Christians, can you explain these Bible contradictions for me?

Bible difficulties, or apparent Bible contradictions, exist. The opponents of Christianity often use them in their attempts to discredit Christianity. Sometimes these attacks undermine the faith of Christians who either don't understand the issues or don't have the resources to deal with them.

Opponents of Christianity will cite what they consider a Bible contradiction or difficulty by comparing one verse to another (or more) that seems to disagree with the first. In doing this, several verses are often referenced as being contradictory or problematic. Therefore, to make this section of CARM easy to use, it is arranged by verse for easy lookup. Since many of the same "difficulties" deal with one verse in opposition to another or even several others, I have listed all the verses addressed in the same answer. This makes the initial list look larger than it really is. For example, how many animals did Noah bring into the ark? Genesis 6:19-20 says two while Gen. 7:2-3 mentions seven. Therefore, both verses are listed and both links point to the same answer.

http://carm.org/introduction-bible-difficulties-an...

If we read the Bible at face value, without a preconceived bias for finding errors, we will find it to be a coherent, consistent, and relatively easy-to-understand book. Yes, there are difficult passages. Yes, there are verses that appear to contradict each other. We must remember that the Bible was written by approximately 40 different authors over a period of around 1500 years. Each writer wrote with a different style, from a different perspective, to a different audience, for a different purpose. We should expect some minor differences. However, a difference is not a contradiction. It is only an error if there is absolutely no conceivable way the verses or passages can be reconciled. Even if an answer is not available right now, that does not mean an answer does not exist. Many have found a supposed error in the Bible in relation to history or geography only to find out that the Bible is correct once further archaeological evidence is discovered.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-errors.html

The Big Book of Bible Difficulties: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation

By: Norman L. Geisler, Thomas Howe

http://www.christianbook.com/difficulties-clear-co...

As to the Ark and the month(s) given, literally, there is no contradiction. Noah and his family were in the ark for more than a year, so the mountains would have appeared many months before the ark finally came to rest in a secure location.

But, the Jewish calendar has several points that are alternately considered "the first month." That would mean the ninth (or whatever month) would move around the calendar, too.

Actually those are two accounts of the same death, just giving different details. Judas bought a field in his grief and hung himself. The rope broke and he fell, "bursting asunder". It's not a contradiction, the two authors just gave different details of the same event.

As for the ark, a boat that big would sit very low in the water. It could easily have sat on the top of a mountain without the mountain actually being visible, just like a boat with catch on a coral reef that isn't visible on the surface.

The baptizing may refer to two separate baptizing sessions, one of which he probably wanted his disciples to learn how to do it on their own. I would have to research the context to know for sure, but they traveled to many different towns that they did not always mention specifically, so the different authors may be referring to different towns in the same area.

The Trinity thing is kind of confusing I know, but since they are all one, it doesn't really matter which way you say it. Jesus Christ IS the Father Son and Hold Spirit since they are all one and the same, so it wold be correct whichever way you say it.

As for Jesus' last words, I know that the first one you listed he said before his last words, so that's not really relevant. The other two I would have to study more to know for sure, but I believe he said it all. These accounts were written by 3 different men who witnessed the event, and they often recorded from a different point of view, they saw different details and remembered different things as being important enough to write down. That's what makes the 4 Gospels interesting, is that by combining all 4, we get a complete picture of Jesus' life and ministry instead of just one person's perspective. As humans we are imperfect and often miss things, so this way we have more accounts from which we can derive the complete story.

Hope this helps!

1. For Judas, how it was explained to me is that he threw the coins in order to buy the field, hung himself, the branch broke, fell headlong, and had is guts squish out.

2. What were Kennedy's last words before he was shot? It would depend on who was later writing the incident, and where they were at the time.

3. I forgot the explanation, but someone once demonstrated this to me.

4. As they were already on top of Ararat, they were looking at other peaks, not the highest in the region.

5. If the Trinity is a coalition of all three Godheads, then baptizing in one's name is the same as in all.

6. Did it say that Jesus did not ever baptize, or that in that instance he did not?

How's that for your friendly neighborhood atheist (me)?

There are several reasons for seeming contradictions, and you didn't even mention the worst ones.

There are three creation stories, two in Genesis and one in Psalms.

There are two Garden of Eden stories.

There are three sets of commandments given to Moses: In the first instance, reported in the last verse of Exodus 19 and in Exodus 20, God spoke the commandments to Moses and he duly reported them to the people. The first ten of these commandments are what is most often referred to as the Ten Commandments--but they were not engraved on stone tablets, they were reported orally. In Exodus 31, God gave Moses the stone tablets with the commandments engraved thereon (on both sides), which Moses, in Exodus 32:19, threw on the ground and broke just before ordering the sons of Levi to slay 3000 of their family members. The third set of commandments comes in Exodus 34 and are on stone tablets which God ordered Moses to cut. In Exodus 34:38 the words God directed Moses to write on the tablets are referred to as the ten commandments--but they're not the same commandments as reported in Exodus 20 (see Exodus 34, verses 11-26).

The New Testament stories have been studied intensively and the commonalities and contradictions charted out and studied by Bible scholars. The contradictions are likely the result of different people telling their own versions of the same story at different times. The three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are likely from the same source story with variations attributed to embellishments by or details misremembered by later story tellers. None of that detracts from the power of the story, however. A story can be true even if some of the facts are misstated--or even if, like the parables, it was made up simply to illustrate a point.

Good work, but these are still only a handful of the many, many contradictions in the Bible. Sadly I feel your massive question will probably get ignored by Christians. Contradictions in the Bible are not a new thing, it has only been since the general population have been literate that they have actually posed a problem, in the olden days the priest simply read one version of events and everybody believed him.

At the end of the day the only response you will get from Christians regarding the many contradictory verses in the Bible will be...

1) You are reading it wrong. You need someone to give you the "correct interpretation".

2) They are not contradictions. Followed by a string of incredibly tedious and unlikely string of bullcr*p as to why these are not contradictory. A good example of this is the two verses in the Gospels giving blatantly contradictory lists of Joseph's ancestors back to Kind David. You would not believe the kind of "theories" Christians have come up with to resolve this and deny there is a contradiction.

Explanations of the first are common on the internet. I won't attempt to do so here.

The second is simple, so I will tackle that. The crux of the matter is this: none of the authors claimed that what they wrote were Jesus' last words. That being the case, any of them *could* have been his last. Comparing the gospels carefully, we see that John was at the cross while the other authors almost certainly were not - so John heard the words that more distant onlookers could not have heard and recorded them in his gospel.

ALL of the words quoted by the gospel authors were spoken by Jesus. It seems most likely that John recorded the very last words Jesus spoke before his death.

There is - in fact - no contradiction here at all. (See definition 3)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contradicti...

Likewise there is no contradiction in the following cases.

- Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

The Bible is a collection of writings from about forty contributors, thirty in the Old Testament and ten in the New Testament,to many ppl wrote it ,each what he saw or hear adding that paul changed the true message of christianity and added his likes or what he thought it will bring more adherents ,

Keep in mind that the Bible we have today is a compilation of historical documents that were written MUCH later than than the events they are describing. They were not direct recordings, and were most likely not very accurate at all, of course. Do we really think water literally turned into wine?

All of this is seen through different witnesses and Jesus let His disciples use His power.

Newspaper accounts differ the same in our age-different people see different things.