What are some Bible contradictions that JWs can't reconcile?

marked

I remember reading in the Reasoning book about how to approach someone at the door who said the bible was full of contradictions. One of the answers was "Many say the bible's full of contradictions but no one's been able to show me an example of one."

So, what are some examples that JWs would have no real canned answer to?

~~marked~~

doogie

"Many say the bible's full of contradictions but no one's been able to show me an example of one."

maybe it means that no householder could ever stop after showing just one.

the "god is a jealous god; god is love; love is not jealous" thing always struck me as a bit of a contradiction, but i know they don't see it that way.

how about the fact that methusaleh would've had to live through the flood to reach his age...but the bible doesn't say he was on the ark.

inquirer

Hey! How about this for a contradiction! ;) What color was Jesus' cloak? Scarlet or purple? :D

Matthew 27:27,28 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s palace and gathered the whole body of troops together to him. And disrobing him, they draped him with a scarlet cloak,

John 19:2 At that time, therefore, Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him with a purple outer garment;

Also what time was Jesus' impalement?

Mark 15:25 It was now the third hour, and they impaled him

John 19: 14 Now it was preparation of the passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews: “See! YOUR king!” 15 However, they shouted: “Take [him] away! Take [him] away! Impale him!” Pilate said to them: “Shall I impale YOUR king?” The chief priests answered: “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 At that time, therefore, he handed him over to them to be impaled.

inquirer

I know the answer to these, but MOst JW's couldn't answer it.

With the scarlet cloak, it could be purple or scarlet because it depends on the time of night. People see colors differently.

With the hour of impalement, it could be that John was using Jewish time, not Roman time. That's how some people get over it.

TheListener

Doogie,

Can you explain the metheusalah age thing? I've never heard it before.

doogie

i think that the answers in the reasoning book are more to squelch the questions of the JWs rather than the householders, anyway. by teaching the JW to say "no one has ever shown me a contradiction" they feel that they are standing on extremely solid ground even if they haven't actually studied the bible's consistency. i know that's how it worked for me.

doogie

listener:

this is from Joseph Wheless' book, "Is It God's Word?" http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/is_it_gods_word/chapter_02.html

A mystery of the ages in connection with the Flood is how
Noah's venerable grandfather Methuselah survived the universal
cataclysm which destroyed all life except the Noah menage and
menagerie in the ark. Methuselah did not die until a year or more
after the Flood -- fourteen years after according to the
Septuagint. It is recorded that Methuselah was 187 years old when
his son Lamech was born (Gen. v, 25), and he lived for 787 years
afterwards, dying at the ripe age of 969 years (v, 26, 27). Lamech
was 182 years old when his son Noah was born (v, 28, 29). When the
Flood began, Noah was in his six hundredth year, or, to be exact,
he was 599 years, one month, and seventeen days old (vii, 11); and
Noah lived for 350 years after the Flood, and was 950 years old
when he died (ix, 28, 29). Methuselah was alive when the Flood
began and when it ended, if the Bible record is true: 1. From the
birth of Lamech to the beginning of the Flood was (182 plus 599)
781 years; and from the birth of Lamech to the end of the Flood was
782 years. If Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech 782 years he
survived the Flood. Or, again:
  2. From the birth of Methuselah to the beginning of the Flood
was (187 plus 182 plus 599 years) 968 years; the Flood ended a year
later, when Methuselah was 969, and he died at that good old age.
Or again: 3. From the birth of Methuselah to the death of Noah was
(187 plus 182 plus 950 years) 1319 years. As Noah died 350 years
after the Flood, from the birth of Methuselah to the end of the
Flood was (1319 minus 350 years) 969 years, the age of Methuselah
at his death, after the Flood.
  As Noah shut his own aged grandfather out of the ark, it is a
holy wonder where and how Methuselah spent that watery last year of
his advanced old age.

googlemagoogle

hi inquirer! ;-)

you try to explain the different hours of jesus' execution by different time-systems, but the main problem is, the synoptics and john differ on the date too, not only the hour.

Terry

Justice.

Justice is authority making certain that each individual gets what they deserve.

God is a god of Justice. Or, is he?

Humans receive God's UNdeserved kindness. If it is UNdeserved then it is unJUST to grant it to them.

God, by allowing his innocent son to die in the place of deserving lawbreakers, is UNJUST.

But, the whole notion of condemning the human race because they are unwitting offspring of two original parents who broke God's rules is ludicrous and UNJUST.

Original Sin is an UNjust doctrine invented by illogical men and attributed to god so that events in scripture make a kind of weird logical sense.

There is no justice in God or the bible. It is all whim.

In the time of David a man named UZZAH reached out to prevent the Ark of the Covenant from falling and was struck dead. Yet, the Philistines capture the ark and the worst they get for their trouble is rectal discomfort! NO JUSTICE.

In the days of Noah god drowns men, women, children, sucklings, and in-utero fetuses developing. God drowns puppies, kittens, fluffy bunnies and every other non-offending creature in his UNjust fury. To save god from this mayhem the peculiar story of the ark is given. Depending on which version you read (seven of each animal or two) an anomaly is evident.

Animals are either herbivores, ominvores or carnivores. When the carnivores got off the ark WHAT ANIMALS DID THEY EAT?

The angels who supposedly mated with women and produced giants (Nephilim) are said to have "materialized" bodies for that sexual union. This means they created (CREATED!?) D.N.A. to enable them to empregnate humans! Quite a neat trick.

Jesus lineage is given in Matthew going back through history on both sides of his parentage. However, his father's lineage would be relevent ONLY if Joseph empregnated Mary instead of the Holy Spirit. What human aspect of god or the Holy Spirit would make Jesus human?

A person can only be guilty morally if they have a clear choice between right and wrong. Adam and Eve were NOT "knowing good and bad", yet, they are punished anyway.

The DAY they(Adam and Eve) ate of the fruit they were supposed to die. They didn't die that day. So, the "day" is said to be a longer 1000 year day. Yet, the days mentioned in Genesis have an "evening and a morning" EACH. How can a day have a 1000 year evening and morning?

Or, the death they died (as in "eating it you will surely die) was a "spiritual" death. Where is it stated clearly to Adam or Eve that the day isn't 24 hours and that the death is spiritual? Nowhere. It is apologetics at its most illogical worst.

The above are just tiny examples of the fact that these random stories were not written down until they had been told and retold and embellished without an editor in charge with a logical mind determined to tell a factual account of anything. It was sewing up a patchwork out of word of mouth tales, legends, myths, family stories and tribal memories.

The redactor's job is to do the best he (or she) can do with the material they have at hand. The apologist's job is to reason it all out and make the best defense of the material possible.

Remember O.J. Simpson's blood evidence? In the hand of skillful lawyers and a gullible jury the actual evidence means nothing at all. It is just who tells the best tale and makes it convincing.

Terry

gumby

I've always been stumped by the contradiction that starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation

~ gumby...from the "i'm a big smartass class~

What are some Bible contradictions that JWs can't reconcile?

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