Biblical Contradictions

[humblehumility]

First off, I'm assuming that the basis for Christian belief stems from the Bible. Without the Bible, we do not have Christianity.

My question: why would God "divinely inspire" the Biblical authors into writing so many contradictions? In what way would "God" see this as a positive learning experience for the thousands of years of humanity to come (given the scrutiny of science to discover truth)?

From the Christians I've spoken with, every book of the Bible is inspired by God himself; which means every contradiction is intentionally placed by God. What is the purpose?

I'm assuming somebody here will ask me for an example of what "contradictions" I'm speaking of, so here we go:


Matthew 1
16And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Luke 3
23And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,


What stretch are we to believe that these two chapters do not contradict? Who was Joseph's father?

 

[Satt]

Joseph was the son-in-law of Heli.

 

[humblehumility]

Joseph was the son-in-law of Heli.

Proof?

 

[rturner76]

Humblehumility, keep asking questions, maybe God will open your heart soon. I see you are searching for answers. That is awsome. Keep searching, you will yet find God. Unless you are just here to belittle Christians in which case, why bother being an evangelical athiest? Do you like Christians evangelizing to you? Just a thought, I don't mean offence and you are certanly welcome to ask your questions like anybody else.

Nobody speaks for all christians. Speaking for myself, I believe like MANY christians that the Bible is Divinely INSPIRED. I try to read it and apply the New Testament lessons I learn to my life and I find my day to day experience of life to be improved by it. I don't ponder the parentage of Joseph on a daily basis. It has no real bearing on the lessons taught by Jesus Christ concerning love for your fellow man. B.I.B.L.E. BasicInstrustionsBeforeLeavingEarth

PEACE
PositiveEnergyActivatesConstantElevation

 

[razeontherock]

Every single apparent contradiction in the Holy Bible is an open door to seek G-d, and know Him better. As long as you are seeing contradictions, you should expect you don't know what any of it really means ...

which requires humility.

 

[1watchman]

After many years of Bible study I am absolutely sure there are NO contradictions in a sound version of the Bible (KJV, I see). If one thinks they see a contradiction, then one can (should) be sure they have misapplied or misunderstood the text.

If one is only a Bible reader out of curiosity, they will probably get confused, but a real faithful believer in the Lord will come to see the truth. One might wonder about things, but should never challenge God.

- 1 Watchman

 

[MetanoiaHeart]

First off, I'm assuming that the basis for Christian belief stems from the Bible. Without the Bible, we do not have Christianity.

I would not make these assumptions. The basis of Christian belief is Christ, not the Bible. Without Christ, we do not have Christianity. Without Christ, we don't have the Bible...and without Christ, we have no chance at understanding the Bible.

I'm not saying the Bible is not inspired. It is. It was also written by humans, and there may be details here and there that reflect the human (imperfect) contribution to the writing of the Holy Scriptures. And that is okay because the basis of the faith is not a book; it's a Person.

 

[berachah]

First off, I'm assuming that the basis for Christian belief stems from the Bible. Without the Bible, we do not have Christianity.

My question: why would God "divinely inspire" the Biblical authors into writing so many contradictions? In what way would "God" see this as a positive learning experience for the thousands of years of humanity to come (given the scrutiny of science to discover truth)?

From the Christians I've spoken with, every book of the Bible is inspired by God himself; which means every contradiction is intentionally placed by God. What is the purpose?

I'm assuming somebody here will ask me for an example of what "contradictions" I'm speaking of, so here we go:


Matthew 1
16And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Luke 3
23And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,

What stretch are we to believe that these two chapters do not contradict? Who was Joseph's father?

The problem is you base your reasoning on ignorance of the culture and the times of the Bible. In the book of Acts 1:23 they had a choice between "Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus". There are other instances where people were known by more than one name.

Names were very important in that culture and they invariably said something about the person. It is unthinkable that any writer of that time would dare to call someone by an incorrect name or not be familiar with the 'real' name of a person especially when referring to lineage.

But the hypocrisy of these types of questions is what really stick in one's throat. On the one hand critics of the Bible point to collusion and copying for the 4 gospels, on the other they nitpit the smallest difference.

Lest we forget the gospels are written by different people to Orthodox Jews, Gentiles & Romans who had very different cultures / languages / etc and by that very nature the emphasis and focus is on different aspects (of the same message.)

 

[Hospes]

Humble,

FYI: There are reasonable explanations for the contradiction you specify. For instance, due to the common practice of Jewish laws concerning marriage, it is reasonable that Joseph could have a biological father and a different legal father.

 

[humblehumility]

The problem is you base your reasoning on ignorance of the culture and the times of the Bible. In the book of Acts 1:23 they had a choice between "Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus". There are other instances where people were known by more than one name.

And does it say anywhere that Joseph's name was also Heli? Kind of a big assumption.

But the hypocrisy of these types of questions is what really stick in one's throat. On the one hand critics of the Bible point to collusion and copying for the 4 gospels, on the other they nitpit the smallest difference.

Or, there's both going on. I see no hypocrisy.

 

[humblehumility]

Humble,

FYI: There are reasonable explanations for the contradiction you specify. For instance, due to the common practice of Jewish laws concerning marriage, it is reasonable that Joseph could have a biological father and a different legal father.

Yeah, he could. But it doesn't say that anywhere, so why would you assume that?

 

[humblehumility]

Every single apparent contradiction in the Holy Bible is an open door to seek G-d, and know Him better. As long as you are seeing contradictions, you should expect you don't know what any of it really means ...

which requires humility.

Can you explain the first contradiction I mentioned (one of hundreds)?

Every "explanation" for a contradiction requires yet another leap of faith. Given enough leaps of faith, anything is believable (which is a silly thought).

 

[bling]

Can you explain the first contradiction I mentioned (one of hundreds)?

Every "explanation" for a contradiction requires yet another leap of faith. Given enough leaps of faith, anything is believable (which is a silly thought).

If you look on line you will find hundreds of questions and Biblical answers by biblical scholars to ever one.

Christianity start without the Bible and could continue without the Bible. We do not worship a book, but the live Christ, living today in and through real Christians. The Bibl is just one tool Christians have to help them, so non Christians may not get much out of scripture.

 

[golgotha61]

First off, I'm assuming that the basis for Christian belief stems from the Bible. Without the Bible, we do not have Christianity.



From the Christians I've spoken with, every book of the Bible is inspired by God himself; which means every contradiction is intentionally placed by God. What is the purpose?

I'm assuming somebody here will ask me for an example of what "contradictions" I'm speaking of, so here we go:


Matthew 1
16And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Luke 3
23And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,


What stretch are we to believe that these two chapters do not contradict? Who was Joseph's father?

Christianity's existence is not dependent on the Bible. The revelation of God is what the Bible was written for. Christianity's existence depends on the risen Christ.

As for Matthew and Luke: . Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in all probability the daughter of Jacob, and first cousin to Joseph her husband. Thus: Matthan or Matthat Jacob Heli JESUS, called Christ. (Godet, Lange and many others take the ground that Luke gives the genealogy of Mary, rendering Luke 3:23 thus: Jesus "being (as was suppposed) the son of Joseph, (but in reality) the son of Heli." In this case Mary, as declared in the Targums, was the daughter of Heli, and Heli was the grandfather of Jesus. Mary's name was omitted because "ancient sentiment did not comport with the mention of the mother as the genealogical link." So we often find in the Old Testament the grandson called the son. This view has this greatly in its favor, that it shows that Jesus was not merely the legal but the actual descendant of David; and it would be very strange that in the gospel accounts, where so much is made of Jesus being the son and heir of David and of his kingdom his real descent from David should not be given.—ED.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary: Comprising Antiquities, Biography, Geography, Natural History, Archaeology and Literature.

The Targums referred to above were translations of biblical texts into Aramaic from Hebrew following Israel’s return from Babylonian captivity.

 

[humblehumility]

If you look on line you will find hundreds of questions and Biblical answers by biblical scholars to ever one.

I have. Almost every Christian source says Heli was the father-in-law of Joseph, but there's never any Biblical confirmation of it.

Christianity start without the Bible and could continue without the Bible. We do not worship a book, but the live Christ, living today in and through real Christians. The Bibl is just one tool Christians have to help them, so non Christians may not get much out of scripture.

Let's try to be reasonable here, without the Bible there would have been no spread of Christianity. It would have most likely died out in the Middle East where it began shortly after the death of Jesus. Everything we learn and know about Christianity comes from the Bible, everything.

 

[humblehumility]

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in all probability the daughter of Jacob

And thus the leap of faith begins.

 

[MetanoiaHeart]

Let's try to be reasonable here, without the Bible there would have been no spread of Christianity. It would have most likely died out in the Middle East where it began shortly after the death of Jesus. Everything we learn and know about Christianity comes from the Bible, everything.

You do realize that not all Christians are Sola Scriptura Protestants, right?

 

[humblehumility]

You do realize that not all Christians are Sola Scriptura Protestants, right?

Where does your knowledge of God come from?

 

[Dark_Lite]

Let's try to be reasonable here, without the Bible there would have been no spread of Christianity. It would have most likely died out in the Middle East where it began shortly after the death of Jesus. Everything we learn and know about Christianity comes from the Bible, everything.

Not really. The Bible as we know it today was not compiled until 400 years after the founding of Christianity. There were various canon lists floating around before that time, but Christianity primarily spread through people and the traditions they carried with them. Some of the NT works (e.g. gospels) weren't even written until 30+ years after the death of Christ.

There were disagreements between the ECFs about the contents of the scriptural canon. That's why two regional Councils around the year 400 promulgated a definite list of books. But even then, the canon was not closed. It was just "set," if you will.

The Church came before the Bible, not the other way around. It is the Church, the visible institution of the people of God, that carries Christianity forward. It is not the Bible. The Bible is a product of the living Tradition of the Church: a record of Christ's life and the early times of Christianity. It contains the foundation for many important and essential doctrines, but it is by no means the only source for Christian theology or history.

 

[golgotha61]

And thus the leap of faith begins.

Did you read all the post? The statement you quoted is supported by the rest of the post. What is used here is outside biblical sources.