33 Bible Contradictions and Refutations Pt 2

I've been again...interacting...with atheist on Twitter. I've been challenged to refute Dan Barker's list of 33 Biblical contradictions. These are nothing new but since @ BibleAlsoSays wants to dredge them up, it will be fun knocking them down all over again. My comments will be in red Here is part 2.

Is God good or evil?

• Psalm 145:9 "The Lord is good to all."
• Deuteronomy 32:4 "a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."

  vs.

• Isaiah 45:7 "I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things." See "Out of Context" for more on Isaiah 45:7.
• Lamentations 3:38 "Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?"
• Jeremiah 18:11 "Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you."
• Ezekiel 20:25,26 "I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live. And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord."

God is good. The thing is sometimes He allows evil to accomplish His purposes. That doesn't make Him evil. We are the ones who are evil not Him. God says that it's evil to lust after a person who is not your spouse, even if you never touch them. This shows that God's standards of good and evil are not the same as yours or even mine.

Does God tempt people?

• James 1:13 "Let no man say . . . I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man."

  vs.

• Genesis 22:1 "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham."

Not the same word or context. In Genesis, the word means to "test" or "to try" as in burning out impurities out of metal. In James it is in the context of tricking someone to do evil

Is God peaceable?

• Romans 15:33 "The God of peace."
• Isaiah 2:4 ". . . and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

  vs.

• Exodus 15:3 "The Lord is a man of war."
• Joel 3:9-10 "Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong."

God never called us to let people walk all over us and mistreat us. We can fight if needed. Standing up for right and using force if needed does not make one not peaceable. At times peace must be protected by force and God will fight for us.

Was Jesus peaceable?

• John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."
• Acts 10:36 "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ."
• Luke 2:14 " . . . on earth peace, good will toward men."

  vs.

• Matthew 10:34 "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."
• Luke 22:36 "Then said he unto them, . . . he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."

This exactly what I'm saying. There is nothing wrong with protecting oneself. And the thing about Jesus telling us that there won't be peace because of Him is a prophecy. Jesus is non-negotiable. No fence riding when it come to Him. In or out. There is division because of Jesus because people must choose sides and people don't always choose to be on Jesus' side.

Was Jesus trustworthy?

• John 8:14 "Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true."

  vs.

• John 5:31 "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true."

  "Record" and "witness" in the above verses are the same Greek word (martyria).

Dan Barker's again ignoring context. John 8 shows Jesus in conversation with his critics Read John 8: 12-30. John 5:31-45 has the context of Jesus saying the same thing He said in John 8.

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.

"You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. ³⁵John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

"I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

"I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?

"But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

This contradiction is nothing of the sort.

Shall we call people names?

• Matthew 5:22 "Whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire." [Jesus speaking]

  vs.

• Matthew 23:17 "Ye fools and blind." [Jesus speaking]
• Psalm 14:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

When Jesus used "Fool" in Matthew and the Psalmist Psalm 14:1, it was referring to enemies to God, not personal ones. In Matt 5, we see Jesus talking in context of people you are supposed to have a close relationship.

Has anyone seen God?

• John 1:18 "No man hath seen God at any time."
• Exodus 33:20 "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live."
• John 6:46 "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God [Jesus], he hath seen the Father."
• I John 4:12 "No man hath seen God at any time."

  vs.

• Genesis 32:30 "For I have seen God face to face."
• Exodus 33:11 "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend."
• Isaiah 6:1 "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple."
• Job 42:5 "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee."

The Best explanation is the Hazakim album knowns as Theophanies.

How many Gods are there?

• Deuteronomy 6:4 "The Lord our God is one Lord."

  vs.

• Genesis 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image."
• Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil."
• I John 5:7 "And there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

  It does no good to claim that "Let us" is the magisterial "we." Such usage implies inclusivity of all authorities under a king's leadership. Invoking the Trinity solves nothing because such an idea is more contradictory than the problem it attempts to solve.

1st John 5:7 is not any early Greek manuscript and most textual scholars ignore it. I also agree that the magisterial "we" doesn't make sense. The Trinity does. The Bible say the Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. One being three Persons. "Us" makes sense. Yet God is one in being.

Are we all sinners?

• Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
• Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one."
• Psalm 14:3 "There is none that doeth good, no, not one."

  vs.

• Job 1:1 "There was a man . . . who name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright."
• Genesis 7:1 "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."
• Luke 1:6 "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."

No contradiction, Neither Job, Noah, or John the Baptist parents are referred to as sinless. They are saved the same as we are faith in God although they may not have understood the death, burial, and resurrection part of the plan.

How old was Ahaziah?

• II Kings 8:26 "Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign."

  vs.

• II Chronicles 22:2 "Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign."

Read my previous post for the answer to this one http://mmcelhaney.blogspot.com/2009/04/101-biblical-contradictions-refuted.html number 5.

Should we swear an oath?

• Numbers 30:2 "If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath . . . he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth."
• Genesis 21:22-24,31 " . . . swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me . . . And Abraham said, I will swear. . . . Wherefore he called that place Beersheba ["well of the oath"]; because there they sware both of them."
• Hebrews 6:13-17 "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself . . . for men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath."

  See also Genesis 22:15-19, Genesis 31:53, and Judges 11:30-39.

  vs.

• Matthew 5:34-37 "But I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by heaven . . . nor by the earth . . . . Neither shalt thou swear by thy head . . . . But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."
• James 5:12 ". . . swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation."

No contradiction. No where are we told that it's a good idea to swear an oath to God or anyone because we may not be able to keep it.

When was Jesus crucified?

• Mark 15:25 "And it was the third hour, and they crucified him."

  vs.

• John 19:14-15 "And about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out . . . crucify him."

  It is an ad hoc defense to claim that there are two methods of reckoning time here. It has never been shown that this is the case.

IT doesn't take much to explain this. Check out http://mmcelhaney.blogspot.com/2009/04/101-biblical-contradictions-refuted.html number 69

Shall we obey the law?

• I Peter 2:13 "Submit yourself to every ordinance of man . . . to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors."
• Matthew 22:21 "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." See also Romans 13:1,7 and Titus 3:1.

  vs.

• Acts 5:29 "We ought to obey God rather then men."

We obey God rather than men when men's laws go against God's. That's not often. I've never experienced such a thing myself.

How many animals on the ark?

• Genesis 6:19 "And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark."
• Genesis 7:8-9 "Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah."
• Genesis 7:15 "And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life."

  vs.

• Genesis 7:2 "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female."

2 of everything ceremonially unclean animals 7 of the ceremonially clean animals. Noah and his family would need some animals for sacrifice. Also shows that Noah was not sinless, he still had to make sacrifices for sin.

Were women and men created equal?

• Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

  vs.

• Genesis 2:18,23 "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. . . . And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

Um Genesis 2 gives more detail than Genesis 1; not a separate contradictory account. Look at Galations 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Were trees created before humans?

• Genesis 1:12-31 "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: . . . And the evening and the morning were the third day. . . . And God said, Let us make man in our image . . . And the evening and the morning were the sixth day."

  vs.

• Genesis 2:5-9 "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground . . . And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food."

See the previous response Genesis 2 gives details on human creation and the Garden of Eden, not the whole planet like Genesis 1.

Did Michal have children?

• II Samuel 6:23 "Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death."

  vs.

• II Samuel 21:8 "But the king took the two sons of Rizpah . . . and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul."

Look carefully. 2 Samuel 6:23 does not say that Michal had never ever had Children. She never had children after that point. Look at 2 Samuel 21 in context (verses 7-9)

The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul. But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah's daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed and exposed them on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.

Not all translations have Micah. The NIV has Merab not Michal. If Merab is another name for Micah and it is, Michal was married to another man named Adriel when David was in exile and running from Saul. Look at 1 Samuel 18:19

So when the time came for Merab, Saul's daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.

How many stalls did Solomon have?

• I Kings 4:26 "And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen."

  vs.

• II Chronicles 9:25 "And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen."

Look at http://mmcelhaney.blogspot.com/2009/04/101-biblical-contradictions-refuted.html number 12

Did Paul's men hear a voice?

• Acts 9:7 "And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man."

  vs.

• Acts 22:9 "And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me."

  (For more detail on this contradiction, with a linguistic analysis of the Greek words, see "Did Paul's Men Hear A Voice?" by Dan Barker, published in the The Skeptical Review, 1994 #1)

Here is DR. James White's Response.

Is God omnipotent?

• Jeremiah 32:27 "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?
• Matthew 19:26 "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

  vs.

• Judges 1:19 "And 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."

James White also responded to this one on his podcast.

Does God live in light?

• I Timothy 6:15-16 " . . . the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach . . ."
• James 1:17 " . . . the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
• John 12:35 "Then Jesus saith unto them, . . . he that walketh in darkness knoweth not wither he goeth."
• Job 18:18 "He [the wicked] shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world."
• Daniel 2:22 "He [God] knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him." See also Psalm 143:3, II Corinthians 6:14, and Hebrews 12:18-22.

  vs.

• I Kings 8:12 "Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness." (Repeated in II Chronicles 6:1)
• II Samuel 22:12 "And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies."
• Psalm 18:11 "He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies."
• Psalm 97:1-2 "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice . . . clouds and darkness are round about him."

Um is there anywhere God isn't!!!! Omnipresent remember!!!!

Does God accept human sacrifice?

• Deuteronomy 12:31 "Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods."

  vs.

• 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 one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."
• Exodus 22:29 "For thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors; the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me."
• Judges 11:30-39 "And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hand, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon . . . and the Lord delivered them into his hands. . . . And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: . . . And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed."
• II Samuel 21:8-14 "But the king [David] took the two sons of Rizpah . . . and the five sons of Michal . . . and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest . . . And after that God was intreated for the land."
• Hebrews 10:10-12 " . . . we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ . . . But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God."
• I Corinthians 5:7 " . . . For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."

God not ask that we sacrifice others to him. God did not allow Abraham to sacrifice Issac. IT was picture of What God would do with Jesus. Exodus 22:29 was not intended to tell Israel to kill children. Judges 11 tells us what Jephthah did but it does not tell us that God condoned his oath or him following through on that oath. In 2nd Samuel, Saul's sons are not killed as a sacrifice to God but because their father, Saul dealt falsely with the Gibeonites. As for Hebrews and 1 Corinthians God himself sacrifices himself for us. It's not some innocent third party being kidnapped and killed. Jesus sacrificed Himself willingly.

Who was Joseph's father?

• Matthew 1:16 "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus."

  vs.

• Luke 3:23 "And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli."

Neither of Jesus' geneology matches the other. Matthew is given from a Hebrew point-of-view. In Semetic culture geneology only lists the "important" people - the high points. Therefore people can be skipped. Sometimes grandchildren are ascribed to their grandfathers. For example to their culture my son, Matthias, could be listed as my father's, Clarence, son and I could be left out. If you notice the Luke geneology is longer and is written from a Gentile perspective - list as many ancestors as possible. Of course they are not going to match. It's also possible that Matthew's geneology could be Mary's and Luke's could be Joseph's.

Check out these link about answering Dan Barker
http://mmcelhaney.blogspot.com/2009/05/james-white-critiques-dan-barkers.html

James White on "Iron Sharpens Iron"

Here is a great list of Dr James White's appearances on the Iron Sharpens Iron radio broadcast/podcast. These are links to mp3 files that records those guest appearances. This is a treasure trove.

James White on Iron Sharpens Iron