Countering Bible Contradictions

Originally By: Andrew Tong, Michael J. Bumbulis, MaryAnna White, Russ Smith, and others (1994-1995)

Index of Biblical Contradictions

Contradictions 1 to 55

Contradictions 56 to 99

Contradictions 100 to 143

1. God is satisfied/unsatisfied with his works
2. God dwells/dwells not in chosen temples
3. God dwells in light/darkness
4. God is seen/unseen and heard/unheard
5. God is tired/never tired and rests/never rests
6. God is/is not omnipresent and omniscent
7. God does/does not know the hearts of men
8. God is/is not all powerful
9. God is changeable/unchangeable
10. God is just/unjust or partial/impartial
11. God is/is not the author of evil
12. God gives freely/witholds his blessings
13. God can/cannot be found by those who seek Him
14. God is warlike/peaceful
15. God is cruel/kind
16. God's anger endures for a long/short time
17. God approves/disapproves of burnt offerings
18. God accepts/forbids human sacrifices
19. God tempts man/doesn't tempt man
20. God send lying spirits/doesn't lie
21. God will/will not destroy man
22. God's attributes are revealed/cannot be discovered
23. God is one/many
24. Robbery commanded/prohibited
25. Lying approved/forbidden
26. Hatred to the Edomite sanctioned/forbidden
27. Killing commanded/forbidden
28. Blood-shedder must/must not die
29. Making of images forbidden/commanded
30. Slavery and oppression forbidden/sanctioned
31. Improvidence enjoyed/condemned
32. Anger approved/disapproved
33. Good works to be seen/not to be seen by men
34. Judging of others forbidden/approved
35. Christ taught non-resistence/taught and practiced physical resistance
36. Christ warned his followers not to fear being killed/Christ avoided Jews for fear of being killed himself
37. Public prayer sanctioned/disapproved
38. Importunity in prayer commended/condemned
39. Wearing of long hair by men sanctioned/condemned
40. Circumcision instituted/condemned
41. Sabbath instituted/repudiated
42. Sabbath instituted because God rested/because God brought Israelites out of Egypt
43. No work to be done on Sabbath/Christ broke this rule
44. Baptism Commanded/not commanded
45. Every animal allowed for food/certain animals prohibited for food
46. Taking of oaths sanctioned/forbidden
47. Marriage approved/disapproved
48. Freedom of divorce permitted/restricted
49. Adultery forbidden/allowed
50. Marriage/cohabitation with sister denounced, but Abraham married his sister and God blessed the marriage
51. A man may/may not marry his brother's widow
52. Hatred to kindred enjoined/condemned
53. Intoxicating beverages recommended/discountenanced
54. Our rulers are God's ministers and should be obeyed/are evil and should be disobeyed
55. Women's rights affirmed/denied

56. Obedience to masters/obedience only to God
57. There is/is not an unpardonable sin
58. Man was created before/after other animals
59. Seed time and harvest never ceased/ceased for seven years
60. God/Pharoah hardened Pharoah's heart
61. All Cattle and horses died/all cattle and horses did not die
62. Moses feared/did not fear Pharoah
63. Plague killed 23000/24000
64. John the Baptist was/was not Elias
65. Father of Mary's husband was Jacob/Heli
66. Father of Salah was Arphaxad/Cainan
67.Thirteen/Fourteen generations from Abraham to David
68.Thirteen/Fourteen generations from Babylonian captivity to Christ
69. Infant Christ was/was not taken to Egypt
70. Christ was/was not tempted in the wilderness
71. Christ preached his first sermon on the mount/on the plain
72. John was/was not in prison when Jesus went to Galilee
73. Christ's disciples were commanded to go forth with a staff and sandles/neither staves nor sandles
74. A woman of Canaan/Greek woman sought Jesus
75. Two/one blind men/man besought Jesus
76. Christ was crucified on the third/sixth hour
77. Two thieves/only one thief railed at Christ
78. Satan entered Judas at the supper/after the supper
79. Judas committed suicide by hanging/died another way
80. Potter's field purchased by Judas/by the Chief Priest
81. Only one woman/two women went to the sepulchre
82. Three women/more than three women went to the sepulchre
83. It was early sunrise/sometime after sunrise when they went to the sepulchre
84. Two angels standing/only one angel sitting seen by women
85. Two angels/one angel seen at the sepulchre
86. Christ was to be three days and three nights in the tomb/only two days and two nights
87. Holy Spirit bestowed at/before Pentecost
88. Disciples commanded immediately after resurrection to go into Galilee/tarry at Jerusalem
89. Jesus first appeared to disciples in a room in Jerusalem/on a mountain in Galilee.
90. Christ ascended from Mount Olive/Bethany
91. Paul's attendants heard/did not hear the miraculous voice
92. Abraham departed to go to Canaan/did not know where he was going
93. Abraham had one/two sons.
94. Keturah was Abraham's wife/concubine
95. Abraham begat a son at the age of 100 years by God's providence/he then had six more sons without God's help
96.Jacob/Abraham brought the sepulchre from Hamor
97. God gave Abraham and his sons the promised land/they never received it
98. Goliath/his brother was slain by Elhanan
99. Ahaziah began his reign in the eleventh/twelfth year of Joram

100. Michal had five children/one child
101. David was tempted by the LORD/by satan to number Israel
102. Number of fighting men in Israel was 800,000/1,100,000, number of fighting men in Judah was 500,000/470,000
103. David sinned in numbering Israel/David never sinned except in the matter of Uriah
104. One of David's penalties for sinning was seven years of famine/there were only three years of famine
105. David took 700/7000 horsemen
106. David bought a threshing floor for 50 sheckles of silver/600 shekles of gold
107. David's throne was to endure forever/David's throne was cast down
108. Christ is equal/is not equal with God
109. Jesus was/was not all-powerful
110. The law was/was not superceded by Christian dispensation
111. Christ's mission was/was not peace
112. Christ did not/did receive testimony from men
113. Christ's witness of himself is true/untrue
114. Christ laid down his life for his friends/enemies
115. It was/was not lawful for the Jews to put Christ to death
116. Children are/are not punished for the sins of their parents
117. Man is/is not justified by faith alone
118. It is impossible/possible to fall from grace
119. No man is without sin/Christians are sinless
120. There will/will not be a resurrection of the dead
121.Reward/punishment bestowed in this/next world
122.Annihilation/endless misery the portion of all mankind
123. Earth is/is never to be destroyed
124. No evil shall/Evil will happen to the Godly
125. Worldly good and prosperity/worldly misery and destitution to be the lot of the godly
126. Worldly prosperity a reward/a curse
127. Christian Yoke is/is not easy
128. Fruit of God's spirit is love and gentleness/vengeance and fury
129. Longevity enjoyed by/denied to wicked
130.Poverty/Riches/Neither a blessing
131. Wisdom a source of enjoyment/vexation, grief, sorrow
132. Good name is a blessing/curse
133. Laughter commended/condemned
134. Rod of correction is cure for foolishness/there is no cure for foolishness
135. Fool should/should not be answered according to his folly
136. Temptation desired/undesired
137. Prophecy is sure/unsure
138. Man's life 120/70 years
139. Fear of man on every beast/fear of man not on the lion
140. Miracles are/are not proof of divine inspiration
141. Moses meek/cruel
142. Elijah ascended to heaven/none but Christ ascended to Heaven
143. All scripture is inspired/Some scripture is not inspired

END.

NOTE: Thanks for all the Emails I have received about this article over the years. Someday I may take the time to re-edit this list and re-consider all the answers given to these biblical "contradictions" and difficulties. For now I have to let the list stand as is. Hope it's been helpful. -- P

See also the shorter article"Defending the Gospels" on this site.

Answers to Biblical Contradictions, 1-10

1. God is satisfied with his works

"God saw all that he made, and it was very good." [Gen 1:31]

God is dissatisfied with his works.

"The Lord was grieved that he had made man on earth, and his heart was filled with pain." [Gen 6:6]

This is an obvious case of both/and, for something occurred after Gen 1:31 and before Gen 6:6, namely, the Fall. Evil entered creation as a result of man's volition. One can argue the theological implications elsewhere, as the only relevant point is that this is not an obvious contradiction. When God created, all was good. After man rebelled, God grieved.

2. God dwells in chosen temples

"the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifices.....I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." [2 Chr 7:12,16]

God dwells not in temples

"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men." [Acts 7:48]

I fail to see the contradiction here. The claim that "my eyes and heart will always be there" appears to mean nothing more to me than the fact that the LORD would pay special attention to the temple and have a special affinity for it; the LORD would reveal Himself to His people through the temple. Stephen's speech in Acts merely highlights the transcendence of God. Put simply, if you put these together you arrive at the following truth - God is transcendent, yet He reveals Himself where He will. 

3. God dwells in light

"who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light whom no one has seen or can see." [1 Tim 6:16]

God dwells in darkness

"Then spake Solomon. The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness" [1 Kings 8:12]

"He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." [Ps 18:11]

"Clouds and darkness are round about him." [Ps 97:2] The first thing I would point out is these are likely to be metaphors and it would seem unwise to take such language too literally when describing God. But what could such seemingly contradictory metaphors convey? Note that in both cases there is the theme of the unsearchableness of God. That is, the light is unapproachable and the darkness is thick and covers a secret place. Thus, these verses could actually be teaching the same thing - simply that God is unapproachable.

One could also note that Paul's account is quite optimistic following from a consideration of Christ. Prior to the Incarnation, there was indeed a certain darkness associated with the hidden God. But the eyes of the blind have been opened!

Or it could be said that the verses in 1 Kings and Psalms need be nothing more than a description of God perceived through the memory of His interation with His people described inExodus19:9.

4. God is seen and heard [Ex 33:23 / Ex 33:11 / Gen 3:9,10 / Gen 32:30 / Is 6:1 / Ex 24:9-11]

God is invisible and cannot be heard[John 1:18 / John 5:37 / Ex 33:20 / 1 Tim 6:16]

These "contradictions" are easily resolved if one accepts the Trinitarian view of God. Allow me to repost a reply which addressed a similar point, and in doing so, resolves this contradiction....

In a previous post, someone attempts to discredit the deity of Christ by appealing to John 1:18:

"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (KJV)

He notes:

"If no man has seen God, then logically Jesus was not God, since there is no secular record of an outbreak of sightlessness in Judea in Jesus' time".

How shall the Christian respond? Well, let's consider the statement that "No man hath seen God." Consider the following verses from the Old Testament (OT):

Sarai says "You are the God who sees me," for she said,
"I have now seen the One who sees me" (Gen 16:13)

"So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." (Gen 32:30)

"Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel." (Ex 24: 9-10)

"they saw God" (Ex 24:11)

"We have seen God!" (Judges 13:22) Now while this person's logic seems to rule out that Jesus was God, it also means that the Bible contains a very significant contradiction. If no one has seen God, how is it that Sarai, Jacob, Moses et al, and Monoah and his wife are said to have seen God?

Actually, this is a problem only for those who deny the deity of Christ while claiming to follow the teachings of the Bible. Let's look again at John 1:18:

"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only (or Only Begotten), who is at the Father's side, has made him known."

I think it is clear that John is speaking of the Father as the one who has not been seen. To paraphrase it, "No one has ever seen God, but the Son, who is at His side, has made Him known". This interpretation not only seems to follow naturally from this verse, but is also quite consistent with the Logos doctrine taught in John 1. Recall, it is the Logos who mediates between God and man, and who reveals God to man. Jesus would later say, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." Prior to the Incarnation of the Son, no one had seen the Father, for it is through the Son that the Father is revealed.

So for the Trinitarian, there is no Bible contradiction. No one ever saw God the Father, and what Sarai, Jacob, Moses, etc saw was God the Son. This can be seen from many perspectives, but let's simply consider one from Isaiah 6.Isaiah "saw the Lord" (v 1). Seraphs were praising the "Lord Almighty" (v 3). Isaiah is overwhelmed and responds, "Woe to me, I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips [this rules him out as the servant in Isaiah 53], and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty" (v 5). Later, we read:

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" (vs. 8).

Again, the plurality of God is implied. Isaiah asks God to send him, and then God gave him a message to preach.

Now it's time to jump to John 12:37-41. John claims that the peoples failure to believe in Jesus was a fulfillment of these teachings Isaiah received from the Lord in Isaiah 6. Then note verse 41.

"Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him".

Here is a clear example where John equates Jesus with the Lord Almighty seen by Isaiah! This all fits together beautifully. Isaiah sees the Lord Almighty, yet he sees Jesus' glory. Jesus speaks as a plural being (who will go for US). It is the Son who is seen, not the Father.

Thus, John 1:18 does not mean that Jesus was not God, it only means He is not the Father. This verse presents no problems for the Trinitarian, and in fact, when studied, serves as a great launching point for finding Christ in the OT. Prior to the Logos dwelling amongst us and revealing the Father to us, no one had seen the Father. But because of the Incarnation, we can now cry, "Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15) and "Our Father who art in heaven"! Those who see the Son can see the Father.

5. God is tired and rests

"In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." [Ex 31:17]

God is never tired and never rests

"The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary." [Is 40:28]

According to Haley, and many others, the term "rested and was refreshed' is simply a vivid Oriental way of saying that God ceased from the work of creation and took delight in surveying the work.

6. God is everywhere present, sees and knows all things [Prov 15:3 / Ps 139:7-10 / Job 34:22,21]

God is not everywhere present, neither sees nor knows all things

"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden." [Gen 3:8]

"But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that men were building." [Gen 11:5]

"The the LORD said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sins so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know." [Gen 18:20-21] I accept the teaching that God is everywhere present and sees and knows all things. So let's consider the instances in Genesis that are cited:

Gen 3:8 - "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden."

Let's also add the next verse to strengthen the critics case: "But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

How could one hide from God? Why does God need to ask this question?

First, what Adam and Eve could have hid from is merely the visible and special manifestation of the Lord. As for God's seeming ignorance, anyone with children can recognize the utility of such questions. If a child is known to have broken a lamp, it is better to question the child than to simply accuse her. The former approach enables the child to take an active role in her wrong-doing, and allows for her to apologize. Note that God asked several questions:

"Where are you?....Who told you that you were naked?....Have you eaten of the fruit of the tree?"

Note the response. Instead of begging for mercy and confessing their sins, both the man and woman justified themselves and sought to put the blame on another. So typically human! By asking these questions, God enabled the man and woman to either freely repent or to firmly establish their sinfulness. Thus, while the critic thinks these are questions demonstrating ignorance, such an interpretation can be easily dismissed in light of the above considerations. What of the others?

"But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that men were building." [Gen 11:5]

"The the LORD said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sins so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know." [Gen 18:20-21] These look like common human notions of someone coming down to check out what is going on. And perhaps, that's how the writer of these accounts understood God. But perhaps there is also another layer to the account. Obviously, it teaches God's transcendence. But it also demonstrates God's interest. He is not an aloof sky-god. And he doesn't watch from afar. He gets right down into human history.

But there is more. Maimonides once noted that just as the word 'ascend', when applied to the mind, implies noble and elevated objects, the word 'descend' implies turning one's mind to things of lowly and unworthy character. Thus, God is not "coming down" in a physical sense, but in a "mental" sense, where he turns his attention to the sinful activity of men and invokes judgment. Of course, it is hard to describe God in human language, but I think the above account is not unreasonable.

Since these supposed contradictions depend on a particular interpretation which is (or at the very least may be) in error, no contradiction has been established.

7. God knows the hearts of men [Acts 1:24 / Ps 139:2,3]

God tries men to find out what is in their heart

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God." [Gen 22:12]

"Remember how the LORD your God lead you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and test you in order to know what was in your hearts." [Deut 8:2]

"The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul." [Deut 13:3] We'll assume that God knows the hearts of men, so let us determine if the above three verses are necessarily contradictions.

Could it be that these three instances simply serve to reveal and verify to man that which is already known by God? Anyone who has ever had a college chemistry course can probably relate to the following. A chemistry professor comes into class, and says, "I will now add acetic acid to this compound to see what happens." The professor already knows what will happen! After the experiment, he might even add, "I now know that such and such results will occur after adding the acid." Here he is simply putting himself in the place of the class, and speaking for them.

What the three verses could be showing is that once again, God is not some aloof sky-god who merely dictates. Instead, he relates. By asking questions, by claiming to have found something, he relates and allows man to play an active, not passive, role in the relationship. For example, Abraham now knew that God knew his heart. And he also knew God's knowledge was true in light of the 'test' that he just went through.

In this supposed contradiction, along with the one immediately prior, the critic perceives ignorance on the part of God because of a belief that an omniscient God ought to dictate. Why can't an omniscient God refrain from dictating, and simply relate in a way which intimately involves humanity?

8. God is all powerful [Jer 32:27 / Matt 19:26]

God is not all powerful

"The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots." [Judg 1:19]

This is obviously not a contradiction. John Baskette notes that the critic is "reading the verse as saying that the LORD ... he ... could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley." He adds: "This is an egregiously bad misreading of the text. The 'he' is Judah! not the LORD. That should be obvious to even the most obtuse objector."

9. God is unchangeable [James 1:17 /Mal 3:6 / Ezek 24:14 / Num 23:19]

God is changeable [Gen 6:6 / Jonah 3:10 / 1 Sam 2:30,31 / 2 Kings 20:1,4,5,6 /Ex 33:1,3,17,14]

Once again, these purported contradictions all presuppose some platonic-type sky god. Christianity has always believed that God is a God whorelates and who is personal. And whenever there is a personal relationship, there is a dynamic. And dynamics can involve both immutability and change. Whenever you have a personal dynamic, when one person changes, the other responds in a way which reflects this change. But all is not relative. If God's essence is immutable, then He is the standard by which such change is understood.

For example, imagine you are in a field standing next to a tree. As you walk around the tree, you may end up north of the tree (and the tree is south of you). If you continue walking, such a relative relationship changes, so that you might find yourself south of the tree (and the tree is north of you). In the same way, our behavior towards God is like walking around the tree. Depending upon what we do, God is in a different relationship with us.

Let's consider a better analogy. A man and a wife are in a happy marriage. The man commits adultery, and the wife becomes unhappy. Has the wife changed in a significant manner? Not really. Her change is a function of what her husband did, and reflects the immutability of her belief that infidelity is wrong.

In the purported contradictions, we have a set of Scriptures which speak of God's essence - it is unchangeable. The other set deal with God's relationships with men (they don't abstractly speak of God's essence). Thus, as the above analogies show, there need be no contradiction.

10. God is just and impartial

"To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him." [Ps 92:15]

"Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" [Gen 18:25]

"The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He." [Deut 32:4]

"Yet you say, "The way of the LORD is not right." Here now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right?" [Ezek 18:25]

"For there is no partiality with God." [Rom 2:11]

God is unjust and partial

"So he said, Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers." [Gen 9:25]

"You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers in the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me." [Ex 20:5]

"for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." [Rom 9:11-13]

"For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have in abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken from him." [Mt 13:12] The first set is as follows:

"To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him." [Ps 92:15] = Basic Teaching (BT) -- God is righteous

"Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" [Gen 18:25] = (BT) -- God does not condemn the righteous with the wicked.

"The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He." [Deut 32:4] = (BT) -- God is righteous

"Yet you say, "The way of the LORD is not right." Here now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right?" [Ezek 18:25] = (BT) -- God's ways are right, the ways of Israel, when the prophet spoke, were not.