♦ ficino ♦ Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I've been reading Paul J. Achtemeier, The Inspiration of Scripture. Problems and Proposals, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1980 Here are biblical discrepancies that I culled from his book. I paste them in just as I typed them as notes. I hope someone finds these useful. Note: Achtemeier nevertheless maintains that the Bible is authoritative. He takes it to record the believing community's encounters with God's saving acts. How he really thought this mediating position would be defensible, I have no idea. OK, here's the list: contradictions 42 who builds Ark of Cov?: Moses, Deut 10:1-5 vs Bezalel, Ex. 37:1-9 Paul’s experience on road, Acts 9:7 vs. 22:9 [[inerrantists split senses of ἀκούω]] field of Blood Acts 1:16-19 vs Matt 27:3-10 60 Mark 2;26 says Abiathar was priest, but it was Abiathar’s son, I Sam. 21:1-6, II Sam. 8:17 who provokes census, II Sam. 24:1-2 God, vs. I Chron. 21:1-2 Satan Genesis accounts of creation betw bk 1 and 2 death of Terah, Gen. 11:32 and 12:4 vs. Acts 7:4, and other details about Abraham and Jacob Acts 7:15-16 vs. Gen. 50:13, 23:16-18, Josh. 24:32 Mark 6:8-9 disciples to take staff and sandals; Matt 10:9-10 no staff or sandals cleansing of temple- when in Jesus' ministry? beg. in John, last week in synoptics (Achtemeir points out that to double all these accounts gets one into problems, since then you’d have to have six miraculous feedings to match six diff. accounts, and similar w/ Easter, since crucifixion only happened once) Peter’s denial of Jesus, Mark 14:30 and 72, before cock crows twice, vs. Matt 26:34, Luke 22:34, John 13:38, before cock crows period. Harold Lindsell, Battle for the Bible, said Peter denied Jesus six times: three for each of two roosters! [[this means that none of the evangelists shows – knows? – what really happened]] Jesus’ ascension: on Easter, Luke 24:51; forty days later, Acts 1:3 Unscientific stuff, contradictions of known scientific truth animals view striped sticks to bear striped offspring, Gen. 30:35-43 stop sun Josh. 10:12-15 disease as demonic possession mustard seed not smallest, cf. Mark 4:31 [[a detail dropped in Matt 13:31, Luke 17:6]] hare chews cud, Lev. 11:6, Deut. 14:7 43 flood coming from opened windows in firmament above, Gen. 7:11 Immoral stuff Ps. 18:20-24, 33-49; Ps. 109 slaughter Canaanites Josh. 18:18-29 vindictive Ps. 137 Wrong uses of OT 60 Matt 27:9-10 has Jeremiah verse found nowhere in Jer., closest parallel is Zech. 11:12-13 Mark 1:2 has Isaiah saying what we find in Malachi 3:1, ‘corrected’ by Matthew 3:3 NT writes as though a discrepancy exists in OT: 62 Jesus Matt 19:3-9 on divorce, Deut. 24:1 vs. Gen. 1:27, 2:24 Paul Gal 3:1-12 on Hab. 2:4 vs Lev. 18:5 NT use of Septuagint as though inspired and not use of the Hebrew Heb. 10:5-9 “a body” in Hebrew is “an open ear”, Ps. 40:6-8 Acts 2:26-28 has “corruption” but Ps. 16:10 only has ‘the pit’ Rom 4:3 closer to LXX than to Gen. 15:6 Statistics 63 Aramean dead 700, II Sam. 10:18 vs. 7000, I Chron 19:18 price of floor I Chron 21:25 vs II Sam 24:24 dead in plague, Num 25:9 vs. I Cor. 10:8 years in Egypt Ex. 12:41 and Gal. 3:17 vs. Gen. 15:13 slavery Ex. 21:1-11, incl. 7th year release for male but not female Theological discrepancies believer's vindictive attitude, Ps. 109, vs. gracious toward enemies, Matt. 5:44, Luke 6:27-28 no murder, Ex. 20:13, Luke 18:20, Rom. 13:9, Gen. 9:6, vs. slaughter of Canaanites, incl. children and cattle, Josh. 10:28-32 God repents of some action: Gen. 6:6, Ex. 32:14, Judg. 2:18, I Sam. 15:35, II Sam. 24:16, Jer. 26:13, Amost 7:6, Jonah 3:10. Cf. verses that say that God is unchangeable. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 That sounds a lot like "The Encyclopedia of Biblical Difficulties," which has something like 800 pages of similar "difficulties," but nonetheless concludes that what appear to be serious problems aren't really problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 who provokes census, II Sam. 24:1-2 God, vs. I Chron. 21:1-2 Satan This one is my favorite. From a Jewish point of view, it's not a contradiction, since the Satan is an angel and not a malevolent character in their theology. But from a Christian POV, it's utterly irreconcilable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readyforchange Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Unscientific stuff, contradictions of known scientific truth animals view striped sticks to bear striped offspring, Gen. 30:35-43 Thanks for posting these Biblical discrepanices! I remember hearing or reading somewhere that the Bible stated something about striped goats looking at rods, but I never tried to follow up and research it. Just read the account in Genesis. I may try to read Achtemeier's book at some point - looks to be a great read. ficino, this is a website on Biblical contradictions that has been very useful to me over the past year or two, from Steven DiMattei. If you may not be familiar with his website, I think you might find it informative. DiMattei mainly concentrates on the Old Testament, and he also has a new book coming out this fall that I plan to read. The website is http://contradictionsinthebible.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Jeff Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Unscientific stuff, contradictions of known scientific truth animals view striped sticks to bear striped offspring, Gen. 30:35-43 Thanks for posting these Biblical discrepanices! I remember hearing or reading somewhere that the Bible stated something about striped goats looking at rods, but I never tried to follow up and research it. Just read the account in Genesis. I may try to read Achtemeier's book at some point - looks to be a great read. ficino, this is a website on Biblical contradictions that has been very useful to me over the past year or two, from Steven DiMattei. If you may not be familiar with his website, I think you might find it informative. DiMattei mainly concentrates on the Old Testament, and he also has a new book coming out this fall that I plan to read. The website is http://contradictionsinthebible.com. Bless the Lard, Brother! Thanks for posting that glorious link! I am too tired to give it a read tonight, but I plan to delve into over the next few days. And I will definitely link to it from my glorious site. Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ ficino ♦ Posted May 26, 2015 Author Share Posted May 26, 2015 ficino, this is a website on Biblical contradictions that has been very useful to me over the past year or two, from Steven DiMattei. If you may not be familiar with his website, I think you might find it informative. DiMattei mainly concentrates on the Old Testament, and he also has a new book coming out this fall that I plan to read. The website is http://contradictionsinthebible.com. Thanks, rfc. I've seen DiMattei's site but hadn't looked at it recently, so I'm glad to see this about his new book. He was here on Ex-Chr for a while perhaps a year and a half ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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