Do you think there is a god? I personally believe in an almighty deity. For me the Bible is proof in itself that there is a god. The Bible was written by more than sixty authors over a two-thousand year time span and none of it contradicts another part. So. What are your thoughts?

Nope, I don't believe in any kind of god. And I'm not a Biblical scholar, so I don't know whether or not the Bible contradicts itself, but it certainly contradicts nature a number of times. If one were to take it literally, it can easily be dismissed. However some may argue that some of it is meant to be taken as a parable or a story. The problem with this is that it doesn't address why some parts of the Bible that seem unrealistic can be dismissed as a story when others can't.

soxfan849 : In what ways do you think it contradicts nature? Do you mean human nature or the so called 'Mother Nature'?

I dont believe no, and furthermore it is riddled with contradictions

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
And on the note of nature, the bible says bats are birds, god should learn what hes created.

We as people don't know for certain whether or not there truly is a god. As for myself, I do believe in a higher power and things we can not explain. I suppose if you call that god than yes, I do believe it exists.

thenumberone : For one thing I looked at the list and I can give you a viable reason for all of those 'contradictions'. For sake of time I chose the last on the list. How long was Jesus in the tomb? When he talks about prophecies he's taking everything a little too literally. In Matthew it says that Jesus would be in the tomb three days and nights. In Mark it says he was risen up on the third day. This is not a contradiction but an evidence that it was written by two men. All it is, is a difference in writing style.

I believe there is a god. The Bible is one way of proofing it but based on experience I've noticed how god sets things up. I believe some coincidences are acts of god. 

Vizzed Maniac :  There are tons of contradictions within the bible itself as well as tons of contradictions between the bible and science/history. There are many contradictions  just dealing with Jesus' crucifixtion and resurrection alone. Since you brought up one about how long Jesus was in the tomb I will give you more examples of these contradictions also regarding his resurrection. These contradictions aren't easily found when reading the bible as the gospels are all split up and a lot of backtracking and comparing is required to really notice them.

Who visits the tomb
Mark 16:1 - Three women visit Jesus’ tomb: Mary Magdalene, a second Mary, and Salome
Matthew 28:1 - Two women visit Jesus’ tomb: Mary Magdalene and another Mary
Luke 24:10 - At least five women visit Jesus’ tomb: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and “other women.”
John 20:1 - One woman visits Jesus’ tomb: Mary Magdalene. She later fetches Peter and another disciple

When do they visit the tomb
Mark 16:2 - They arrive after sunrise
Matthew 28:1 - They arrive at about dawn
Luke 24:1 - It is early dawn when they arrive
John 20:1 - It is dark when they arrive

The tombs stone door
Mark 16:4, Luke 24:2, John 20:1 - The stone in front of Jesus’ tomb had been rolled away
Matthew 28:1-2 - The stone in front of Jesus’ tomb was still in place and would be rolled away later

Who is in the tomb
Mark 16:5 - The women enter the tomb and meet one young man in there
Matthew 28:2 - An angel arrives during an earthquake, rolls away the stone, and sits on it outside. Pilate’s guards are also there
Luke 24:2-4 - The women enter the tomb and two men suddenly appear — it’s not clear if they are inside or outside
John 20:12 - The women do not enter the tomb, but there are two angels sitting inside

Women's reaction to seeing the empty tomb
Mark 16:8 - The women keep quiet, despite being told to spread the word
Matthew 28:8 - The women go tell the disciples
Luke 24:9 - The women tell “the eleven and to all the rest.”
John 20:10-11 - Mary stays to cry while the two disciples just go home

Where Jesus is first seen after his resurrection
Mark 16:14-15 - Jesus appears to Mary Magdalena but it’s not clear where (in older endings of Mark, he didn’t appear at all)
Matthew 28:8-9 - Jesus first appears near his tomb
Luke 24:13-15 - Jesus first appears near Emmaus, several miles from Jerusalem
John 20:13-14 - Jesus first appears at his tomb

Who see's Jesus first
Mark - Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalena then later to “the eleven”
Matthew - Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalena, then to the other Mary, and finally to ”the eleven”
Luke - Jesus appears first to “two,” then to Simon, then to “the eleven”
John - Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalena, then the disciples without Thomas, then the disciples with Thomas

How Jesus acts after his resurrection
Mark 16:14-15 - Jesus commissions “the eleven” to preach the gospel
Matthew 28:9 - Jesus lets Mary Magdalene and another Mary hold his feet
John 20:17 - Jesus forbids Mary to touch him because he hasn’t ascended to heaven yet, but a week later he lets Thomas touch him anyway

Disciples doubt Jesus's resurrection
Mark 16:11, Luke 24:11 - Everyone doubts and/or is scared at first, but eventually they go along with it
Matthew 28:16 - Some doubt, but most believe
John 20:24-28 - Everyone believes but Thomas, whose doubts are eliminated when he gets physical proof

Jesus' ascension
Mark 16:14-19 - Jesus ascends while he and his disciples are seated at a table in or nearJerusalem
Matthew 28:16-20 - Jesus’ ascension isn’t mentioned at all, but Matthew ends at a mountain in Galilee
Luke 24:50-51 - Jesus ascends outside, after dinner, and at Bethany and on the same day as the resurrection
John - Nothing about Jesus’ ascension is mentioned
Acts 1:9-12 - Jesus ascends at least 40 days after his resurrection, at Mt. Olivet

thenumberone : Where in the Bible are bats called birds?

smotpoker86 : Again for sake of time I can only answer one 'contradiction'. I will post the rest tomorrow. The question I'll answer is how Jesus reacted after his resurrection. If you examine the text closely at Matt 29:9 (New World Translation) you will find that it does not say he let them hold his feet. It says that they fell at the immediate sight of him and did obeisance to him. This is why in John 20:17 Jesus tells Mary not to cling to him. After that as it says in Mark 16:14,15 he told his disciples and apostles to go preach to "the nations". You have to understand that some of those that wrote these accounts were present. That is why there are differences in the text. For instance in Mark it talks about a boy who escaped the soldiers on the night of Jesus' death. The reason the writer did this was probably because it was Mark himself. I would give more examples but I don't have time at the moment. Like I said I will post more in the morning.

tRIUNE : leviticus 11:13, 9
And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds, and shall not to be eaten: the eagle, the vulture... And the bat.
Vizzed Maniac : and the different explenations of judas's demise? god tempting man then saying he would never tempt man?the righteous shall flourish then changing to the righteous perisheth?

Vizzed Maniac :   I do not necessarily want you to explain these contradictions, as that isn't the reason why I posted them. The reason I listed so many is to show a large amount of contradictions in such a small portion of fairly lengthy book. Feel free to try to debunk them if you wish but it will not sway my opinion on the matter.

You can claim that contradictions occur because they are different authors or were/weren't present at particular events, but that doesn't mean they don't contradict. If you don't believe they are contradictions then you don't understand the english definition of the word. It does not matter if one author is correct and the other was wrong for any reason, they still contradict. Some of these contradictions can't be explained by saying it is due to the author not being present. Most of the ones I listed, the authors would only know from what Mary/s told them. All of the stories should be the same, or very similar when they all our based off of the same source. What will you blame this on? Forgetful memories of the authors or the poor education of women?

smotpoker86 : For one thing, the Bible itself is not the debate. The debate is on the existence of God, aka, Allah Buddha, Jehovah, Yahweh. Instead of using the Bible as reference let me give you an illustration. When you see a house, can you look at that house and say that it just randomly appeared by chance? By some way it had to come from a CREATOR. So we as humans also had to come from a creator, we couldn't just happen by chance. I'm taking an advanced biology class. If you knew all of the little details needed to create life you could disprove evolution easily. If you don't believe in God but believe in a creator than you are contradicting yourself my friend.

thenumberone :   You did not site verse 19 right after it talks about bats which says from the New World Translation, "And every WINGED SWARMING CREATURE is unclean for you." It was talking about winged creatures in general, not just birds. I think that's proof in itself.

Vizzed Maniac :   Yes the debate is about the existence of God but you originally said "For me the Bible is proof in itself that there is a god. The Bible was written by more than sixty authors over a two-thousand year time span and none of it contradicts another part." ... So the bible is the debate if it is the source material of your proof.

When I look at a house and think about how it got there I think "Hey a human must have built this house" because I know from many different types of evidence that is how houses get made. When I look at all the natural things in our universe I don't assume it is put there by a CREATOR. The fact of the matter is we don't know whether or not a creator on some level exists, but some people still make unprovable supernatural claims like they do understand.

smotpoker86 : Heaven I'm sure is in another dimension or universe but there is no way of getting there with our current technology except for 144,000 when they die. And another thing is that Jehovah God is no human being. Even though it says made in his image that means personality traits such as a conscience and sense of justice. And if we have evolved by chance then there should be other actual species with a mind and feelings like us. Your, Honor... I rest my case.


P.S. No hard feelings. I'm just strongly opinionated and very stubborn. Friends?

Vizzed Maniac : yeh AFTER naming bats as birds.
equaly you never explained the other 2 examples

To you, what makes other ancient religious texts, with similar (or sometimes greater) age, length, detail and historic accuracy, such as the Qur'an, less valid or pertinent than the Christian Bible?

Have you thoroughly researched all religions and their religious texts, and come to the conclusion that Christianity is the truth?
If so, what main differences between these other books made you pick the Christian Bible over all of them?

If not, are you Christian because you were raised that way? Do
you think you would still know and care about the Bible if you were born
in another part of the world where that is not taught?

I'm curious. I'm not trying to bash you, I just want to know YOUR personal answer.

As for the Bible containing no contradictions, you might want to read these pages:
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html
http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/2011/09/contradictions-in-bible-analysis-by.html

I know it's a site that's obviously highly critical of religion, so you probably do not agree with their overall sentiment. However, this website is not making anything up or adding its own commentary, the vast majority is simply citing the Bible itself. Anyone, Christian or not, should be able to look at something objectively and logically to come to a conclusion about it, in this case, "The Bible contains no contradictions".

Annette : Yes I have studied more than one book of religious origin and the Christian Bible is what makes the most sense. The Qur'an was good and has some helpful advice but it sticks to the Mosaic Law that some Jews still follow today. Jesus abolished that Law when he died. Animal sacrifices had been made until then. I would explain the rest but it would take about n hour to type it all up. The Bible is the only [true] inspired Word of God. And yes I have researched many facets of religion such as those of Jehovah's Witnesses (of which I am currently) Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism (Which is part Christian in my opinion), Catholicism, Baptism, Methodism, ism  ,ism ,ism, etc. Being raised Christian does not mean, (for me) I would automatically be one. I did study many religions and came to the conclusion that Christianity is the truth. Yes I would care about the Bible because I would have found out about through research anyway because I'm like that.

P.S. Someone post cause it won't let me twice in a row.

Vizzed Maniac : I was referring to "mother nature". The biggest example is that of Noah's Ark. A substantial number of Christians now believe it was either a local flood, or a just a story.