Does The Bible Contradict Itself?

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How does the Bible contradict itself? Is the Bible applicable to modern times? Is the Bible something that people today should let it dictate to society how to live one's life? These are questions that are often explored in questioning if the Bible is an authoritative writing. On the contrary to popular belief, if the Bible is supposedly supposed to dictate to us how we are supposed to live our lives, then why are there so many contradictions? In my perspective, I believe that the Bible was intended to be read in context or metaphorically instead of taken literally, in other words, take the intended meaning of the stories in the Bible and apply them to life’s troubles. However, many people believe the Bible is “God’s spoken” word and that people…show more content…
Many Christian people believe that the Jesus came to die for our sins, therefore, the Old Testament was made annul. Furthermore, it is believed that the New and Old Testament are collateral and work together. However, let’s just take a look at stories within the Old Testament that contradict each other especially to popular belief. For instance, let’s take a look at Genesis 1 and 2. These two chapters disagree in which the order of God’s creation, and how God felt about the results of His labors. Moreover, one of the most popular contradictions is the flood story. There are two interrelated stories that contradict each other on how many of each kind of animal are to be brought into the Ark. One says it was supposed to be one pair of “clean” animals and another translation of the story states seven pairs. So which one is correct? Let’s look at the New Testament. John disagrees with the other three Gospels on the activities of Jesus Christ. For instance, the durations of Jesus’ stay in Jerusalem. Some believe it was a couple of days or and others a year. Most importantly, each of the Gospels contradict each other on the details of Jesus Christ's crucifixion moments and resurrection. Furthermore, the genealogy of Jesus Christ's father are contradicted in both Matthew and Luke, however, both agree that Joseph was not His real father. These are just a few of the many contradictions in both the New and Old…show more content…
In my opinion, there are two answers to this question- Yes and No. First, let’s take a look at how the Bible can apply to modern times. For instance, the story of David and Goliath. Many preachers use this passage in sermons as a metaphor how to overcome “giants” in one’s life. However, like everything else in the Bible this story is to be taken in context and applies to everyone in one’s own interpretation. Now, let’s take a look at how the Bible does not apply to modern times. For example, one of the most controversial stories in the Bible is Abraham's sacrifice of his only son Isaac. Alright, so many people today do not know or understand why God would have Abraham commit such an act. According to the Bible, Abraham was God’s best friend. Some believe that God would not have required Abraham to sacrifice his son if He knew He would not have done it himself. Moreover, most Christians say that this was a test of Abraham’s faithfulness to God. Now, one second, today would someone ask a friend to kill a child to test the faithfulness of a friendship? NO. This would be considered murder. Therefore, the Bible was written for that day and age and would not pertain to us today. This is one in a million examples of how the Bible would not pertain to today’s modern
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