Some Questions about the Bible

Is the Bible really Inerrant and Infallible?

Many Christians today maintain that the Bible is the Inerrant and Infallible Word of God. They quote 2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God," and Matthew 4:4 "Scripture proceeds from the mouth of God." If Scripture is Divinely Inspired, it must follow that it is without error, contradiction, and absurdity - and that everything contained within it serves to instruct us and to improve our lives. But is this really the case, or is the Bible instead a work of human hands, an account of man's experience with God, and how some people view God acting in human history? Over the next couple pages, I hope to show that the Bible is neither without error, contradiction, and absurdity - and that quite to the contrary it contains a great deal of those things.

Does the Bible contradict itself?

A contradiction is when we have two (or more) claims that are mutually exclusive. Now it cannot be that both A and not-A are true - therefore, when the Bible contradicts itself, it holds that at least one of the claims with which we are presented is not Inspired, for that which is false is not of God if John 14:6 "God is Truth" and Hebrews 6:18 "it is impossible for God to lie" are anything more than just pretty words. Now it is always possible that these passages only SEEM to contradict each other - and if you can show that this is indeed the case, I will retract them from my list.

The account of Creation in Genesis 1 substantially differs from the account in Genesis 2.

Acts 26:23 tells us that Christ was "the first that should rise from the dead," despite all of the following passages which describe people doing that very thing: 1 Sam 28:11,14; 1 Kings 17:22;

2 Kings 4:32-35; 2 Kings 13:21; Matthew 9:23-25; Luke 7:12-15; Luke 9:30; and John 11:43

Exodus 34:7 says God will visit the iniquity of the fathers "upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation." But Ezekial 18:20 tells us that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

Ezekiel 14:9 "And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him."

2 Kings 2:11 says, "...and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." but John 3:13 tells us, "No man hath ascended up into heaven, except the one who came from heaven."

Exodus 24:9-11 records that Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the Elders of Israel ascended the mountain of God and "saw the God of Israel," though Exodus 33:20 says, "No man shall see me and live."

Genesis 1:31 says, "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good." while Genesis 6:6 says "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved at his heart." Did God not realize ahead of time that Eve would eat of the fruit? And further, repentance implies, at the least, mistakeness, which contradicts the claim that God is perfect.

Genesis 6:19 says that two of every creature should be taken aboard the ark. But Genesis 7:2 says "Of every clean beast thou shalt take thee by sevens, the male and his female."

Proverbs 26:5 says, "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit," while Proverbs 26:4 advises, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him."

2 Peter 3:9 says,"The Lord is ... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," while Proverbs 16:4 tells us, "The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil."

Job 1:1 God declares that Job was "blameless and upright" while Romans 3:10, 23 insists that "there is none righteous, no, not one," for "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

John 5:28-29 says "all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth" though Job 7:9 says, "he who goes down to the grave does not come up."

Genesis 6:2 says, "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose," though Matthew 22:30 says that the angels of God in heaven"neither marry, nor are given in marriage."

Jeremiah 3:12 says, "I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever." while Jeremiah 17:4 says, "Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever."

Where did the Apostles see the risen Christ? Matthew 28:16 says "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him." But John 20:19 says, " Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you."

Genesis 4:12 says Cain would become "a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth" but Genesis 4:17 says that he built a city.

Acts 2:21 assures us that "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lard shall be saved." But Matthew 7:21 says, "Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."

1 Samuel 17:50 says David killed Goliath but 2 Samuel 21:19 says that it was Elhannan.

Deuteronomy 15:4 says that there would be no poor among the people while Deuteronomy 15:11 says that the poor will always be in the land.

Jeremiah 32:27, "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for the Lord?" Apparently so. For in Judges 1:19 "The Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron." And Hebrews 6:18 reminds us that "it was impossible for God to lie."

Galatians 5:20 condemns wrath or anger as a sin, but Nahum 1:2 says that God "is furious." (Other verses such as Isaiah 26:20 and Jeremiah 4:8 present God in this manner as well.) If this is a sin, how could God do it?

John 10:30 says, "I and my father are one." but John 14:28 says, "I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I." How can you go unto yourself, or be greater than yourself?

2 Corinthians and elsewhere declare that Jesus was absolutely perfect and without sin, even in His human nature. But Hebrews 2:10 says that He was "made perfect through sufferings." But to be made perfect implies that he was not perfect to begin with - or that he could be made even more perfect. Which is just nonsense.

Genesis 22:1 says, "God tempted Abraham," but James 1:13 says "nor does He Himself tempt anyone."

Ecclesiastes 1:4 says, "But the earth abideth for ever" whereas 2 Peter 3:10 says, "The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

Mark 16:16 says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." while Romans 2:6, 13 "Who 'will render to each one according to his deeds'. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified."

Genesis 32:30 "Jacob said, 'I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.'" or John 1:18 "No man hath seen God at any time."

Deuteronomy 6:13 says, "Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God." while 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."

Genesis 2:17 tells us that Adam would surely die on the very day that he ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but Genesis 4:4 says that "all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died."

Genesis 14:14 says that Lot was Abraham's brother. But Genesis 11:27 and Genesis 14:12 show that this cannot be, that Lot was Abraham's nephew.

Matthew 27:5 says that Judas died by hanging, but Acts 1:18 has him "falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

Titus 1:12 Paul quotes a Cretan as saying "Cretans are always liars." If this was said by a Cretan, and Cretans always lie, then this, too, was a lie. But if he was lying when he said this, then Cretans do not always lie - so there is a lie in the Bible.

Revelation 14:13 describes heaven as a place in which the Saints "rest from their labors," but earlier 4-5 it described heaven as a place of constant praise and singing. Which is it?

Does the Bible contain errors and absurdities?

If God is indeed the Inspired Author of Scripture, one would expect to find an understanding of things far superior to the understanding of man, and further, one would not expect to find rather simple errors and absurd statements. But far from this superhuman wisdom, the Bible is depressingly fraught with erroneous propositions and ignorance. Not only is it unscientific - it is also bad myth.

Genesis 1:1 The earth is created before light and stars, birds and whales before reptiles and insects, and flowering plants before any animals. Science has shown that is almost the opposite of how things actually occurred.

Genesis 1:3 God creates light and separates light from darkness, and day from night, on the first day, but the sun and stars are not created until the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19

Genesis 3:1 The Fall of man is caused by a talking snake.

Genesis 4:17 Where did Cain's wife come from?

Genesis 6:15 states that Noah's ark was 300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits in size. We know that a cubit was approximately 18 inches, yielding a volume (if perfectly rectangular, the most voluminous possible shape of three unequal dimensions) of 1,518,750 cubic feet. Into this, you must fit two of each of the 30,000,000 species on earth, plus the food to keep all of them alive for a month. If this were true, it would not be physically possible to put two of each animal species on earth, plus months' worth of food for them, in a volume of that size.

Genesis 7:20 The flood covered the highest mountain tops (Mount Everest?) with fifteen cubits to spare. Where did all the water come from? Where did it all go? Why is there no evidence of such a massive flood in the geological record?

Leviticus 11:13, 19 God counts bats among the birds.

Genesis 11:1 "The whole earth was of one language."

In Genesis 5:5 Adam was said to be nine hundred and thirty years old, and in Genesis 5:27 Methuselah's age is given at nine hundred and sixty-nine.

Genesis 30:37-39 Jacob has his herd of goats copulate while looking at streaked rods. The result is streaked baby goats.

The Israelite population went from 70 (or 75) to several million (Exodus12:37) in a few hundred years. Exodus.1:5, 7

Deuteronomy 34:1 contains a description of the death of Moses - written by the man himself.

Exodus 4:21 If God hardened Pharoah's heart, how can he be held responsible?

Leviticus 11:16 Hares are considered unclean because they eat their cud. They don't.

1 Samuel 2:10 The world is set upon pillars.

Judges 15:4-5 "And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives."

1 Samuel 13:5 "And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude;" This great a number of chariots is unknown in all of ancient history. Even the most powerful Empires - such as the Egyptians and Assyrians - didn't have that many chariots.

Isaiah 13:10 "The moon shall not cause her light to shine." Though in fact the moon's light is really just a reflection of the sun's.

Leviticus 11:20 Four-legged birds are an abomination. Which, I suppose is true. Since there aren't any such things.

Numbers 13:33 "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

Numbers 21:6 "And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died."

Numbers 22:28-30 Balaam's amazing talking donkey.

Deuteronomy 10:16 One should circumcize the foreskin of their heart. I did not realize one had a foreskin on their heart.

Deuteronomy 14:1 warns against "cutting yourself . . . and making any baldness between your eyes for the dead."

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 "There is nothing new under the sun." Yes, the ancients had computers, cable television, CD players, polio vaccinations, the key to the human genome, and regularly traveled back and forth from the moon. Okay.

Joshua 5:2-3 Joshua circumcizes the children of Israel again. For the second time.

Joshua 10:12-13 God causes the sun and moon to stand still.

1 Samuel 15:7-8 Saul kills all of the Amalekites. Then in 1 Samuel 27:8-11 David kills all of them again. But in 1 Samuel 30:1 the Amalekites invade Israel. Now you must admit that those are some persistant Amalekites!

1 Kings14:10 God kills everyone "that pisseth against the wall."

2 Kings19:35 An angel of the Lord kills 185,000 men while they sleep. "And when they arose, behold, they were all dead corpses."

All sorts of interesting creatures populate the world, of which, unfortunately, we have no knowledge. Creatures such as: cockatrices, satyrs, dragons, leviathans, unicorns, and fiery flying serpents. Isaiah.11:8, 13:21-22, 14:29, 27:1, 30:6, 34:7, 34:13-14, 43:20, 59:5

Ezekiel.13:15-20 "Woe to the women that sew pillows ... behold, I am against your pillows."

John 12:24 "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." How can it bring forth any fruit at all if it's dead?

Matthew 4:8 "The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world." Even from Everest, the world's tallest mountain, one can only see for a couple hundred miles - and certainly one does not take in "all of the kingdoms of the world."

According to the gospels, epilepsy, blindness, and the inability to speak are caused by demonic possession. Mt.9:32, 12:22, 17:14-18; Mk.9:17-29, Lk.11:14, 9:39-42

Matthew 8:22 Jesus says, "let the dead bury their own dead."

Matthew 13:31-32 The mustard seed is neither the smallest seed, nor is it a tree.

Luke 2:1 refers to a worldwide census under Caeser Augustus when Quirinus was governor of Syria. There was no census undertaken at that time.

2 Thessalonians "And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie."

Revelations 1:4 How can the Holy Spirit be seven spirits if He is one person?

Revelations.19:13-15 Jesus, whose clothes are dipped in blood, has a sharp sword sticking out of his mouth. Thus attired, he treads the winepress of the wrath of God.

What about Inspiration?

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:33 quotes the Greek poet Menander and Matthew 11:17 contains a line from one of Aesop's Fables. If all Scripture is Inspired by God, then it follows that these lines, too, were Inspired by God, as they are obviously part of Scripture. If they are not Inspired, then not all Scripture is Inspired. If they are Inspired, then even Greeks - Pagans - can be Inspired by God. Were these the only lines that God Inspired, or did He Inspire other parts of the same works from which these lines were taken? How about other Pagans - has God Inspired them, too? And is the key to Inspiration merely whether something was included in the Canon of Holy Scripture? What about those works that are mentioned in the Bible, but for some reason were left out when the Canon was being formed? I refer to the numerous passages such as 2 King 22:1,8,11,13: which describes the finding of the lost "Book of the Law"; Exodus 24:4, 7 which mentions the Book of the Covenant; Numbers 21:14 the Book of Wars; Joshua 10:13 the Book of Jasher; 1 Samuel the Book of Statutes; 1 Kings 11:41 the Books of the Acts of Solomon; 1 29:29 Book of Nathan and Book of Gad; 2 Chronicles 9:29 the Prophecy of Ahijah and the Visions of Iddo; 2 Chronicles 12:15 the Book of Shemaiah; 2 Chronicles 20:34 Book of Jehu; 2 Chronicles 26:22 Acts of Uzziah, Written by Isaiah; 2 Chronicles 33:19 Sayings of the Seers; Jude 1:14 the Prophecy of Enoch; 2 Timothy 3:8 the Book of Jannes and Jambres; Hebrews 11:37 the Martyrdom of Isaiah; 1 Corinthians 5:9 Missing Epistle of Paul; Ephesians 3:3-4 2nd Missing Epistle of Paul; Colossians 4:16 3rd Missing Epistle of Paul; Jude 3 Missing Epistle of Jude; and Matthew 2:23 mentions a prophecy found nowhere in the extant Canon of the Bible.

Is all Scripture edifying?

Although there are many noble passages in Scripture, and the moral teachings of Jesus as represented in the Beatitudes and the Golden Rule are exemplaray if not quite up to the standards of Socrates, Epicurus, and the Stoics - there are also a great many passages which are vulgar, cruel, and contemptable. If these words are held to be Inspired by God, one cannot help but agree with the Atheists, and maintain that man would be better off without such a depraved and monstrous bully holding his wrath over our heads.

Psalm 137:9 "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."

Exodus 4:24-26 "And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him (Moses), and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision."

Genesis 22:2 "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon the mountain."

Numbers 16 The Rebellion of Korah. Korah feels that Aaron and Moses are no more holy than anyone else, and that everyone should be alowed to address the Lord personally, so Moses prays to God and has fire come down from heaven to smite Korah and the earth opens up to consume all those - a great number - who agreed with Korah.

Numbers 24:8 God will "eat up the nations of his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows."

Joshua 6:21 "And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword."

Joshua 10:11 God threw down "great stones from heaven" so that he could kill even more people than the Israelites "slew with the sword."

Judges 4:21 "Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died."

2 Kings 2:23-24 "And [Elisha] went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them."

Deuteronomy 28:53 "And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters"

Judges 11:29-39 Jephthah sacrifices his daughter to God.

1 Samuel 5:9 "The hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts."

Jeremiah 25:33 "And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground."

Ezekiel 16:26-28 "Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms . . . Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied."

Joel 3:3 "They have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink."

Ezekiel 23:20-21 "For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth."

Song of Solomon 5:4 "My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him."

Numbers 31:17-18 "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

Judges 5:30 "Have they not divided the prey, to every man a damsel or two?"

Nahum 3:4 God will "discover thy skirts upon thy face, ... show the nations thy nakedness" and "will cast abominable filth upon thee."

Isaiah 30:22 "Thou shalt cast them away as a menstrous cloth."

Malachi 2:3 "Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it."

Philemon 16 Paul justifies human slavery