Contradictions of the Bible

Perhaps the most powerful elements in the Bible is its supposed "fulfillment" of prophecy.  According to many, the Bible is without error in this regard, but I feel this is just wishful thinking. Prophecy must be clear that "this," whatever that may be, happened and one can not resort to some kind of apologetics regarding the matter.  It either did, or didn't happen.  There is no middle ground, otherwise anyone could be a prophet within some context. What I find is that apologists tend to torture facts in order to make their "theory" or prophecy become valid. As I said, anyone can be a prophet within some context. It is very easy to exclude information that does not agree with one's agenda. This is why science and logic are not threatened by tangible information. It is simply a mechanism that allows a person to have some insight into nature. It is important to use reason because it is the only faculty that can differentiate between true, false or undefined/unknowable.

The Fall of Tyre:
One of the prophecies that hasn't been fulfilled is the prohecy of Tyre.  The prohpecy is as follows.  It can be found in Ezekiel 26. To sum it up, it is the destruction of Tyre.  It goes into a lot of detail as to the terror the people of Tyre will experience.  Sum of the key points of the prophecy include, Nebuchadnezzar was supposed to destroy Tyre and plunder it (Ezekiel 26:7-12), that Tyre will be made like the top of a rock (Ezekiel 26:14), it will be a desolate city (Ezekiel 26:19), will never be rebuilt (Ezekiel 26:21).  

What actually happened was that Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city for 13 years and gave up.  It even states this in (Ezekiel 29:18).  It turns out Alexander the Great did destroy the city, but  a) there are still ruins of the old city of Tyre (I don't know of any tops of rocks that look like ruins) b) Tyre was rebuilt, so it did not become a desloate city.  The actual wording says that "I will make thee a terror, and thou [shalt be] no [more]: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD."(Ezekiel 26:21)  Well, the old city has been found, and Tyre has been rebuilt.  It is actually a tourist site.  One can find the link on the encyclopedia Brittanica.  Also, The Apostle Paul even visted Tyre (Acts 21:3). Apologists claim that this prophecy has been fulfilled because the island portion of Tyre is no longer inhabited as it once was and that was actually Tyre, not the mainland portion of it. If this is the case, then what city did Nebuchadnezzar actually "besiege?" If the mainland of present Tyre was not the Tyre in which this prophecy refers, then this prophecy is still false because Nebuchadnezzar was supposed to at the very least enter Tyre and do some wholesale slaughter. Nebuchadnezzar never entered the island portion, which is why Nebuchadnezzar quit and went for Egypt as it is stated in the above. This would also make this verse impossible to fulfill, since Nebuchadnezzar has been long dead. So either way you look at it, either Nebuchadnezzar destroyed part of Tyre which is now present day Tyre contradicting the fact that Tyre will never be rebuilt or Nebuchadnezzar never enetered the city at all which was a requirement according to the prophecy.

The 70 years prophecy:
2 Chron 36:21 states "To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: [for] as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years."  This is in reference to the Babylonian captivity.  It turns out Cyrus let them go a bit early.  Being the conservative person that I am, I will use the later number in calculating the amount of time the Babylonian Exile happened.  According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica the invasion started around 598BC and the Jews were sent home around 538BC. 598-538 = 60 years.  They missed about ten years of what should have been a 70 year captivity.

The Fall of Egypt:
This prophecy can be found in Ezekiel 29. In particular, Nebuchadnezzar was supposed to attack and plunder Egypt and leave it desolate for 40 years (Ezekiel 29:11-12).  Oddly, this didn't happen either.  There is no historical record of "No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years."  Some people go as far to say that this is supposed to be some future event, but if you read Ezekiel 29:3 and Ezekiel 29:12, That it was refferring to the king and pharoah of the time and that Nebuchadnezzar was supposed to do the massive slaughtering and plundering.  As far as it can be seen, the history of Egypt has been continuous before and after Nebuchadnezzar's assault.  This can be researched at any public library.

Christs Return:
If you read Matthew 24 you will read about the "end times' in one verse he states that "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."(Matthew 24:34). (emphasis added)  I would hope that Jesus the Son of God or the scribe who wrote this,  knows how to use basic grammer.  There is a big difference between "this" and "that." It should be apparent that the generation Jesus was referring to has long been gone.  I am not wrong in asserting this.  Many Christians right around 40-100AD interpreted just the way I have.  Many believed that Jesus would eventually return within the late part of their generation.  This is also restated in Matthew 16:28 "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."  This can't refer to some future event unless there is someone who personally knew the earthly Jesus and is approximately 2000 years old and is still alive today.  

The Incredibly Miraculous

If we are to assume that God wrote or "inspired" the writing of the Bible, we must first come to understand what God is like. It is agreed that at the very least God is infallible. Since God inspired the Bible, the Bible must be accurate and correct. Any assumption the Bible makes about the reality we see around us can be verified and re-verified. In this case science will be of some help as well as mathematics, history etc Consider the Bible verses (I Kings 7:23) "And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did encompass it round about." (II Chronicles 4:2) "Also, he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about." These verses are talking about a circle (it was round all about) whose diameter is ten (from brim to brim) and had a circumference of thirty (and a line of thirty did compass it). Both of these verses contain each bit of information. If we decide to use simple geometry we would find that this circle is not a valid circle. It is physically impossible. Pi is a ratio of circumference over the diameter is equal to a specific number. This ratio holds true for any size circle. The equation for a circle is as follows c= ?d. Where c = circumference d = diameter. Since pi is an irrational number (a number that goes on forever), one can only use estimates. For example 3.14159 is a simple estimate. The ancient Babylonians had a value of 3 1/8 = 3.125.  So for a circle of diameter = 10 we have the approximate value which has been underestimated to 31.4159. Where is the 1.4159 cubits left to complete the circle likewise taking a circumference of 30 we have an approximate diameter of 9.54931, which has been overestimated? Apparently the numbers in the Bible are wrong. It would have been one thing for God to allow an estimate and then claim that no man would ever see that complete number. That would clearly show that there was some divine inspiration. Until the late 1800's and early 1900's pi was shown to be irrational and also a transcendental number (transcendental means that a number could not be a solution or root to an algebraic equation). (Beckman, 73-77)

The Bible contains some fantastic stories that are very hard to swallow. For example (Joshua 10:12-13) "Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day." These verses are unbelievable.  Three things are implied by these verses. First, is their understanding of the earth and sun. They believed that the sun stood still as opposed to the earth stopping its spin. Second, is that this is obviously a myth or legend of a battle that had gone well for the Israelites. As a scientist, I must concede that if there is a God, that God has shown himself, herself, itself to be very very consistent. There has yet to be a break away from the laws of nature, as we know them. I think that we would all know if a day lasted "a whole day" longer.  Third, where is the third party confirmation of this event?  There were much better astronomers than the Israelites at the time.  This would definitetly be a documented event.  Somebody on the otherside of the earth would have documented a particularly long night.

Another fantastic story is the story of Creation in Genesis 1. God creating the universe in six, 24-hour days is ridiculous. Once again science has shown the Creator to be self-consistent. If God did create the world in six days then science would end up confirming that truth, but as we know this is not the case.  There is a lot of astronomical, radiological evidence stating the age of the universe and lots of biological, paleological, archeological and anthropological evidence of the presence of modern Man for at least 200,000 years.  What is interesting is that this story originated with the Sumerians and the Babylonians inherited their stories (not unlike the Roman Empire adopting Hellenic Greek myths).  The seven days correspond to the seven tablets of the Babylonian creation myths (Tablet 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).  Man was created on the sixth tablet according to the Babylonians.  According to the Israelites it was on the sixth day (Genesis 1:24-31).  Also, the idea that trees can imbue special knowledge comes from the Sumerians as well.  The Sumerians had many trees, one of which was the Tree of Life and something like the Tree of Good and Evil, sound familiar? Also, the war in heaven between God and Lucifer resembles very closely to the story of the god Marduk and the dragon/demon Tiamat.  I think the similarities are too close to be coincidence.

The Sumerians also had accounts of  "The Flood"  the Babylonian version is known as the Epic of Gilgamesh. There seems to be some truth to this story.  There seems to have been a massive flood, but not engulfing the whole earth.  If it engulfed the whole earth, then where would the water recede to?  The actual flood event seems to have been located in Mesopotamia somewhere between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (around present day Iraq).  Anyone who has lived by large rivers, knows of times when the water rises and will flood for miles.  This is true of the Mississippi, the Nile and of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.  This just happened to be one of those times it flodded and happened to be documented in epic poem form. According to the Bible the rainbow was a sign that he would never flood the earth again (Genesis 9:12-14). This is once again silly.  Rainbows are formed when droplets of water have light shone through them, like a prism,  at certain angles.  Also, Noah's Ark is another fascinating account of the utterly miraculous.  The dimensions would not be able to to allow 2 of every insect let alone elephants, giraffes, rhinos, and a host of other animals that were supposed to go in there and food for forty days.  This also seems to ignore  a glaring impossibility.  What did the carnivorous animals eat after they got off the Ark.  After all, the animals on the ark were the only ones that were saved (excluding sea life of course).  

Impossibilities & Copyist Errors

• 1 Chron. 18:4 and 2 Samuel 8:4 describe the same event except that the numbers aren't the same.  According to one, King David captured 1700 horsemen and the other claims 7000.  This can either be a copyist error or straight up contradiction take your pick, but they can't both be right.
• Ezra 2:1-60 and Neh.7:6-62  refer to the tribes that came back from the Babylonian captivity compare the numbers and you will see that they are different for some of the tribes.  They can't both be right.
• 2 Cron 36:9 and  2 Kings 24:8 contradiction as to the age of when King Jehoiachin took the throne, one say 8 the other says 18.  One must be right.
• John 3:13 says that no one ever ascended into heaven, but 2 Kings 2:11 says that Elijah went into heaven.
• John 20:1 shows that Mary went to the tomb early Sunday morning (Jesus died on Friday), but Jesus was supposed to buried for three day and three nights (Matthew 12:40)
• Ezekiel 18:20 and Deutoronomy 24:16 Man doesn't get punished beacuse of his ancestor's sins, but Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:6-7  1 Corinthians 15:22 and Romans 5:12 states that because of Adam we all are dead.
• Isaiah 45:7 states that God is the author of good and evil, but I thought God was love 1 John 4:8 also the story of Job is supposed to be a lesson that the devil is the one that brings misfortune and not God.
• 2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2 describe the same event of when Ahaziah came to be king, one says 22 the other 42.
• 1 Kings 16:6-8 claim that Asa Baasha dies in the 26th year of his reign and his son Elah enthroned, but 2 Chronicles 16:1 claim that Asa Baasha fought Judah in his 36th year.  How can King that died in his 26th year come back and fight in his 36th year?
  

Good Old Fashioned Ignorance

Logical Problems

The Bible's lack of consistency with the character of God is another major reason one should not view the Bible as "the Word of God", but a book written by men. If we claim that God is good (Psalm147: 1) or incapable of evil,  then why so many atrocities in the Bible?  What about verses where God clearly does send evil upon people (Joshua 23:15)? or even that God is the author of evil (Isaiah 45:7)?  How many groups of people were slaughtered because God had commanded it to be so? This following paragraph will paraphrase George H. Smith's "Atheism: the case against God". In (Judges 11:29-40); (2 Samuel 21:1-9); (Leviticus 27:28-29) human sacrifice is seen as a legitimate means of appeasing God. He killed every first-born child of every Egyptian family (Exodus 12:29). God sanctioned slavery (Exodus 21: 2-6); (Leviticus 25:44-46) and the selling of one's daughter as a slave (Exodus 21:7). He demanded the killing of witches (Exodus 22:18), death for heresy (Exodus 22:20), death for violating the Sabbath (Exodus 31:14-15), death for cursing one's parents (Leviticus 20:9), death for adultery (Leviticus 20:10), death for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16), and death by stoning for unchastity at the time for marriage, a penalty given only to women (Deuteronomy 22:20-21). The atrocities don't stop there. The phrase "utterly destroyed all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep and asses, with the edge of the sword" (Joshua 6:21) seems to be quite popular and recurrent theme with God. The desolation of people starts with the Flood story in Genesis 6 & 7. In (I Samuel 7:8-10) God helps the Israelites to kill the Philistines. In chapter 31 of Numbers there is a horrific verse "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" (Numbers 31:17-18). God himself was also fond of killing for very odd reasons, for example in (2 Samuel 24:1-25) Census taking seems to infuriate Him. In another strange case, God sends two bears to rip apart forty-two children for mocking the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 2:23-24). These Bible atrocities inspired Thomas Paine to write:

Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel And torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of  wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and for my part, I sincerely detest it, as detest everything that is cruel.