Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

[Colanth]

Honestly, I'm sincerely curios and seeking the truth about the topic.

Then why don't you address any of the contradictions that have already been posted?

[Loke]

The short answer is...yes, but that's for a reason.

[spockrates]

The world in general has not found me out, but only says of me that I'm the strangest of men whose questions drive other men to their wit's end!

Certainly something is driving me to my wit's end.

Yes, but your wit's end is only a means to an end--that end being that I gain the truth. If there are internal contradictions within the pages of the Bible, I hope find them. In the process, I'll find which seeming contradiction are actually something else. For example, some are due to mistranslation rather than contradiction, and others are due to ambiguous text, rather than contrary text. The end result is that I'll be the wiser, and those who assist me in my investigation will be wiser, too.

[Napoléon]

If there are internal contradictions within the pages of the Bible, I hope find them. In the process, I'll find which seeming contradiction are actually something else. For example, some are due to mistranslation rather than contradiction, and others are due to ambiguous text, rather than contrary text.

Some are due to mistranslation? Some are due to ambiguous text?

Can you not see the problem there already? Or do you need that explained too?

And there's been a helluva a lot of contradictions shown already, I haven't seen you justify any of them yet.

[spockrates]

I'm having sound issues with this PC. Got any videos with subtitles?

How convenient.

A simple google search led me to this: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/d...ncies.html

WOW! That's a long list, eh?

Do you believe some pictures are worth a thousand words? If so, would you say it is certain that every one of those words is true, or do some possibly misrepresent the artist's intention?

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WOW! That's a long list, eh?

And all from a simple google search! You make this look so easy! Almost child's play!

Same question, my new napoleonic friend: Do you think a picture is worth a thousand words, and are everyone of these words try?

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Doesn't one have to comprehend something before she knows how to deal with it? If you are willing to take a closer look with me, perhaps I'll be able to see what you see. I will then tell everyone who has ears to hear that I once was blind, but Minimalist set me free!

At this point you seem completely incapable of understanding anything.

Rome required that everyone return to his place of residence, not his place of birth. That would mean that about 99.9% of the population was already where they had to be. Many - like traders - had more than one "legal" place of residence, so they could also stay where they were. Others - like soldiers and other employees of Rome - were exempt from returning to their places of residence for a census.

Now, from this we can deduce that you have never even read your own bullshit.

What Luke says is

2 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[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

It is probably is well past time that you understand that we read this shit, too, precisely to combat the idiocies of nuts who show up here spouting bullshit. The difference is that we do not read them with the holy blinders on.

This, from a bunch of bullshit bible thumpers clearly shows that your fellow xtians are simply less dishonest....although no less wrong...than you.

Luke. 2:3 “So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.”

YLT: “and all were going to be enrolled, each to his proper city,”

Literal Meaning: “everyone to his own city” indicates that everyone returns to his registered ancestral home town.

Many foolish excuses have to be made to get "Joseph" from "Nazareth" to Bethlehem to fulfill an absurd prophecy which does not exist, either.

On such stupidities is xtianity based!

Once again, the purpose of this discussion thread is different from your own. I'm looking for all these contradictions between biblical texts about which I keep hearing rumors. I want to examine these to see if they are real, or merely apparent. You are apparently changing the subject and getting off topic. For your agenda is to prove Luke to be historically unreliable. It's a topic worthy of discussion, but simply out of place, here. Please start your own discussion thread and feel free to invite me.

[Napoléon]

Same question, my new napoleonic friend: Do you think a picture is worth a thousand words, and are everyone of these words try?

I presume you mean true.

And forgive me, but I don't understand the point of the question, or what it refers to. Where is this picture?

[spockrates]

Jews that would hear Mark's Gospel would be able to pick up on the allegory. I'm assuming this because they had the oral tradition thus meaning that they would know when Mark explicitly references the OT word for word (e.g. Mark 1: what John was wearing, Mark 11: words of Jesus on the cross).

Mark is littered with these almost explicit parallels to the OT. I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have done it on purpose. The question is why did the other two synoptics try and get rid of the allegories like I have shown you?

Do you believe a picture is worth a thousand words, my friend? If you do, are you certain all of the words are true?

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This is a language game, pure and simple. Everybody tacitly knows the rules, and regardless of personal satisfaction, continues to fulfill them. The rules are never made explicit, and indeed, likely many would be outright denied. Atheists seem to be tireless players. I enjoy a tussle, too, but more often either scribble in the margins, try to better understand the rules, bend or break the rules to see what happens, or analyze the participants. Some people play the game exceedingly well, and watching them can be an enjoyable sport, a sort of verbal athleticism. Min is awesome to watch. You, too, are quite skillful. But I'm usually more interested in studying the game than actually playing it.

(And I did my due diligence in reading all the way through the "Is Christianity Illogical" thread, all the while knowing what I wanted to say. It fizzled out before I got there, but I had one word to say, and that is, "troll." For 12 years I've been a moderator on one of the most popular — and most frequently trolled — channels on EFNet, so this is not exactly unfamiliar ground for me. And you may not believe yourself to be a troll. But that's another topic, for another language game, and another set of players.)

Perhaps it is a game for some, but not for me. Please don't confuse my playfulness as a lack of serious purpose to obtain the truth. The difference between many of the gamers and myself is that I'm not into partisreims, nor stoic tricks. I don't know it all, but I long to know the Truth. Socrates describes people like me:

Wise I would not call them. For that title is too great and belongs to God alone. Lovers of Wisdom (or philosophers) is a more fitting description.

(Phaedrus 278)

[FallentoReason]

Do you believe a picture is worth a thousand words, my friend? If you do, are you certain all of the words are true?

I sure do. What's the catch here?

EDIT: the words used to describe will be subjective therefore I don't think any of them will be 'true' per se but simply one's opinion.

[ElDinero]

Googled Salah yet? Found out who his father was yet? Going to just carry on ignoring the question?

[spockrates]

Same question, my new napoleonic friend: Do you think a picture is worth a thousand words, and are everyone of these words try?

I presume you mean true.

And forgive me, but I don't understand the point of the question, or what it refers to. Where is this picture?

Yes, true. I'll explain my meaning, but please first tell me what you think of the idiom? Is a painting, or even a photograph worth a thousand words? Also, do you think my thousand words might contradict yours?

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Do you believe a picture is worth a thousand words, my friend? If you do, are you certain all of the words are true?

I sure do. What's the catch here?

EDIT: the words used to describe will be subjective therefore I don't think any of them will be 'true' per se but simply one's opinion.

So let's say we disagree about a painting we see. Who would be most qualified to settle the disagreement and tell us whose interpretation of the work of art is more accurate?