Neon Genesis Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Last Sunday when I had to go to my parents' church, in Sunday School they were discussing the Book Of Jude and the teacher mentioned something that I never knew of before. In verses 8-9 of the Book Of Jude, it mentions this story about Moses' death, "Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!†What's strange about this is that even the teacher admitted that this story was nowhere in the bible and claimed that this was a popular story that was supposedly circulating around in biblical times but didn't make into the official biblical canon for some unknown reason, but I never knew of this before and there's something that confuses me. If this story is indeed made-up and nowhere in the bible, then why is the bible acknowledging this story as being true? I thought the bible was supposed to contain the truth but if this is made-up, then wouldn't that obviously mean not all things in the bible are indeed true? So, why accept a bible that claims to be truth when it's clearly acknowledged that the bible has untrue stories in it that never happened? Isn't this clearly a contradiction but no one seemed confused by this at all and everyone went on with the class as if it's obvious to everyone that the bible is the perfect inerrant word of God in spite of this clear evidence that it isn't? Am I the only one lost here? Also, can anyone conform if there are any other non-canon biblical sources that include this story? Like, is it included in a gnostic source or something? I've just never heard of this before and it seems like such a clear contradiction to me that the bible clearly makes stories up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eejay Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 The more you study the bible, the more lightbulbs go off in your head pointing to the contradications. A few years back I read "The Born Again Skeptics guide to the Bible" by Ruth Hurmence Green. If you haven't read it yet, it may be a good book to get your hands on. Of course, it is only a reference book, in that it points out many of these contradictions. I don't remember if the story you mention is actually covered, but at least it gives you many examples that you can look up (as the bible references are included). Once you have this knowledge it shouldn't take much time to come to the conclusion that a lot of things in the bible just aren't true. Your teacher however I doubt would back down from his side if you cornered him/her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted March 4, 2008 Super Moderator Share Posted March 4, 2008 From christianinconnect.com: Jude is also said to have borrowed material from two apocryphal books, namely from “The Assumption of Moses†(cf. Jude 9) and from “The Book of Enoch†(cf. Jude 14,15). Neither are inspired Scriptures. Thus it is evident that the Holy Spirit through his inspiration, which filters out all inaccuracies and incorporates only what is the truth, had Jude make use of these two factual statements. Jude's use of the two apocryphal statements in no way implies the two apocryphal books should be considered on a par with the inspired Old Testament Scriptures. Scholars have noted that Paul also quoted from the pagan poets when their statements fit the point he was making (cf. Acts 17:28; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Titus 1:12). I laughed out loud reading this! Talk about Teflon!!!!!! - Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Genesis Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 So, if only those two verses from those books are true, why did only a NT book quote the scripture and not include it anywhere in the OT, like in Deuteronomy or something? Was the Holy Spirit leading the Jews to believe these verses were lies for all those years? Surely if these verses were true, wouldn't the Holy Spirit had led the Jews to believe them to be true? It makes no sense to me for the Holy Spirit to lead biblical writers to write a true scripture in an otherwise false book but then the Holy Spirit turns around and doesn't lead biblical writers to include these supposedly true scriptures in another book that is supposed to be true. But thanks for giving me their sources, Florduh. I'll have to check them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted March 4, 2008 Super Moderator Share Posted March 4, 2008 But thanks for giving me their sources, Florduh. I'll have to check them out. I suppose other Christian apologist/discussion sites will have a similar take on this particular contradiction. I just didn't look any further since this one was so funny to me. They can always explain away anything with more bullshit. - Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts