I'm just curious about who a Christian reconciles his belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of God with the fact that there are so many errors in it.\n\nFor example, according to the Bible itself, Moses penned the first 5 books of the Bible (the Pentateuch), and yet clearly Moses cannot have been the only writer given that Deuteronomy describes Moses' death and burial. A dead man can not describe his own funeral. Furthermore, there are many cases of "doublets" or conflicting accounts of events that wouldn't be in conflict if they were all written by the same man. (Not to mention that the idea of conflict in and of itself implies error.)\n\nThere are tons of examples likes this. (For more examples, see Thomas Paine's "Age of Reason") How does a Christian rationalize the existence of such errors? Is it simply a case of willful ignorance, or is there some mechanism that allows them to abstract the parts they believe are God's word and ignore the rest or interpret it less literally?
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I'm a Christian, who sees many errors in the bible. the don't shake my faith at all. That's because my faith isn't blind faith. First, your conversations with fundamentalists are probably being confused, by the ambiguous term, 'literal truth'. Thomas Jefferson wrote a bible, that ignored all the errors you speak of. It was a short read.\n     I try to get dogmatic Christians, to tell me what scriptures they take to be factual, or allegorical first, and then point out the error, after they have committed themselves.\n     A good example, is the creation of day and night, several days before the sun, and the moon. If a Christian, with blind faith believes that the day and night, of the first day of creation is to be taken factually, then they have a much harder time arguing that it is some other form of daylight, or spiritual light, etc., when you point out that the sun was created later.\n     If the mechanism that you refer to kicks in at that point, you might have one angry Christian, who thinks of you as the serpent in their garden. Or, you will have a chance to explore the allegorical lesson presented.\n     The lesson to be learned in this example, is that ancient thinkers, believed that the human eye was the source of light, and that light particle went from the eye to the object, and then to the sun, illuminating the sun in the day. To them, daylight had nothing to do with light from the sun. That was the reasoning behind the rejection of the sun (helios) as a god worth worshipping, because, who needs a sun, during the day. People need light, when it's dark, so the moon would be a better god to worship.\n     Also, the sun and the moon created to rule the day and the night. If that's the case, is the story telling us to worship them? What exactly do they rule? This is very much a pagan concept, and will propably result in the willful ignorance that you refered to, as fundamentalists are forbidden to even think of, much less discuss this concept.\n     The only practical reason for speaking this way to dogmatic Christians, is to identify them, and deter further fruitless conversations.
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Some people will just make responses like that out of puroseful ignorance. Others try to find contradictions in the bible and use them to negate its authenticity. An example of this is the "Skeptic's Annotated Bible" which can be found at the link below. The truth is that there are no contradictions in the bible, and any seemingly to be "contradictions" can easily be explained, rationalized, and cleared up through proper study. \n\nhttp://skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html\n\nVisit the site; then email me through my profile any contradiction and I'll clear it up for you.
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I apologize in advance for how long this answer is, but seeing some of the errors that that have been stated in other answers, this is as short an answer as I felt I could give to address the confusing answers already given.\n\nThe Bible claims to be actual communication from God to humanity. Notice these biblical passages:\n\nAll Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 \n\nAbove all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20-21 \n\n The Bible claims to be the very Word of God (verbum Dei), indeed, the very words of God (verba Dei). But this claim often raises a number of objections. \n\nObjection #1: The Bibles we have today are nothing like the biblical books as they were originally written. \nThis is a real concern people have. The question of whether or not the Bible was God’s Word 2,000 years ago is irrelevant if the Bible we read today is substantially different from what was originally written. Until the invention of the printing press around 1450, all literature was hand-copied and scribes could make mistakes in copying. It’s hard to know if errors are present with many ancient works simply because few early hand-written copies exist. But this is not a major concern with the biblical documents: \n\n1. There are over 24,000 surviving partial or complete manuscripts of New Testament books today. By comparison, the next largest number is for Homer’s Iliad, with only 643 surviving manuscripts. We have only 7 copies of Pliny’s History and only 10 of Caesar’s Gallic Wars―but we don’t hesitate to trust them. \n\n2. Furthermore, the New Testament has unusually early manuscripts compared with other ancient literature. Our earliest copy of Pliny’s History dates to 750 years after Pliny’s death. A lot can happen in 750 years. And the earliest copy of Gallic Wars was copied 1,000 years after Caesar’s death. By contrast, some early New Testament fragments date to within 30 years of their first writing, as with the John Rylands papyrus found in Egypt. There simply wasn’t enough time between the original writing and our earliest manuscripts to allow for much corruption. \n\n3. There are over 84,000 quotations from the New Testament (mainly from sermons) dating to the early centuries of the Church. In fact, even if we didn’t have a single manuscript of the Bible today, we could reconstruct all but 11 verses of the entire New Testament from material within 150 to 200 years from the time of Christ. \n\n4. Similarly, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1950s, we now have copies of the entire Old Testament from before the time of Christ―complete copies of every book except Esther.\n\nModern translations of the Bible (New International Version, New American Standard Bible, etc.) are translated directly from these earliest biblical manuscripts. \n\nObjection #2: The Bible is just a book of fairy-tales. Its account is not historically reliable. \nWhile there are letters and songs and laws and doctrinal teachings in the Bible, the most common genre within the Scripture is history. Observers point out that the Bible is an historical document in that it consistently gives accurate information on the geography, chronology, people, places, customs, nations and events recorded within it.\n\nThe Bible is therefore unusual compared to other human religious literature. The Book of Mormon, even though relatively recent, nevertheless reads like a cheap nineteenth century American gothic novel. It describes an entire pre-Columbian civilization which shows no signs of ever having existed. There simply never was a highly advanced Jewish civilization in ancient New York. Th
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Of course it's rediculous. The pastors of the different churches have to make some excuse as to why there are over 600,000 different christian denominations though. Those pastors of the churches wanted to be able to "guide" what their following believed in. Only by proclaming the bible is perfect, and themsevles, the pastors the most educated (supposedly), were the best ones who could interpret the scriptures to what they "really meant". This is why so many christian believes change all the time throught history. Also why those believes are the most popular of the day. If the pastors weren't the sole interpreter of the scriptures they wouldn't be payed so much. \n\nIronlicly you'll never find the word "bible" in the scriptures either. The word mean a collection of books. \nMost christians will scite Rev 22:19 to you. They fail to realize that the "book" the scriptures is talking about is the book of revelation, not the bible. John (who wrote revelations) hadn't even written the Gospel of John yet when he wrote revelations. According to christian doctrine then the book of John would not be allowed. Of course christians also don't realize that the bible was not put together for several hundred years after the apostles died. \nThere is a like scripture in Deuteronomy 4:2 "ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the lord your God which I command you".\n\nIf christians interpreted this the same way as they did revelations all books, revelations, everything would end after Moses. Of course they don't interrept it that way, that would be rediculous.
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First of all, I see that some people get offended when the Bible is challenged. We need to be more open-minded about this. Yes, there are many contradictions in the bible. Just search the web and you'll find many sites that provide lists. This doesn't mean that the Bible was not the word of God. The reason for the contradictions is: the bible was written long after the demise of Jesus. So, a lot of the words of God have been altered and what we read in the bible are just different versions of the original bible as interpreted/understood by different scholars. That's why there are several versions. Also, in those old days, many rulers and priets chose to modify, add or omit areas of the Bible to suit their own needs. That's why there are some contradictions and errors in the Bible. The original bible: "the actual words of God" have not been preserved 100%.
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Well done.  I knew about the one in Exodus, but the others are new to me.  Thanks for pointing that out.  \n\nI'm a Bible believing Christian and I have always supported abortion.  In fact, I support abortion even when the mother doesn't want to in cases where the child will be born seriously defective.  \n\nI have gotten into many arguments with my Christian friends over this and I believe their problem is that they listen to what the preacher says and not the Bible.  For me, the Bible trumps the preacher any day.\n\nGreat job.\n\n===\nTo Williamzo: Exodus 21:22 says {para} "If two men fight and during the fight a pregnant woman is injured such that she miscarries, the man shall be FINED as the judges determine, but  if the woman also dies, then the man is put to death."  I suggest you read it again.\n\nWhat God is telling us in this verse is that an unborn baby is NOT the same thing as a human life.  If it were, the punishment would be death for that also.  Thus, God is telling us that abortion is NOT murder.\n\nBefore conception/before entering the womb - Isn't it obvious that God is talking about their spirit and not their physical body?
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Excellent Question;\nThere are lots of literial inconsistancies.  "Bible" means library, the bible is a compilation of books witten from various sources.  This is particularly so in the Old Testament. The stories of groups or tribes that all believed in one God rather than many.\nAs in all litreature, you need to respect the author and his intended audience.  Our question is how did these ancient people understand God and what consistant message do we get about a God who never changes.  Read, reflect and ask yourself how could I apply their experience of God to my life.\nA God who protected Israel from Egypt might help me get a Job or help me defend my faith in an argument.  A person who is violent might be destroyed by their own anger rather than us needing to smite him.  When Jesus said: offer the other cheek, he is talking about ultimate peace between people - his Father's Kingdom.  St Paul said those who do not work should not be feed from the community food.  Everyone should contribute but we should feed the hungry.\nWith a little understanding, its not difficult to make sense of what people are saying.\nDon't expect the Bible to be a work of logic or science, it was never intended to be.
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God promised to preserve his Word, not the English language. He knew about the translations, and the annomalies that may arise.\n\nYou can bet the translations (not all of them), but a few of them, potray the message in a clear and concise manner.\n\nWhile the enemy may taint some avenues of the Gospel, the Lord will not allow them all to be corrupted.\n\nI posted this in another thread:\n\nThe Bible is made up of 66 books, written by 40 authors on 3 continents, using 3 languages, and penned over a 1600 year span of time, yet it uniquely fits together without contradiction, making up one volume we call, “The Bible”.\n\nCharles Spurgeon said, "This Bible is the anvil on which many a hammer of critics has been worn out." It has truly withstood every test and trial while remaining the undisputed bestseller of all time! Over 1/2 billion Bibles were printed in1997 alone!\n\nWhat makes the Bible so different from all other books? It's incredible accuracy both historically, scientifically, geographically, and prophetically.\n\nArcheological findings, have proven the Bible’s literal accuracy. The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947, substantiate the accuracy of the Old Testament scriptures written 2,500 to 3,500 years ago!\n\nThe Bible revealed many truths thousands of years ago long before they were discovered. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica; Volume 4 page 937 "Columbus discovered America by Bible prophecy rather than by astronomy." Columbus believed the Bible and convinced the Queen after reading to her the following scriptures:\n\nIsaiah 40:22 (about 800 B.C.)\n\n"It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth..."\n\nJob 26:7 (Almost certainly over 1,000 B.C.)\n\n"He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing."\n\nMan thought the earth was flat and perhaps sat on the back of a turtle, just 500 years ago, yet God revealed the earth's true Geography over 3,500 years ago, a circle that hangs on nothing.\n\nIncredible as it may sound, we probably killed our first president, George Washington, by bleeding him to death. A practice called blood letting, the cutting of ones wrist and removing life giving blood. If we had only read and believed God's word:\n\nLeviticus 17:11\n\n"For the life of the flesh is in the blood..."\n\nThere are hosts of incredible proofs like these throughout the Bible. The water cycle and evaporation process is revealed in Ecclesiastes 1:6-7 and Psalms 135. \n\nThe Bible is the only book that foretells the future with 100% accuracy. It foretold the birthplace of Jesus 700 years before He was born! (Micah 5:2), That He would be crucified over 500 years before this inhumane practice ever began! Details about Jesus’ crucifixion such as: His hands and feet would be pierced, His beard would be torn out, His garments would be gambled for, and that He would die between two thieves, and be buried in a rich mans tomb (Isaiah 53, Psalms 22). Jesus fulfilled 30 different prophecies in just one day. There were about 300 prophecies that foretold His first coming and over 500 that tell of His second coming.\n\nOne such prophecy was fulfilled and witnessed by millions of people alive today! On May 14th, 1948, three million Jews from all over the world speaking 85 different languages returned to a tiny piece of desolate desert land, that most had never seen. God foretold of this incredible event through His word over 2,500 years ago.\n\nJeremiah 30:3\n\n"For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it."\n\nEzekiel 36:24\n\n"For I will take you (Jews) from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land."\n\nZechariah 8:8\n\n"And I will bring them, and they shall dwe
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Here is a link which will interest you to find more bible inconsistencies (contradictions) : \n\nhttp://www.infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/inconsistencies.html\n\na great compilation by Donald Morgan\n\nan avant-gout : \n\nGE 4:4-5 God prefers Abel's offering and has no regard for Cain's.\n2CH 19:7, AC 10:34, RO 2:11 God shows no partiality. He treats all alike.\n\nEZ 6:12, NA 1:2, 6 God is jealous and furious. He reserves wrath for, and takes revenge on, his enemies. "... who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and rocks are thrown down by him."\n2CO 13:11, 14, 1JN 4:8, 16 God is love.\nGA 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit of God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.\n\n:)
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Contrary to what a lot of Englightened people on here will have you think, the Bible isn't just for scholars or spinners. If it is true, the Bible is God's Word to man, then I think it is safe to take the book at face value assuming that most people were quite illiterate at the time of its first use. \n\nGod would not make his only word to man undicipherable to all, save the rich intellects of the world. This seems like the biggest, most obvious trap, out there! The rich have the key to salvation, but of course they do! The rich Europeans, to take it even further and make it better! Give me a flippin break. This is getting stupid.\n\nThis is one of the major "flaws" in the entire idea of the Bible being God's Word. Does God not know that most people on Earth are hardly literate, can't understand Hebrew or Aramic, and by inspiring a 3,000 plus page text, he has put the salvation of nearly everyone on earth in the hands of a very few who can actually READ who came from Europe and were bent on ruling the world at all cost??! Impossible for God to do such a thing to 90% of the rest of his own creation!\n\nSo, read the Bible just as it comes to you. Yes, God asked God why he forsakened himself. That is the surface interpretation, no spin. Unless your parents could afford to send you to private school, where they teach you how to spin, I mean interpret the Bible, or unless you were born into Christianity where there are churches all around you that teach these spin techniques, you would never know that when you read page 2,198 in the Bible, that it is ACTUALLY refering to page 1,328 which REALLY means what page 498 said in the third paragraph referring to page 20.\n\nThe logical or face understanding of the text, is that God called out to himself(strange indeed), in a manner that seemed  much like begging of himself to help himself. It's ridiculous.
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In Protestant (liberal) theology there are several "middle grounds."  There is the notion that the Bible "contains God's word" and also that is can "become God's words."  These are of course nuanced meanings of how Scripture communicates God's message through a supposedly imperfect text.
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You answered your own question.  God would never contradict Himself, therefore, the book could not have come from Him.\n\nIt is a good rule to compare things said to be of God with the Bible.  If they don't agree 100% with the Bible, then they are not from God.
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Being brought up as an anligcan I was always allowed to take a very open interpretation of this text , and I read the whole thing cover to cover before i'd turned 13 I even at that age noticed these stiffling contradictions , There are probably three issues at play here , 1. THE BIBLE IS NOT THE WORD OF GOD , (unlike the Koran or The Book of The Law the bible wasn't dictated to a human from a higher entity) . It is a a bunch of texts grouped together in order to furfther a specific agenda ( That of the Holy Roman Empire).It is as much a work of propaganda as it is a religious text.  Many christian holidays are also of this nature , attributed to the same dates as various pagan festivals in order to over-ride the significance of these days with Christian propaganda , \n\n2. The Bible was written by hundreds of authors over a period of thousands of years , if we look at any other book which has the Bibles status , they have been written by one person over a period of several years, the original texts of the bible also had their base in many different languages , Aramaic , Greek , Ancient Hebrew , and many others.\n\n3.The bible was compiled by humans a Bishop and a council of his followers decided back in the 1300's if my memory serves me correctly , on what books were to be included and excluded , those interested in the true basis of christian belief may want to read the apocrypha or the corpus hermeticum , which are a complilation of Christian writings based on Gnosis and have as much validity as the bible if you've only read the books of the bible you only have been given half the information.
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As a Christian and Bible scholar, please believe me when I say that you have this all wrong--I mean you have truly misinterpretated practically everything.  \n\nI think though your points could be easily cleared up though if you were to sit with someone who has studied the Word. \n\nSince there is no way to address all of your questions and issues raised right now in this forum, why don't you go speak to a Jewish Rabbi or Bible Teaching Christian Pastor in your area.  \n\nYou don't want to hold on to misconceptions do you?  \n\nI'm sure you really do want the truth, right?  Good. You seem like someone that enjoys learning.  \n\nWell then if you want to learn the truth, you have an obligation to go and speak with someone educated in the Bible as well as someone that has a personally close relationship with GOD so that you can understand it from a different perspective.  \n\nYou're intelligent, and have obviously given this a lot of thought.  I'm sure you don't want to hold on to perceptions that are wrong right? \n\nSitting with someone one on one and going through each of your issues raise here, I believe that you will come away with a completely different view. You may still feel the same way, but at least you will have more and better information to draw more accurate conclusions.\n\nI can't begin to list the number of errors in your logic, or the number of times in your writings that you leaped to an erroneous assumption in this very short passage you wrote.  But I know that if you seek the truth, you will take the time to go speak to someone in person about your questions.  \n\nYou can even feel free to email me and I will be happy to talk to you more.  \n\nWe can walk through each passage here, and discuss the historical aspects that are recorded as well as what God is talking to us now about each of these passages.\n\nWe can discuss "What is the Mosaic Law", and how does it apply to the lives of God's people today.  We can also discuss spiritual warfare versus physical warfare and how it relates to the questions "Why would God kill innocent children? and order wars?"\n\nI welcome talking to you. I'm a Christian apologist.  We can debate, discuss, search and examine Bible history, teachings, prophesies, and hidden messages all day long, and it will not bother me, nor will I be offended if you don't agree.  \n\nI also welcome hearing about your religious beliefs. Although a devout Christian,  I enjoy studying other religions and beliefs as well.
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If everybody could approach the Bible as rationally as you do, then there would be no need to point out contradictions. But so many millions of people do take the Bible as the infallible word of God and to be interpreted completely literally. Using a flawed book as the sole code by which you live is dangerous, and Atheists feel obliged to point this outto them.
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There are many millions of people who believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God. millions who regard this book as a torch that conquers the darkness of death, and pours its radiance on another world. They forget that it imprisons the brain and corrupts the heart. They forget that it is the enemy of intellectual freedom. They forget its ignorance and savagery, its hatred of liberty, its religious persecution; they remember heaven, but they forget the dungeon of eternal pain. They forget that it imprisons the brain and corrupts the heart\nIt is now not only admitted by intelligent and honest theologians that Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch, but they all admit that no one knows who the authors were, or who wrote any one of these books, or a chapter or a line. We know that the books were not written in the same generation; that they were not all written by one person; that they are filled with mistakes and contradictions. It is also admitted that Joshua did not write the book that bears his name, because it refers to events that did not happen until long after his death. \n\nBasically it does not matter how you translate it. It all boils down to what you believe and can live with. If you believe the Bible is inspired by God, then read it and make your own decision on which translation suits you.
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Your question also begs a more basic question:  regardless of version, timing, or translation, human beings wrote the contents of, and chose and assembled, the texts that were called The Bible.  (Same with the Talmud, and the Koran.)  So it's reasonable to ask, why do so many believe it to be God's word?  I mean, it could be.  But why do people today so strongly believe it to be so, with such certainty?  When all they have is other people's word for it?  It is indeed remarkable, and hard to understand.