Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

[spockrates]

Not sure I understand. Augustus lived until 19 August, AD 14, so Herod was alive during the Emperor's census.

You're right, you don't understand. It has nothing to do with Augustus.

Matty says that Herod was so concerned about jesus that he directed his soldiers to slaughter all the infants in "Bethlehem" a clear ripoff of the Moses story which would have been familiar to Jews. No one else, even writers like Josephus who gleefully recount every crime ever attributed to Herod ever mention this one. Herod died in 4 BC which set off a chain of events which led to the eventual Roman annexation of Judaea as a prefecture under the governor of Syria.

On Herod's death his kingdom was divided up among his sons, Antipas, Archelaus, and Phillip. Revolts broke out which were serious enough to require the Syrian legions under Publius Quinctillius Varus to intervene. The revolts were crushed and Herod's sons were installed on their thrones. Archelaus, however, had problems in his territory of Judaea and Idumaea and Samaria. By 6 AD the Judaeans were petitioning Augustus to remove Archelaus and become a Roman prefecture. Augustus agreed and Archelaus was pensioned off to Gaul. In 6, Augustus had assigned Quirinius as the new governor of Syria and Josephus makes clear that he brought along a man named Coponius to be the new prefect of Judaea. We have coins issued by Coponius so Josephus is confirmed in that. Part of Quirinius' and Coponius' mission was to undertake a census of the newly acquired prefecture. Unlike xtian horseshit, there was no census of the whole world for taxation. Roman taxation was not based on head count and there had been no direct taxation of Roman citizens in Italy since the middle of the second century BC, anyway.

Augustus himself in the Res Gestae Divi Augustus tells us that he conducted three lustra which is a count of Roman citizens only. Unfortunately, the dates of these do nothing to help the jesus story.

Lastly, but not least, is the absurdity in "Luke" of having entire populations journey to their ancestral homes to be registered. It would be like Canadians having to go back to Britain ( or France!). Moreover, "Luke" seems to have forgotten that Nazareth ( which apparently did not even exist in the first century) would have been in Galilee which was not part of the Judaea prefecture and thus "Mary and Joseph" would have been going to another country for a census which did not concern them in the least.

Learn some history and then you'll be able to see what a pile of shit your gospels are.

I'm sorry, I thought you were making the point that this passage,

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

(Luke 2)

contradicted another passage of the Bible. The topic of discussion is whether there are any contradictions between two different passages of scripture. The topic of whether the Bible contradicts ancient history is one better left for a different discussion thread. Please let's stick to the topic.

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Aaaand...Salah's father was?

The answer: I don't know. My question: What is the topic of discussion for this discussion thread, my friend?

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I changed my mind after realizing there are more than vicious knids at this forum!

That's VERM-icious Knid to you, buster.




I've got my eye on you...

Doh! Right you are! I've got no where to hide from you, Dog!

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Calvinists and other proponents of Reformed Theology address the apparent contradiction by saying our choices (both for good, or evil) are chosen by God. No free will, no seeming contradictions.

How would you respond to their answer?

Does all of xtardity agree with these calvinists? Do calvinists speak for all xtards? Last time I checked, they were one of the more batshit-crazy sects, including such shining examples as Fred and Shirley Phelps.

Calvinists would say they are the chosen few, and you're not--so you have no choice but to be deceived into thinking they're lunes. You're predestined to be one of the damned daffy ducks! (I don't agree with them, mind you. But that might be because I'm daffy too, and just don't know it!)

:o

If you want to have fun seeing what makes them tick, there is a forum call carm.org many of them frequent. There are a few good atheists there, too. Just watch out for the moderators, they'll boot you off the forum if they don't like you.