Atheists and other non-Christians skeptical of the Bible’s reliability and divine origin are fond of pointing to what might appear to be contradictions in Scripture, of which there are alleged to be hundreds. In this episode I begin to step through one popular list, demonstrating how a close look at the text reveals that they are not contradictions at all.
Music
- Jessie Baylin, Contradicting Words, from the Firesight album, 2008
Promoted Resources
- What Color is the Sky in Their World? Podcast, with Phil Naessens.
- Also check out the blog of the same name.
- Episode 8: Walking Contradiction, in which I addressed several other alleged contradictions.
Alleged Contradictions
Source: Bible Contradictions from Project Reason
- #1: How many men did the chief of David’s captains kill? 2sam 23:8 ≠ 1chron 11:11
- #2: Was Abraham justified by faith or by works? rom 4:2 ≠ jam 2:21
- #3: How many sons did Abraham have? heb 11:17, gen 22:2 ≠ gen 16:15, 21:2-3, 25:1-2, 4:22
- #4: Was Abiathar the father or the son of Ahimelech? 1sam 22:20, 23:6 ≠ 2sam 8:17, 1chron 18:16, 24:6
- #5: Who was Abijam’s mother? 1ki 15:1-2 ≠ 2chron 13:1-2
- #6: How were Abijam and Asa related? 1 ki 15:8 ≠ 1ki 15:1-2, 15:9-10
- #7: How long was the ark of the covenant at Abinadab’s house? 1sam 7:1-2, 10:24 ≠ 2sam 6:2-3, acts 13:21
- #8: How old was Abram when Ishmael was born? gen 16:16 ≠ acts 7:2-4, gen 11:26, 11:32
- #9: (Repeat #7)
- #10: When did Absalom rebel against David? 2sam 15:7 ≠ 2sam 5:4
- #11: The two contradictory creation accounts. gen 1:25-27 ≠ gen 2:18-22
- #12: Who Was Achan’s father? jos 7:1 ≠ jos 7:24, 22:20
- #13: How many of Adin’s offspring returned from Babylon? ezra 2:15 ≠ neh 7:20