Why so many inconsistencies ?

revrod

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It is Gods Word, but it was written down by men. Then, other men interpreted and translated. Gods Word is infallible, but man is not. If God spoke the something to you and I, and then we wrote about it on here, I figure there would be some differences. Those differences would be called contradictions by some. People have trie for years to contradict Gods Word. Nothing new.
 
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Faulty

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You do realize the gospels are eyewitness accounts and have been harmonized countless times, right?

Suppose this happens and there are three eyewitnesses:

A man, his wife and their small child are in their car and driving down the road. The man is driving, the wife is in the passenger seat and the small child is in the back.

While driving down the street, a cat suddenly darts from behind a tree and into the road in front of the car. The man freaks out and slams on the brakes. The wife screames and reaches over and yanks to wheel to try to avoid the cat, and the child ducks down in the back seat, but the car swerves and runs into a tree.

Now a police officer comes out to investigate the accident and talks with the first witness who was positioned in front of the car and he tells what he saw, a cat darting in front of the car, screeching brakes, screaming woman, hitting tree.

The second witness was on the sidewalk beside the car when the accident happened and he tells his story, screeching wheels, screaming woman grabbing the steering wheel, kid in back ducking down, hitting tree.

The third witness saw the accident from behind and tells his story, screeching wheels, screaming woman, kid in back, hitting tree.

All three stories are different and all have different details, adding some and omitting others. Now, which one lied?

None of them. They were all 100% accurate in what they saw. Only one saw the woman grabbing the wheel, but it doesn't contradict any of the other stories any more than only one witness seeing the cat that caused the accident but not seeing the child in the backseat the other two witnesses saw.

The gospels are eyewitness accounts and they do harmonize. Just put some effort into figuring out what you are reading before talking about "inconsistencies".
 
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ViaCrucis

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It says

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is flawless


But if you check the below link you will notice that there are contradictions.

http://exchristian.net/3/test_quiz.php

How can the God's word be flawless then ?

Many of us aren't inerrantists, meaning we don't subscribe to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. That said, we'd still agree that Scripture is God's written, inspired, and holy word which flawlessly communicates to us what God intends for us to know and believe. That is, God is capable of working through fallible men to say what He wants to say--indeed, the Bible consistently speaks of such people and God working through them anyway.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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hedrick

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It's unlikely that Prov 30:5 is speaking of inerrancy of the written Bible. The word of God is a broader concept. I believe the point is that we can rely on God and what he has promised us. If you try to deal with every "inconsistency" in the Bible you'll spend you whole life chasing verbal arguments, and not learning very much about God.
 
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elman

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Many of us aren't inerrantists, meaning we don't subscribe to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. That said, we'd still agree that Scripture is God's written, inspired, and holy word which flawlessly communicates to us what God intends for us to know and believe. That is, God is capable of working through fallible men to say what He wants to say--indeed, the Bible consistently speaks of such people and God working through them anyway.

-CryptoLutheran
I agree God is capable of causing the bible to be consistently true. I just don't believe God did. I believe there is some things in the bible that are true and some things that are not true. I don't believe God ever lies or kills anyone nor do I believe God ever orders anyone to kill someone. I do not believe Satan or demons or evil spirits exist nor do I believe they ever existed. I believe the only spirit that exists is God and that spirit is not evil.
 
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Hawkins

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If God wants human followers, He must leave human with an infallible reference. How can He expect humans to follow Him if what He gave us is a half true reference. He can't blame humans not to follow Him as He failed to provide accurate information to Humans. Law and Covenants and Faith and Teaching and so forth are completely meaningless as it contains errors that human can hardly tell which part is true and which is not. It's then God's fault if humans failed to follow correctly.

However, if the Bible is correct. God has all the right to do what He will do as said in the Bible. Actually you don't need to believe a God who can only provide you with a half accurate Bible. On the other hand, if what you believe is a true God and He sincerely needs human followers, He will provide us with an infallible Bible.
 
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elman

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If God wants human followers, He must leave human with an infallible reference. How can He expect humans to follow Him if what He gave us is a half true reference. He can't blame humans not to follow Him as He failed to provide accurate information to Humans. Law and Covenants and Faith and Teaching and so forth are completely meaningless as it contains errors that human can hardly tell which part is true and which is not. It's then God's fault if humans failed to follow correctly.

However, if the Bible is correct. God has all the right to do what He will do as said in the Bible. Actually you don't need to believe a God who can only provide you with a half accurate Bible. On the other hand, if what you believe is a true God and He sincerely needs human followers, He will provide us with an infallible Bible.

God has written on every human heart. God is not responsbile for men claiming they can speak for God. God did not provide us with an infallible Bible. God could have but did not. The bible we have is filled with errors. God does not lie, but the bible says God sent lying spirits to deceive.
 
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drich0150

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It says

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is flawless


But if you check the below link you will notice that there are contradictions.

http://exchristian.net/3/test_quiz.php

How can the God's word be flawless then ?

Proverbs 30:5 (as it actually reads in the NKJV)
5 Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

No wonder you see contradictions if you change the bible to suit any contradiction you wish to make.

Oh, your link is also broken.
 
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leftrightleftrightleft

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It says

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is flawless


But if you check the below link you will notice that there are contradictions.

http://exchristian.net/3/test_quiz.php

How can the God's word be flawless then ?

None of these inconsistencies are important to the Christian message.

Think of a court of law. A man is convicted of murdering his wife. One witness says the man murdered his wife wearing a green shirt, a second witness says the man murdered his wife wearing a red shirt.

Its not as if the jury will then say, "Ah ha! Because of this small, insignificant inconsistency in their stories, the whole testimony is garbage and they are liars!"

The same thing with the witnesses in the Bible. They recorded some small, relatively insignificant inconsistencies. That does not somehow dismantle the consistent story that Jesus was God in the flesh who was crucified and resurrected. Nor does it dismantle the idea that Jesus did miracles!

I find question 15 to be the most hilarious. Here is a website trying to somehow falsify and "take down" Christianity and yet they have a question which reads:

"How many blind men did Jesus heal on the way to Jericho?"

Who CARES how many men he healed? Isn't the CONSEQUENTIAL part the fact that he HEALED BLIND PEOPLE? Isn't that the part that should be convicting of his superhuman nature? Of his other-worldliness? Of his specialness?
 
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