Serious answers only please. Why so many contradictions in the bible?

Just take a look at this small part of the history of the buy-bull.

The origin of the English Bibles of today can be traced to a time when men, supposedly under the divine inspiration of God, first wrote the books of the Bible. Before the fourth century CE, there were more that 30 different gospels, some of which can be found on the Gnostic & Apocrypha page. Many were officially outlawed during the Council Nicaea in 325 CE and the Council of Laodicea in 364 CE. These councils eventually agreed on what is now considered the "word of God", under the direction of Constantine, collating the accepted teachings into a single comprehensive book.

Most of what we now know as the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the New Testament largely in Aramaic or common (koine) Greek. Since no printing press existed until 1450 AD, all of the original compilations of the Bible were done by hand.

The history and development of the English Bible can be divided into 3 sections; ancient versions, in other languages, early English versions, and New English versions (since 1901). Brief descriptions of the significant versions in those time periods follows.

Ancient Versions in

other Languages

· The Septuagint Version (285 BC) - This was a translation of the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. Probably done in Alexandria.

· The Samaritan Pentateuch (BC?) - A copy of the Hebrew text done in Samaritan characters.

· The Peshito or Syriac (1st or 2nd century AD) - A common language translation of the entire Bible used in parts of Syria.

· The Codex Sinaiticus (330 AD) - A manuscript that contained the Greek Bible. It was purchased from Russia in 1933 by Great Britain and is now housed in the British Museum.

· The Codex Vaticanus (340 AD) - This manuscript is currently housed in the Vatican library in Rome. It originally contained the whole Bible plus the apocrypha, but parts have been lost.

· The Vulgate (400 AD) - A Roman Catholic scholar in Bethlehem by the name of Jerome translated the entire Bible into Latin. This Bible became the standard in the Catholic church for well over 1,000 years.

· The Codex Alexandrinus (425 AD) - This Bible is another Greek translation. Currently housed in the British Museum, it is complete except for 40 leaves.

Early English Versions

All of the earliest attempts at translating the Bible into English were fragmented. For example, Bishop Aldhelm of Sherbourne translated the Psalms into Old English around 709. Venerable Bede, a monk at Jarrow, translated a portion of the Gospel of John. By 900 AD all of the Gospels and most of the Old Testament had been translated into Old English.

· John Wycliffe (1380) - John Wycliffe was the first to plan a complete English translation of the Bible from Latin. His translation was based on the Latin Vulgate. He completed the New Testament prior to his death, and his friends completed the work after his death.

· PRINTING PRESS INVENTED - 1450

· William Tyndale ( 1525-1530) - Driven from England by persecution, William Tyndale, shared Wycliffe's desire to produce a Bible that the common English-speaking person could understand. Using the Latin Vulgate and other ancient sources, Tyndale was able to translate the New Testament and Pentateuch before he was martyred.

· Miles Coverdale (1535) - A friend of Tyndale's, Coverdale was able to publish a complete Bible. It is generally believed Coverdale used Tyndale's work in producing his New Testament. This Bible was done to honor King Henry the VIII.

· Matthews Bible (1537) - Despite the name, it is widely accepted that a friend of Tyndale, John Rogus, did most of the work on this Bible. Based largely on Tyndale's previous work, it also contains evidences of Coverdale's work as well. This might well be considered an updated Tyndale Bible.

· The Great Bible (1539) - This Bible takes its name from its great physical size. Based on the Tyndale, Coverdale, and Matthews Bibles, it was used mainly in churches. Often chained to a reading desk in a church, people would come to listen as a minister read from the Great Bible.

· The Geneva Bible (1560) - Produced in Geneva by scholars who had fled persecution in England under Queen Mary, this Bible was based not only on the Great Bible, but also on the other English translations of that day. Though very scholarly, it was a popular Bible because of its small size.

· The Bishops Bible (1568) - This was a revision of the Great Bible and Geneva Bible done under the direction of the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth.

· Douay-Rheims Bible (1582-1610) - The New Testament was published in Rheims in 1582 and the Old Testament in Douay in 1610. A revision of the Latin Vulgate, this has become the generally accepted English Version for the Roman Catholic Church.

· King James Version, KJV (1611) - The most popular translation ever produced, this Bible was done during the reign and at the urging of King James the I of England. 47 scholars, divided into 6 groups, worked on this translation. Based largely on the Bishop's Bible, many Hebrew and Greek texts were also studied as well as all the other available English translations, to insure the best results. By choosing men of many different theological and educational backgrounds, it was hoped individual prejudices of the translators could be minimized. Printed in a handy size and in clear type, the KJV was suppose to please clergy and congregation alike. Despite initial resistance, the KJV became and still is the largest selling translation of the Bible.

· Revised Version (1881-1884) - Designed to be a revision of the KJV, the Revised Version, had the advantage of being able to access some of the ancient manuscripts. Although this revision was sponsored by the Church of England, many American scholars were invited to participate.

New English Versions

(1901 to Present)

· American Standard Version, ASV (1901) - This revision of the Revised Version incorporates many of the readings first suggested by the American members of the Revision committee of 1881-1885.

· Complete Bible: An American Translation (1939) -Often referred to as the Goodspeed version, this translation was done by Edgar J. Goodspeed and J.M. Powis Smith. Using as many ancient texts as possible, Smith and Goodspeed produced a very readable and yet accurate translation. Also included in this translation was the Apocrypha.

· Revised Standard Version, RSV (1952) - The National Council of Churches of Christ procured the copyright to the 1901 ASV Bible in the 1920's. Work began on a revision to the ASV, but was abandoned in favor of an entirely new translation. Since many more Hebrew and Greek manuscripts were available to these scholars than were available in 1901, the RSV is considered to be much more accurate. A Very readable translation, the RSV is used in many Protestant denominations today. The revision committee continues to meet at regular intervals and in 1971 a new release was made of the RSV. This has been dubbed the RSV II edition.

· New Testament in Modern English (1958) - First published in 1958 and revised in 1973, this translation done by British writer J. B. Phillips is one of the best readings of the New Testament. It is published today by MacMillan Publishers fo New York.

The supposed "historical facts" don’t even line up. Like the wrong prophet with the wrong king at the wrong battle and it was first written down years after the fact. That’s is historical fiction. The setting maybe a historical fact, but what they said happened is fiction. We don’t know who wrote the gospel, The first one Mark was written at least 30 to 60 years after Jesus died. Matthew and Luke had a copy of Mark with them when they wrote their books. John was deliberately written to fill in the gaps and the arguments that the new christian faith was having. These are stories passed on for years and years before written down. None of these are first hand accounts even though they are written that way.

Every religion has their spin on it, but try to find the facts. The conclusion is that there is little in the bible old or new that is fact. It mentions places that are real, but that’s about it. You can walk the streets where Jesus carried his cross, but did he really carry a cross? I try to find sources out side the bible that mention the same thing the bible does. Like the census that was talked and why Joseph went to Bethlehem. No record of it ever happening outside the bible. This is not the stone age. There was all kinds of trading with other countries. Something should have been mention somewhere about this massive disruption of the economy. Anyhow, we base our faith on the stories of Jesus in the gospels. It they can not be proven as fact, even by the Roman empire, then faith is based on fiction?

Contradictions do not exclude Truth. Up and down do not contradict one another except to the rational mind and Truth and Reality are not subject to rational thinking and logic. Up and down are the same direction and lead to the same place in space just as the Infinitely small and the Infinitely large encompass the same amount of space. While that is True it cannot be grasped by the rational mind but must be experienced - and then it cannot still be put clearly into words just as the Truth cannot be spoken. But it can be known by the grace of God. The worldly mind cannot understand spiritual things and when it tries confusion and hostility result. The secret to spiritual growth is not study with the worldly mind but contemplation with the spiritual faculties within, soul perception, intuition, a state the bible calls 'stillness'. Be still, and know... Those who holler from the rooftops what their mortal minds have grasped are blind leading the blind. The rantings of preachers from pulpits all over the world, from every religion are of the same mien. I think it was Schopenhauer who made clear what the sound of ignorance was when a man speaks. It can be heard in his inflections and intonations. We hear a million lies to every Truth here on earth. And quoting the Bible does not mean one is speaking the Truth. Even a parrot can learn to quote the Bible and it remains meaningless even when said with great earnestness. But whether the Bible has contradictions does not mean it is not Truth. Namaste'

I believe just as history is subjective by those who write it. The bible is also subjective according to who wrote it. You say Peter says one thing and Paul says another.

Each section is written by those people's experiences with Christ. The lessons they learned from him. A lot of times..it is said, the gospel according to..... So basically, even though the passages contradict each other....it is the truth as written by the writer. It doesn't make them wrong but just a different perspective.

For example, if you were to write about your experiences growing up and then your brother or sister did the same thing. Some things would match, but others would be totally different, you had the same parents who taught you the same things, values and lessons....but how each of you interpret your own history, is how you would write it.

Therefore, the bible is book written by many different people and their experiences. It may not all make sense, but if you find something that you can apply to your life and it makes sense in your journey....then that is what should matter.

It is not an instruction manual.....but a guide. Christians of all different denominations interpret the bible differently. In the end it's how you can apply it to your life.

It is a inaccurate record of events and possible events or stories of events retold or speculation regarding possible events written in an ancient language by various authors at various times long after the events may or maynot have taken place, and then translated and transcribed into other modern languages which in themselves have evolved and the definitions of words have changed.......... not to mention the various political vested interests and controls involved at the time these "books" were writen.........and you wonder about contradictions in the content ???

The most obvious contradiction in the Bible for me is the difference between the vengeful spiteful God of the O.T. and the God represented in the N.T. How can these possibly be the SAME God???

I am not an atheist by the way.... I 'm a Scientologist

Because, dude, the Bible is a mixture of many different beliefs and has been written by many people most of the stories weren't even written til four and five hundred years after the events took place. Look, the Bible is just to keep people inline, okay. There is no tooth fairy either.

The story of Job is a hard one to swallow, but God allowed the testing to prove to Job where he stood. At the end God did bless Job abundantly, (I know nothing can replace lost children, but at least Job could rest in the fact that God would take care of them.)

Jesus' answers to people were always personal, so if the thing keeping that person from heaven was that they loved money too much to yield to God, He would pinpoint that barrier. As far as the belief, question you quoted, there is a difference between belief in the mind only, and belief in the heart. I can mentally concede to the fact that Jesus was a historical figure, I can even mentally concede to the fact that He is the son of God and died for sins. If I do not receive Him and put my trust in Him I can not be saved. The devils believe because they know, it is not faith, besides Jesus died to save people, not demons. We are saved by grace through faith FOR good works. True faith will always show itself in changed behavior, if it doesn't then it was just "head" belief, not "heart" belief.

The faith / works thing is much debated, my take on it on is that we are saved apart from works because that is what the Bible teaches, but true living faith will always show itself in a changed life. "Dead" faith is faith that has not planted itself in the heart. If the Spirit of God resides in a person, they will not want to grieve that Spirit.

Mark 1011, please stop yelling. This seemed like an honest question.

Ita a lot deeper than answering it just like that---in one qywstion. The quickest and easiest answer I can give is faith is the strongest thing he can judge by. Faith is the Big E blondie besides I'm work and all that other crap faith is the biggest and you have to have faith and you have to have hope When you have to have love and the best thing you can do is ask God to do something and just now he's going to do it and watch it happen and that is the beginning of the journey of faith, and I truly believe that that's what I it's all about good luck I hope it helps. I truly believe that we, as spirits, chose to come here to fully enhance our spirits. I studied religion all over the world and Mormon religion seems to pick up A lot of things to help me to understand I'm not Mormon by any means and I'm Christian but Again and also it's not the size that counts but what we do in this life to get to the next life. I can't I can't I can't be all answered and just one question

Its the translators and the many times its been translated,you see there is a difference in translation and transliteration.Your key you need to use is a dictionary of the Greek and Hebrew The Strong's concordance is a good translation and transliteration.There are so many things in the scriptures that are meant differently than you read them if you don't know how they are meant.For example When God said he hated Esau the word hate in Hebrew is to love less,we don't think that way when we hear the word hate.Another example the Sabbath the word means in the Hebrew put your rest in,that's why Christ became our Sabbath its not a day as most would have you believe we are to put or rest in Jesus everyday.The bible clearly says not to worship a day of the week.I hope this helps you God bless you in your journey.

OK first supposed contradiction. Look at it, Satan himself is a tempter, his job now is to find ways to prove God wrong, he doesn't believe God to be omnipotent and omnipresent. Satan called him a liar and he was proven wrong. The devils that believe have been cast out of heaven and never allowed to return they are to burn eternally in the deepest pits of Hell, and they tremble knowing the Jesus the Christ is returning and that He is to destroy satan. And lastly James is saying that once you have this gift you can't just sit there and do nothing with it, you have to go out, spread the gospel. For that is the way of the Christian, they are to save not fight.

These "contradictions" are just you taking them out of context, you have have to read in depth, take everything in as one.

The bible was written by many men who didn't know what was written in the other books that were collected into one volume. But that is OK. The people who look into this objectively realize that it is all fairy tales.

The Bible contains paradoxical statements , but contradictions? no, i don't think. Even the paradoxes are addresses in other parts of the scriptures, this I have never seen to be untrue.