The prophets keep talking about this terrible day in the future called “the day of the Lord“. They say it will be a dark day: Isaiah says the sun will be darkened and the moon and stars won’t show their light. Similarly, Joel says the sun and moon will be darkened and the stars won’t shine. And Amos says that day will be darkness and not light, pitch-dark without a ray of brightness.
Continue reading Will it be dark on the day of the Lord?Category Archives: Contradictions
Did Joshua completely destroy Debir?
The book of Joshua says Joshua attacked the city of Debir, putting it and its villages to the sword. He and his people totally destroyed everyone there, leaving no survivors.
The chapter after that mentions that Joshua totally destroyed the Anakites from Debir and some other places, along with their towns. That’s either a contradiction of the statement that they were already destroyed, or just part of a recap. But there’s definitely a contradiction later.
Continue reading Did Joshua completely destroy Debir?Was Paul proud to be weak?
Paul said if he was going to boast (and he did like to boast), then he would boast about his weakness. His weaknesses were the only things about himself that he was willing to boast about. It made him glad to be weaker than his followers.
Paul was delighted to be weak, because boasting about weakness gave him the power of Christ. So being weak actually made him strong. But why would he want that power and strength, if he really liked being weak so much?
Continue reading Was Paul proud to be weak?Can anyone predict the future?
No.
Solomon (the wisest man ever, according to the Bible) says no one knows the future, so no one can tell you what’s to come. Because no one knows what’s coming. No one knows when their own death will come. In fact, no one can discover anything about their future, and no one can tell you what’s going to happen in the world after you die, either.
James agrees. He says you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, so you shouldn’t act like you even have any idea what you’re going to do tomorrow.
That’s settled, then. No one can predict the future. The Bible says so. Who’s going to disagree with the Bible? Oh right, of course… The Bible is going to disagree with the Bible.
Continue reading Can anyone predict the future?Is love jealous?
According to Paul’s description of love, love does not envy. But according to Song of Songs, love’s burning jealousy is as strong and unyielding as the grave. The Bible also says that God is love, and God is jealous, so love must be jealous.
Continue reading Is love jealous?Was there another prophet like Moses?
The book of Deuteronomy concludes by stating that since then, there has never been another prophet like Moses—no one who knew God the way Moses did, and could do the miracles Moses did.
But earlier in Deuteronomy, Moses says God is planning to send another prophet like him. Who would that be? The New Testament claims that Moses was talking about Jesus, and Jesus was greater than Moses. If that was really who Moses meant, then I guess that wouldn’t really contradict Deuteronomy saying there hadn’t been another prophet like Moses, since Deuteronomy was definitely written before Jesus.
But is that really what Moses meant when he said there would be another prophet like him? Looking at the context, it seems Moses was talking about a prophet who the Israelites could consult when they moved into the promised land, so they wouldn’t have to resort to other kinds of divination that God didn’t approve of.
Moses was clearly not talking about a prophet who wouldn’t come till hundreds of years after Israel had already disobeyed God in that way so thoroughly that God put an end to their kingdom. More likely, Moses was talking about his immediate successor, Joshua.
Continue reading Was there another prophet like Moses?Can the coming of the kingdom of God be observed?
Jesus once claimed that the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed. He acted like “the coming of the kingdom” wasn’t what it sounded like at all. Like it was just something that was with you all along. But he also told his disciples they were going to see the coming of Christ along with his kingdom, which is also God’s kingdom.1
Continue reading Can the coming of the kingdom of God be observed?Was John writing a new command?
In 1 John, the author says he’s not writing a new command. All he’s doing is reminding people of an old command, one that they’ve always had. After all, as James says, there’s only one lawgiver. So nobody but God can write new laws.
Continue reading Was John writing a new command?When did the apostles receive the Holy Spirit?
According to the gospel of John, the disciples received the Holy Spirit when Jesus appeared to them after the resurrection.
But according to Acts, it was at least a few days after that. It says on one occasion (which could have been as many as 40 days after the first time he reappeared to them), he told them they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days. That was a gift they had not yet received. And Jesus was not present when the tongues of fire later came down on them and filled them with the Holy Spirit.
Continue reading When did the apostles receive the Holy Spirit?Did Jesus say he would rebuild the temple in three days?
According to Mark, some people testified that Jesus had said he was going to rebuild the temple in three days. Matthew has them saying something similar, though in that version of the story they just accuse Jesus of saying he’s able to do it. The gospels describe these statements as “false testimony” or “false evidence” from “false witnesses”.
But according to John, Jesus did in fact say he would raise the temple again in three days. (Or maybe just that he could do it. Either way, one of those other gospels is wrong about it being false testimony.)
Continue reading Did Jesus say he would rebuild the temple in three days?