A Real and Significant Biblical Contradiction?

[Napoléon]

What could possibly have been the purpose for the lie?

Guess what argument you're going to get back Cato...

God works in mysterious ways!!! What a surprise!

[spockrates]

[The Grand Nudger]

Different narratives, different gods, different authors. You're missing this entirely aren't you? One might look for a contradiction between some attribute or comment of gods between chapter 1 and chapter 10, but this assumes that the various beliefs cobbled together and given the header "bible" are some unbroken and consistent line of spiritual tradition. Why one assumes this, when we know that it is not the case, is beyond me.

If I wrote a book about Paul Bunyan, and you wrote a book about Paul Bunyan (and ignoring that a large span of time and culture could separate our two narratives) neither of us would be obliged to write about the same Paul Bunyan. Sure, we might have both given our character the same name or the same back story (and the reasons that a storyteller might do that are legion), but that's where it ends. If you're looking for contradictions, especially in the sense that we seem to be using the word (and doubly so for the implications we're flirting with) we'd have to establish that this was the same damned god....and on that count, see the above. God does not contradict himself in the narratives, peoples ideas of what and who god was (and what he could and could not, or would and would not, do) changed over time. Some stories that were popular and struck a chord with one audience failed to do so with another. Some stories that were relevant at one time lost that relevance when transported to another. There is a rich and compelling story to be told here, a lush description of human beings and the situations they found themselves in and how that manifested itself into our concepts of the divine, but we're not having that conversation, are we? Instead, we're wondering whether or not a fictional character lied. Perhaps even more absurd, we're wondering whether or not two different authors characters contradicted each other....ffs! By all means have at it, clearly the idea of contradictory narratives is important to some, but for me, not so much.

[spockrates]

Different narratives, different gods, different authors. You're missing this entirely aren't you? One might look for a contradiction between some attribute or comment of gods between chapter 1 and chapter 10, but this assumes that the various beliefs cobbled together and given the header "bible" are some unbroken and consistent line of spiritual tradition. Why one assumes this, when we know that it is not the case, is beyond me.

If I wrote a book about Paul Bunyan, and you wrote a book about Paul Bunyan (and ignoring that a large span of time and culture could separate our two narratives) neither of us would be obliged to write about the same Paul Bunyan. Sure, we might have both given our character the same name or the same back story (and the reasons that a storyteller might do that are legion), but that's where it ends. If you're looking for contradictions, especially in the sense that we seem to be using the word (and doubly so for the implications we're flirting with) we'd have to establish that this was the same damned god....and on that count, see the above. God does not contradict himself in the narratives, peoples ideas of what and who god was (and what he could and could not, or would and would not, do) changed over time. Some stories that were popular and struck a chord with one audience failed to do so with another. Some stories that were relevant at one time lost that relevance when transported to another. There is a rich and compelling story to be told here, a lush description of human beings and the situations they found themselves in and how that manifested itself into our concepts of the divine, but we're not having that conversation, are we? Instead, we're wondering whether or not a fictional character lied. Perhaps even more absurd, we're wondering whether or not two different authors characters contradicted each other....ffs! By all means have at it, clearly the idea of contradictory narratives is important to some, but for me, not so much.

Would you say Ezekiel's Paul Bunyan is dishonest and Hebrew's Paul Bunyan is honest?

[The Grand Nudger]

The narrative or the character?

[catfish]

The narrative or the character?

Just wondering if this is a reply to the other thread?

[The Grand Nudger]

Narcissism is a bitch, no.

[CliveStaples]

[Napoléon]

Perhaps it would lead to better outcomes. Since people might act differently with different information, it's possible that given one specification of information (for example, telling the truth about leprosy), people will make worse choices than given another specification of information (for example, not telling the truth about leprosy).

What you're basically saying:

"God works in mysterious ways"


I KNEW IT!

[Cato]

Your conclusion is unwarranted. My argument (more of a challenge, really, than an argument) was that God might not necessarily have all the same obligations as us. And you think it's safe to conclude, "God is under no obligation to tell people the truth"? Because of one example where His obligation to tell the truth is different from ours, He must never have any obligation to tell the truth ever?

Horrible logic.

It would have been horrible logic if I had come to that conclusion. My point here is that if there is one example of god lying, then how is anybody to be sure of the veracity of any other statement? This is not the same as saying that all other statements are false, only that we cannot know which other statements are false. At a minimum, this makes The Bible untrustworthy.