Introduction
If you’ve been paying attention while reading this series it should be clear that the bible gets a lot wrong. From the lack of a world-wide flood to circumcision, I’ve proven throughout this series that the bible is in no way inerrant. The very idea that it is, is so ludicrous I wasn’t even sure I wanted to bother writing this final post.
Despite this glaring fact there are many Christians who insist their bible is inerrant, or without error, or contradiction. I will provide several examples of these contradictions in this post.
Due to the fact that there are numerous books detailing the many discrepancies in the bible I will only list a handful of examples. A few books on this subject I recommend are as follows:
1. Biblical Errancy: A Reference Guide, by C. Dennis McKinsey
2. The Born Again Skeptic’s Guide To The Bible, by Ruth Hurmence Green
3. The Bible Against Itself: Why the Bible Seems to Contradict Itself, by Randel McCraw Helms
Note: All bible verses have been taken from the New International Version (NIV)
Biblical Contradictions
There are so many contradictions in the bible I will only list a few. The above references are a good place to research the many other examples that exist.
Does the world contain only one language or many languages?
Genesis 11:1: Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
Genesis 10:5: (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)
Can people see god’s face and live?
Genesis 32:30: So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
Exodus 33:20: “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Did Saul kill himself, or was he killed by the Philistines?
1 Samuel 31:4: Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
2 Samuel 21:12: he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. (They had stolen their bodies from the public square at Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.)
How many days until Jesus went to the mountain?
Luke 9:28: About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.
Matthew 17:1: After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Failed Prophesy
Did Adam die immediately after eating the forbidden fruit?
Genesis 2:17: “[…] but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 5:5: Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.
Tyre was forever to be destroyed but it wasn’t
Ezekiel 26:19-21: “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When I make you [Tyre] a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths over you and its vast waters cover you, then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place in the land of the living. I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
Acts 12:20: He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.
How could Herod be arguing with people from Tyre when it had already been utterly destroyed by god much earlier?
When will Jesus return?
Revelation 22:20: He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Jesus preached that he would return before his first followers died, and this is echoed elsewhere:
Luke 21:31-32: Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”
Mark 13:29-30: Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it [or, he] is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
To quote C. Dennis McKinsey,
Time after time Jesus claimed he would not only return but return quickly. He even promised his contemporaries that they would see him return before their demise. Yet after two thousand years his prediction has never materialized. Far from coming quickly, he has never returned at all. [1]
Even the very bible itself attempts to deflect the charge from critics who mocked Christians about the fact that Jesus has still not returned. The author of 2 Peter tries to explain this fact away by arguing that “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” This is nonsense of course, but it also helps to prove that Jesus has never fulfilled his prophetic return, and shows that Christians have been trying to rationalize this fact away for centuries.
2 Peter 3:3-10: Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Conclusion
Needless to say, the bible is without doubt not inerrant. I believe the above examples are more than adequate to prove this. If any readers would like more examples of contradictions and false prophesies I urge you to consult the books I listed in the introduction.
1. Biblical Errancy: A Reference Guide, by C. Dennis McKinsey, Prometheus Books, 2000; 459
