I want to know who here thinks the bible contradicts itself and who here doesn't. If anyone thinks it does give verses.

of course not, Romans 10:9-10 says “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation”. This is telling us how to get justified through faith, but when looking through the Bible, it can be discovered that in James 2:24, 26 “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” and “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead”. Does the Bible contradict itself? The answer is no. James is saying that if you say you are a Christian, then there had better be some good works shown or your faith is false, so good works are simply an addition to our faith. James says this because the devil believes in God, he has faith, but the faith he has is useless. Romans is saying that justification by faith is a step in the right direction, but we also need to remember that we need to live a good Christian life also.

the Bible does not contradict itself. although sometimes it may seem to contradict itself, as oobla37 was alluding to, it is important to fully evaluate,understand, and apprecite the scripture which may at first appear contradicting.

I agree with you guy's. I have heard some of the dumbest ideas people have about contradictions, and almost all of them were because they weren't reading it closely or studying it.

oobla37 : That's a very good point. The Bible never contradicts itself. Those passages are arguments used by people claiming the Bible is contradictory, yet if you look at it, James is saying that true faith brings good works, or in other words, if you're truly a Christian, you'll live a life with good works. In no way is he saying you must work for salvation; rather, he says "faith without works is dead": if you don't live a good life, trying not to sin and doing good things, then your faith is a lie.

Another thing about how people find contradictions is that they aren't right on the inside. And I don't mean they're crazy on the inside.

Well the bible is open to any interpretation. So some people might see contradictions, some dont.
Me, I have never read the bible from cover to cover, but am planning to do that soon.

tonetone714 : I would be careful with the statement "open for interpretation". It's not that the Bible can be interpret in any way you like it to be. The author from each book wrote them with original intention and purpose, and along with the context of time, culture, place, and covenant, there is such a thing as misinterpretation.

There'll always be a misinterpretation, no matter how simple a book is, it can still be misinterpreted, like Science books, poetries... and Bible is not an exception just because it is holy.

Juliet : Do you mean misinterpretation or mistranslation?

Because the Bible is holy, we need to learn how to read it and study it and prevent us from misinterpreting what it says.

play4fun : Well to me the bible is open for interpetaion.
Example look at how many different types of chrtianity there are, if it wasnt open to interpretation then there would only be one.

tonetone714 : The reason that there are different types of denominations is because there are some things that are not in the Bible that Christians have disputes in. (Example: how to baptize, how to do communion) There are also secondary theological difference on certain views, like Calvinism vs Armenianism, end times theology, etc. Finally, there are some verses that can be disputed on what they mean. However, the Bible cannot be interpreted based on how the reader decides it to be. There can be different applications from verses.

So there are different applications from scripture, or there can be disputes on how a verse is interpreted. However, we cannot view the Bible as a book "open" to interpretation. There are rules of context, authorial intention, prerequisites for application...there are even survey books and commentaries that are devoted in explaining what each verse means. I highly recommend a commentary by John MacArthur or D.A. Carson.

You just switched interpretaion to application, they basically mean the same thing. I dont know though.

tonetone714 : "Interpretation" is what the Bible verse or series of verses mean, "application" is how the verse is applied in your life. Even though there can be so many ways a certain verse can be applied in your life, there are also ways that a verse can be applied wrongly.

I mean that there can be many ways of applying scripture in our lives, but we cannot freely interpret scripture to our liking or to support our opinions. We need to know what it says and its intentions.

The bible cannot be interpreted to any meaning you want it to have. It was made as unchanging truth that could not be twisted to ones will.

Hoochman : If that was true then the bible wouldn't be vague and this topic wouldn't exist

Zamiel : Question, have you read the Bible before calling it vague?

play4fun : Yes, I used to be a Christian. Maybe I haven't read all of the bible and can't quote any of it except for maybe a few verses that were drilled into me in sunday school but still, there are obviously vague points in the bible or else there wouldn't be so many different denominations and interpretations of the bible.

Here's some contradictions:

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."

So I guess that means anyone who believes in the LORD will be successful while those who don't believe can't be successful?



"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

So your not entitled to opinions? We should just sit back and let him decide our fates?



"He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them."

Why would he set up kings and then remove them? So he established Hitler then killed him? How entertaining.



"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."

Oh what about women? Are they just dishwashers?



"If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Saved from what? The devil? That is a good way to scare people into a religion I don't like it.


After reading a lot of quotes online I think its all speculation at best, its their own opinions on god. Sounds like a bunch of fear mongering or brainwashing to me. Why I don't believe anything in the bible. If Jesus wrote it himself would make more sense but I just cant take the whole telephone game seriously.

For anyone who has never playing that game it goes like this. You sit in a circle and 1 person starts off with a phrase, by the time it gets to the last person the phrase is completely mangled and nothing like what it was intended to be that is how the bible should be viewed as.

Zamiel : I thought we dealt with this topic...but I'll expand on that. Denominations, like I said before, are either disputes on secondary theology, differences on practical actions(how to do church), or the display of different applications of verses. However, when dealing with denominations, I should have taken this to 1 Corinthians 3. This chapter deals with the division of the church, and here one of the biggest reason that the church, even in the early stages have divisions, is because of us still acting human. There are times that decisions and actions of certain groups would follow a certain leader of the church. In this passage, people are trying to decide whether to follow Paul or Apollo, prominent members of the church, and Paul reminds people that they are just servants and that each person has a role. He warns not to act worldly to avoid division, and not to boast on who you follow, cuz they are human as well.

So our own imperfect views and actions are the main reasons that there are denominations. However, denominations do not divide the Christian community. Even my small Christian college is filled with people with different denominations and we get along just fine, and we enjoy a variety of different theological discussions, but no hard cut division that causes physical separation or fights.

This cannot be support that the Bible is vague. Maybe suggest where in the Bible that you think there are vague points. I know there are a few, but not to the point where you can say the entire book is vague.


1 Corinthians 3 (New International Version)

On Divisions in the Church
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?

5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

16Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

18Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; 20and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." 21So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.