Category Archives: Contradictions

Do intentions matter?

Contradictions

No.

God’s law says that even if you break his rules unintentionally, you are guilty and will be held responsible. You are required to give God a sin offering before he will forgive you for what you didn’t mean to do.

Paul likes that the Corinthians are willing to give, but he says that doesn’t do any good if you don’t actually have anything to give.

And he says he doesn’t really care if people preach the gospel for the wrong reasons. All that matters is that people preach the gospel. As long as they’re doing that, Paul will be happy, even if they’re doing it “from false motives”.

Yes.

God’s law says if you kill someone on purpose, you should be executed. And if someone tries to take vengeance on you, they should be allowed. But if you kill someone by accident, you don’t deserve to die. If someone tries to take vengeance on you in that case, they should not be allowed.

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Was Jesus still with John the day after the Spirit descended on him?

Contradictions, ,

The gospel of John says John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descend on Jesus. And it says the next day, John the Baptist saw Jesus passing by again.

But according to the gospel of Mark, as soon as the Spirit descended on Jesus, it sent him out into the wilderness at once, and he stayed there for 40 days.

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Is it valid for Jesus to testify about himself?

Contradictions,

No.

Jesus says that if he testifies about himself, his testimony is not true. And that if he glorifies himself, his glory means nothing. His enemies agree: If he appears as his own witness, his testimony is not valid.

(Jesus tries to get around this by claiming that his father is also testifying about him. He thinks this satisfies the requirement of two witnesses. But even if it was valid to merely testify that someone is testifying about you, rather than having that person actually appear and testify, that still wouldn’t work. Because Jesus insists that he and his father are one. So either Jesus is a liar, or there’s still only one witness. And we’ve already established that his testimony is not valid, so even if there was another witness, that still wouldn’t be enough.)

Yes.

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Did Jesus do any violence?

Contradictions,

Christians consider Isaiah 53 to be a prophecy about Jesus. It says he was assigned a grave with the wicked, even though he had done no violence.

But the gospels indicate that Jesus had done some violence by the time he died. Like chasing people out of the temple with a whip. In fact, violence was his purpose in coming to earth. He came to bring fire and a sword, not to bring peace.

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Should people blaspheme God?

Contradictions, ,

No.

God commanded his people through Moses not to blaspheme him. He said blasphemers must be cut off from Israel.

When one half-Israelite man blasphemed God’s name, the others weren’t sure what God wanted them to do. So God clarified that anyone who blasphemed his name was to be stoned to death. Even if they were foreigners. So they did.

When Eli’s sons blasphemed God, God rejected them and put a curse on their family forever, with no hope of atonement. Even though God had promised that they would be his priests forever.

The king of Assyria and his commander blasphemed God, so God got the king’s sons to kill him with swords. And when the king of Tyre called himself a god, God said he would send the king’s ruthless enemies to prove his mortality to him.

God had an angel kill Herod Agrippa just because other people called him a god. God didn’t even give him a chance to say what he thought about it.

According to Mark, Jesus said blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the only sin that God never forgives.

Maybe?

According to Matthew and Luke, though, Jesus also said that “every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven“. And that “anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven“. So if you sin by slandering the Holy Spirit, God might forgive you. And if you sin by slandering Jesus, God will definitely forgive you.

Yes.

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Did Israel have peace throughout Solomon’s reign?

Contradictions,

A passage in 1 Kings claims that all of Israel had peace and safety on all sides during Solomon’s lifetime. (Perhaps because Solomon ruled over a lot of the surrounding nations, in addition to Israel.)

But later in 1 Kings, it says Solomon had foreign adversaries, including a man named Rezon. Rezon had been a conqueror since Solomon’s father was still king of Israel. Rezon was hostile toward Israel, and was Israel’s adversary as long as Solomon lived.

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