, sorry – no “magical” creation – this is how it came to be:
I’d love to stay and chat about the NON-magical properties of rainbows (despite what the Leprechauns may tell you), but I have a lot of work to do, and little time to get it done. You seem like a good kid, keep looking for answers – the truth is out there —
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Hi Arch.. I don’t think you are “busting my chops” at all.. I’m a conservative! I understand the concept of debate.. as it seems you do.. every group has exceptions, and yours & Nate’s and others here intelligent understanding of this is much appreciated.
” and I agree absolutely, but agreement in witness’ stories are a lot like salt in soup -you can have too much, and you can have too little.”
Agreed. And I think that’s where a lot of the issue lies.. what constitutes too much or too little?
I pointed out in my comment to Nate yesterday that he was accepting of a couple of contradictions but when it numbered 10 or 20.. it was too much.. but when you consider the huge amount of information that is vulnerable to contradictions (if untrue).. it’s a drop in the bucket.. which is what I’m going to address next with Nate.. this very point.
Just like the idea that if they all matched perfectly it would beg the question of truth, if there weren’t any seeming contradictions in a book as large as the Bible, it would ALSO seem suspicious. The question I posed earlier still remains (unaddressed).. if this is all a fabrication.. WHY would the authors, writers, compilers “editors”? include or leave these inconsistencies in?? This just doesn’t “jive” with what atheists are proposing.
“As you may or may not know, the four Gospels were written anonymously – no one has any idea who wrote them – the four names they bear were later added by the Church.”
This comment, I believe, is revealing bias.. (not trying to bust your chops here 🙂 .. I’m just being honesty.. it’s just not correct that we have “no idea” who wrote the Gospels.. we have very good ideas about who wrote all of them.. especially John.. and when you state dates of the writings.. why do we have the ideas of that, but not ideas of the authors? The ideas all come from the same place.. the writings themselves.
And, when any non believer cites dates and authors or non authors.. it’s certainly not anything I take as “fact”.. especially when no sources are given.. the mis information passed around by the atheist community is great. Just as the bias is great. (not saying here that bias doesn’t exist on my side too).
“Not so much – this “Levi” copies a full 60% of “Mark’s” gospel, and in many instances, does so word for word! The real Levi would have had his own story to tell, and would have no need to copy “Mark’s,” word for word – too much salt in the soup.”
Mark DID tell his own story.. but he also borrowed from another’s story (it appears).. maybe those were the parts he was not witness to.. How does this prove deception/ untruths?? It doesn’t.
You perceive “too much salt in the soup” because someone TOLD you it had too much salt.. or you looked for ONLY the salt and didn’t allow yourself to focus on anything else.. you aren’t trusting your own taste buds.. you aren’t applying objectivity.
About the contradiction with John.. without researching it, I suspect it’s another example of .. omission not being proof of contradiction.. maybe John didn’t mention the fish because he wasn’t fishing himself? The thing is is that these are not fictional stories.. they are about real people in real life.. that isn’t taken into consideration when atheists are desperately searching for “contradictions”. They want to apply everything literally and not allow context to enter into it. And the context here is.. real life.
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A few quick and incomplete comments, as I apologize, but I don’t have time to read all the comments or write about all the questions. These are the ones I have handy at my fingertips.
As to the hares chewing cud, the biggest flaw in this criticism is imposing a modern technical definition of biology onto an ancient culture which had no such context. Sure, if we use modern definitions of what things mean and impose it onto an ancient context, we’ll end in all sorts of issues. The ancients had animals that chewed more completely and those that didn’t.
As to the genealogy comparing Genesis and Luke, merely look at what Luke is actually saying. The list Luke gives, for each of the persons, merely has a definite article between the names. So literally Luke is not saying Arphaxad was the literal next generation of anyone, but merely he was “of the” previous person. Further, throughout the Bible, “son of” and “father of” does not necessarily indicate a single generation. Jesus was called the son of David.
As to Jairus’ daughter, the answer is again in the original. One gospel says literally she was “at the last” and the other that she was “now come to an end” or “now die.” Merely look at a good lexicon, such as BDAG.
As to the centurion, when a person in authority send a word through a servant, it was common to say “the nobleman said.” We do the same now with Presidential spokesmen and corporate press releases.
As to the points around Jesus’ birth ….you’ve done an excellent job of contrasting circumstances that are not necessarily contradictions.
Every so-called biblical issue that the skeptics have claimed, my personal experience has shown that upon closer inspection, the issue is resolved and the bible proven true.
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@William – here’s a plan – use your OCD to your advantage, work up a compulsion to ignore him! And for cryin’ out loud, quit apologizing to him! He sees that as a sign of weakness, and eats apologies for breakfast!
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