Well, I was recently on one of the imbd forums today and found a big religion debate. One of the athiests in it had a
very long list of Biblical debatable issues as well as errors. I came to notice that no one has tried to answer his many problems with the Bible, and so I have decided to go about this.
I've asked Didymus and you all some Biblical questions before, and you all are very knowledgable of the Bible. So I have come to ask if you'll help me debunk his list of Issues/Inconsistencies in the Bible. Anyways, go down to the post made by ktboundary at Tue May 1 2007 14:55:39:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335345/boa ... 89277?p=16
Some of these questions are quite interesting, yet quite problematic as well. I've already tried to answer a few of his, but I'm not sure if even my answers are very good, so some critique would be well appreciated. Some of the questions I simply haven't really thought much about, while others I'm stumped on answering. I've broken this up between the trivial issues and the inconsistencies, and will only be listing the ones I've tried to answer.
As you will come to see, I don't think I've even answered a half of his
questions. Hopefully this list can be completed. It would also be nice if someone could find all the verses where Jesus mentions any changes that are to be made from the Old Testament (like the one about food, which I quote from in one of my answers).
And yes, I also realize that some of his questions may have to be given the obvious answer of "That's just the way it is and you have to take it at face value," but I'd really like to try to have all these questions answered.
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TRIVIAL ISSUES
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If you don't believe in Jesus he want to kill you:
“Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and KILL THEM BEFORE ME." [Luke. 19:27] (caps mine)
If your right, it looks like Jesus is a holy hit-man who's gunning for me.
That is the last verse that comes from “The Parable of the Ten Minas,” which is one of the many stories that Jesus tells. In this story, Jesus isn’t saying that, it’s the king in the story. He, as the story starts off, appoints himself king in this distant country. At the end of the story, the king is saying he wants all those who don’t support him killed. He makes this comment as he is mad that one of his servants didn’t deposit his minas.
Now, it could seem that the king is representing God, and it may somewhat, but this is still an earthly king among men were dealing with. Besides, the king is not the center point of this story, but it is instead one of the servants. The point of that last line that the king said, I think, was to show that the servant who didn’t deposit his minas (a metaphor for gifts most likely) did an unwisely thing (thus he’s punished). God wants us to use our gifts for him and not hide the various gifts he’s given to us.
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Its OK to sell your daughter into sexual slavery:
"Whenever a father SELLS HIS DAUGHTER INTO SEXUAL SLAVERY, she will not go free the way male slaves do. (caps mine)
Exodus 21:7
So not only is prostitution OK with your god, is alright with the almighty if dear ol' dad wants to prostitute his own daughter and sell her into white slavery. Nice God you have here.
"Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.” (Leviticus 19:29)
As you can see, prostitution is NOT ok. There are other verses too, where usually prostitution is looked at as an evil ritualistic act to pagan idols, but I wanted to find a verse that pointed out specifically that daughters becoming prostitutes is wrong.
What you are quoting seems to be to be more if this case were to happen. Yes, the Bible does seem sexist, I won’t deny it, in both the Old and New Testament. I could go on about that, but that could go on for awhile, so I’ll get back on topic.
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Lobster, clams, oysters and crab are an abomination in God's eyes, eat a shrimp and God hates you:
“But anything in the seas or rivers that does not have fins and scales, regard as an abomination. Do not eat their meat and regard their carcasses as an abomination.”
Leviticus 11:11
Wouldn't you know it? Just when Red Lobster had the all you can eat buffet.
'"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")” (Mark 7:18-19)
As you can see, that law has changed since the Old Testament.
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Jesus himself did not do away with old testament law as some Christians would have us believe, but instead reaffirmed every last word in the old testament:
“I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, NOT THE SMALLEST LETTER OR EVEN THE SMALLEST PART OF A LETTER WILL PASS FROM THE LAW, until all things have taken place.”
Matthew 5:18-19 (cap mine)
Not just a letter, but even the “smallest part” of the letter. This seems fairly clear what your Jesus is saying here.
Jesus said “the
Law”, with a capital L. This is important, as throughout the Bible “the
Law” is usually referring to the Law given to Moses (a.k.a. The Ten Commandments). Even within verse 19, the word “commandments” is used.
“Anyone who breaks one of the least of these
commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19)
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THE INCONSISTENCIES***********************************************************************************
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Is the earth is motionless? Psalms 93:1?
I think you’re referring to this part of that verse:
“… The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.” (Psalms 93:1)
Let me also bring up the verse after that shows that verse 1 is a comparison to God and His Heaven mentioned in verse 2:
“Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity.” (Psalms 93:2)
The Psalms are very poetic in nature, and I’m afraid you may be taking that verse too literally. God “firmly established” all the events that were to come of this Earth (From Genesis to Revelations), and this plan cannot be changed/
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A confusion of who was at the empty tomb? John 20:1 or Matthew 28:1?
In John 20:1, it only mentions Mary Magdalene at the Tomb, while Matthew 28:1 mentions both Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary, so I see what you mean. However, each Gospel is written by a different person (at least I believe to be so, there are some who would object to that), in a different style. One writer may be more exact in his details in the other. In Luke, he goes mentions four women who went to the Tomb while Mark goes to mention only three of them.
All of them do, however, say that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene, and more of a central character in the Resurrection as opposed to the other woman/women.
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Was man created first or the beasts first Genesis 1:25-26 or Genesis 2:18-119?
In Genesis 1:25-26, it said that the animals came before the man. I think I know though where things got confusing for you:
“The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
Now the LORD God
had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:18-19)
I’m bolding the word “had” for a reason. “Had” is a word being used in the past tense. Now, if the word “had” wasn’t there, THEN that sentence would be speaking in the present tense. In verse 19, it is saying that God presented to Adam the animals that he had already made.
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Number of beasts in the ark, by 2's or by 7's? Genesis 7:2 or 7:8?
In Genesis 7:8, when the number seven is said, there is a footnote for the word saying it means “seven pairs.” I’m basing this on the New International Version, so this footnote may not be in the version you’ve used.
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Insects do NOT have four feet Leviticus 11:21-23
Here are the verses mentioned:
“There are, however, some winged creatures that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. But all other winged creatures that have four legs you are to detest.” (Leviticus 11:21-23)
Yes, bugs have six legs, but maybe the Hebrew peoples wouldn’t count two of the insects’ six legs. Maybe they considered two of the legs to be arms or parts of another two legs? These are an ancient peoples were talking with here, who probably weren’t perfect with a bug’s anatomy.
The Bible is about speaking to the peoples, and if it was the vast majority of Hebrews who believed this, then God would tell them not to eat what they are familiar with hearing of (four-legged bugs in this case, as opposed to six-legged).
Wish I could give you a better answer, but I can’t. The fact is, we don’t know fully what the Hebrews considered proper legs of a bug. Heck, maybe there were some four-legged insects back then that we have yet to discover?
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