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If we read all of Job, God points out their error.Yet although they are wrong about God, their theological ideas are still found within inspired words of the Bible. Why did God inspire false ideas about Himself to be recorded in Scripture?
If a person denies the doctrine of inerrancy, they have nothing to base their faith in Christ on, so they are likely not a Christian.
According to the secrets of the Bible, which is a show that I watched, there are mistranslations and it contradicts itself.
I wouldn't recommend relying on "edutainment" television programs (particularly ones that title themselves things like "secrets of the Bible") for serious scholarly information. There are legitimate criticisms to be made in some, isolated cases with some translations or nitpicking this or that; but it's hardly anything sensational and is largely boring academic minutia.
There are no great secrets or conspiracies to hide the true meaning of Scripture from the masses, nor are Bibles so horribly mistranslated that we're not getting the whole thing. Keep this in mind: there are still people who more-or-less have continued to speak or use the languages in which the Bible was written, there are communities which have continued to speak those languages and use original language or near-original language versions of Scripture; and further the sorts of people who make it their work to translate works like the Bible have dedicated years to the study of those languages, and entire groups and committees work together for this purpose.
You can be generally confident that when you pick up a translation of the Bible, almost regardless of which one, you're getting a pretty faithful attempt at rendering the source text into your own language.
-CryptoLutheran
The Contradictions
"...More significant, though less mentioned, is violating the context of belief. Christian understanding is a synthesis of many beliefs, and Biblical teachings are often interpreted through this background belief which has been synthesized. Such a synthesis may include other facts, not directly related to the contradiction in question, but nevertheless, relevant. When the critic proposes a contradiction, he ought to do so within the context of this background belief. By failing to do this, he merely imposes alien concepts into the text as if they belong. This error is common when the critic tries to cite contradictions related to doctrine or beliefs about the nature of God. For example, orthodox Christians believe in the Trinity. One could argue about this concept elsewhere, but trying to impose contradictions by ignoring Trinitarian belief violates the context provided by the Christian's background belief.
Or consider a mundane example. Say that Joe is recorded as saying that Sam is not his son. But elsewhere, he is recorded as saying that Sam is his son. An obvious contradiction, right? But what if one's background belief about Joe and Sam includes the belief that Sam is Joe's adopted son? By ignoring the context this belief provides, one perceives contradictions where there are none.
The critic sometimes assumes that the Biblical accounts are exhaustive in all details and intended to be precise. This is rarely the case. As such, the critic builds on a faulty assumption and perceives contradictions where none exist.
Also related to the context problem: Let's say that the only records of Joe speaking about Sam are the two cases where he affirms and denies that Sam is his son. Certainly Joe said many other things in his life, but they were not recorded -- including the fact that he adopted a boy and named him Sam.
Another real-life case concerns a newspaper report which lists the time of birth of twin babies. The first was born at 1:40 AM, and second was born at 1:10 AM. If this account did not have the added detail that the birth occurred the during the night in which Daylight Savings ended, it would appear to be a real contradiction/error. You have to know the whole story, or at least have a plausible explanation.
Since the accounts in the Bible are rarely intended as exhaustive and precise descriptions, it would be prudent to see if differing accounts complement, rather than contradict one another.
The critic seems to assume that the Bible is written in one genre: a literal and descriptive account. While the Bible does indeed contain literal and descriptive accounts (which, of course, are not exhaustive in details), it also contains many other styles of composition: the Proverbs list "rules of thumb," the Psalms communicate through poetry, many teachings/prophecies are in the form of hyperbole and metaphor, parables contain deeper messages, etc. Since the Bible is actually many books of different genres by several different authors, the critic's assumption leads her astray if it is used to create contradictions.
Finally, the critic engages in black and white either/or thinking when a both/and approach seems to be called for. This can be tricky, so let me set up my case by using one of the supposed contradictions cited:
"Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself." [Pr 26:4]
"Answer of fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes." [Pr 26:5]
The first thing to note is that these seemingly contradictory teachings are right next to each other. Could the writer of Proverbs be so stupid as to not notice this? I hardly think so. In fact, I think it is very illuminating that these teachings are closely tied. They highlight the fact that Biblical admonitions need not fall under the "either/or" criteria, but can be more properly understood in terms of "both/and." In fact, I have often found these two teachings from Proverbs quite useful.
Index of Biblical Contradictions scroll down some
Here's a quote from the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. "the autographic text of Scripture, ... in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy". They understand that the original manuscripts aren't available but with the large amount of early copies of those manuscripts available, textual critics humorously refer to this situation as an embarrassment of riches. Which means it is possible to determine with the availability of the vast amount of ancient documents of the originals into a great deal of accuracy about what the original message was. That's the inerrancy of scripture, it's certainly not about spelling mistakes and the exceptional few places where words are different. Those neither detract from from the message of events surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.The doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture is foundational to evangelical faith...
Or is it????!!
This is totally incorrect. If one disagrees with doctrine, s/he might have a very good reason, but that has nothing to do with their faith in Christ. Some people are illiterate (or semi-literate) and may not even have access to a Bible. That has nothing to do with their faith. Jesus Christ is a person and one can be a part of his body without being able to read.
Be careful whom you judge to be "not a Christian"!
Jesus Christ is a person and one can be a part of his body without being able to read.
This is totally incorrect. If one disagrees with doctrine, s/he might have a very good reason, but that has nothing to do with their faith in Christ. Some people are illiterate (or semi-literate) and may not even have access to a Bible. That has nothing to do with their faith. Jesus Christ is a person and one can be a part of his body without being able to read.
Be careful whom you judge to be "not a Christian"!
Jesus Christ is a person and one can be a part of his body without being able to read.
If Moses wrote the scripture, what scripture was guiding people before Moses? What was the law in Egypt? What were the customs and "Word of infallible scripture" of Abrams religion?The doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture is foundational to evangelical faith...
Or is it????!!
Ephesians 5:26 States that we are saved by the Word.
The only way one can know anything about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the plan of salvation, God's Grace, Sin, the forgiveness of sins, is by God's Word. Without the Word we would be ignorant of God, and lost.
2 Timothy 3:15-17 - states the Scriptures are needed for salvation.
the Original Word in the Original language of Hebrew and Greek, of which we have over 5000 copies.
The Orthodox Study Bible uses the New King James Version of the Bible as the basis for a fresh translation of the Septuagint text. The Septuagint is the Greek version of the Bible used by Christ, the Apostles, and the early church.
I question the veracity of this statement.
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