Are There Errors in the Bible?

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Br. Dan:
I will ask my little question again: did Jesus carry the cross “by himself” (as in St. John’s account) or did Simon help him (as in the other accounts)?
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He carried it part way by himself and part way with Simon helping him.
 
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Hananiah:
He carried it part way by himself and part way with Simon helping him.
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This sounds reasonable and right.

Sincerely,
Jason
 
Dear Jason and Hananiah,

I don’t think it sounds reasonable or right at all.

St. John is very clear and direct: Jesus carried the cross by himself. The synoptics are very clear and detailed: Jesus was helped by a man from Cyrene named Simon who (in St. Mark’s account) was the father of Alexander and Rufus (if I remember correctly). Literally, one of the accounts is in error, it seems to me.

Are you next going to say that when the synoptics say that his friends were “standing at a distance” or that “they all fled” they just mean that some did that just for a while but later the Beloved Disciple and the Blessed Virgin and St. Mary Mag. decided to come near the cross, as in St. John’s account? You can’t have both in this case. One account says, as Jesus dies, that his friends were all standing at a distance while St. John has three people right there at the moment of death. "Oh, well, he meant a “short distance, just within ear-shot.” ??

I don’t think your explanation respects the dignity of the text.
 
Br. Dan:
Dear Jason and Hananiah,

I don’t think it sounds reasonable or right at all.

St. John is very clear and direct: Jesus carried the cross by himself. The synoptics are very clear and detailed: Jesus was helped by a man from Cyrene named Simon who (in St. Mark’s account) was the father of Alexander and Rufus (if I remember correctly). Literally, one of the accounts is in error, it seems to me.
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What you have here is an argument from silence. These aren’t strong arguments. You are referring to an omission in one of the accounts. If you’ve ever had multiple people try and tell you the same story, you’ll understand how there will be omissions. Omissions are not errors.
Are you next going to say that when the synoptics say that his friends were “standing at a distance” or that “they all fled” they just mean that some did that just for a while but later the Beloved Disciple and the Blessed Virgin and St. Mary Mag. decided to come near the cross, as in St. John’s account? You can’t have both in this case. One account says, as Jesus dies, that his friends were all standing at a distance while St. John has three people right there at the moment of death. "Oh, well, he meant a “short distance, just within ear-shot.” ??
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It seems that this is an entirely different subject. I do explain this in some detail in my book. Would you like me to explain it here?
I don’t think your explanation respects the dignity of the text.
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Of course, you are entitled to your opinion. However, not allowing for an omissions is an absurd position to take.

God bless,
Jason
 
Hey Shoeless Dan,

I’m glad to have a friar on my side. I guess you may have some trouble reconciling “around noon” with roughly 8 am as well. Once we’re able to get through the backlog to discuss John 19:14 and Mark 14:12 onwards (Nisan 14 vs. 15), I would also like to chat about Mary M on Easter and some of the really nit-picky ones in the Jerome Biblical commentary, such as Mark 2:26 and Matthew 2:23.
 
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trogiah:
I understand the issue of divorce is a challenge in itself and the discussion could easily digress that way but my point was that Moses didn’t give the complete answer on the issue = just as he didn’t on several other issues which Jesus addressed in the sermon on the mount and in other places. Does this mean the Bible is in error? I guess it depends on what you call an error.

I think all the authors and figures of the bible were, overall, inspired by God but all of them, except Jesus, had limited vision and understanding. I believe those limits are apparent in the words they put on paper. I believe that without the Gospel, the rest of Scripture is, at best, incomplete. Again, does that mean it is in error? I guess I would say that, although the authors were inspired, scripture can be misinterpreted. And some can be more easily misinterpreted than others. If we really don’t want to say “the Bible has an error” than at least we should be able to say this: “We can read scriptures and become convinced of the truth of something that is actually not true.”

It happens often but I think it happens least often when the scripture is from the Gospel.
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I agree. By error, i was thinking something along the lines of a contradiction or obvious factual error.

Thanks for the clarification!
Christopher
 
Jason Gastrich:
Great quote!

Sincerely,
Jason
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Thanks, Jason! I found it posted on many Catholic & Protestant Web sites as: “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” I simply changed the word charity to what i believe its modern equivalent to be.

I also like this quote from the 1st chapter of his Confessions: “Our souls are restless, O Lord, till they find their rest in Thee.”

Blessings to you,
Christopher
 
Jason Gastrich:
Dear Readers,

I hope you are well, today.

Do you think you’ve found an error in the Bible? Have you heard an argument against the Bible’s inerrancy that you couldn’t answer?

I’ve studied the Word for thousands of hours and I’ve found answers to all of the alleged, Bible errors. Therefore, I can conclude that the Word of God is inerrant. Glory to Him.

If you think you have found an error, then please post it. I’d be happy to read your post and respond. If I don’t know the answer, then I’ll do some research and post what I find.

May God bless you richly.

Sincerely,
Jason Gastrich
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There is no error in the Word. It is man who contradicts what the Word is teaching.Lots of misunderstandings on man’s part.

Here is one that contradicts the trinity before creation:
**I am Jehovah thy God, and there is no Savior besides Me (Hos. 13:4). Where does the son of God fit in with these words said by Jehovah Himself? There many other passage where Jehovah God speaks out and saids He is the only Saviour and Redeemer,and that there are no other god but Him.Is Jehovah God a lier.
Jesus Christ is Jehovah God in the Human.
Harry
 
Jason Gastrich:
Can you provide some verses for these things? I’d like to look them up.

Unbelievers are not to take communion. In the Bible, there is a record of some unbelievers taking communion and dying.

I had a friend that I took to church with me. She took communion and got very ill directly afterwards. I wasn’t sure if she was a believer or not, but I thought she had recently, genuinely repented and trusted Christ. However, after she got ill, I thought otherwise.

God bless,
Jason
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Thanks for the response. But we’re not just talking about unbelievers here…we’re talking about people who are not in a state of grace. So what about believers who still take communion even though they may be in a state of mortal sin? Or is it that nobody is in a state of mortal sin anymore?
 
King's X Fan:
Thanks for the response. But we’re not just talking about unbelievers here…we’re talking about people who are not in a state of grace.
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If someone is not in a state of grace, then they are an unbeliever. If a person isn’t resting in God’s grace, then they are under His wrath.

Sincerely,
Jason
 
Hi Harry,

Thanks for your message.
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SpiritualSon:
There is no error in the Word. It is man who contradicts what the Word is teaching.Lots of misunderstandings on man’s part.
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Here is one that contradicts the trinity before creation:
I am Jehovah thy God, and there is no Savior besides Me (Hos. 13:4).

I have a few problems with your argument. First, where did you get “before creation”?

Let’s see Hosea 13:4 in context. Quoting a part of a verse is often a way to get into unnecessary trouble. Here is Hosea 13:4 and 5.

“Yet I am the Lord your God Ever since the land of Egypt, And you shall know no God but Me; For there is no savior besides Me. I knew you in the wilderness, In the land of great drought.”

These verses are clearly talking about the Israelites being saved from the hands of the Egyptians. They were being held captive by them and God saved them.
If there is a Godhead, and I believe there is, then there is no problem with this verse because each time we read “God,” it can refer to the Godhead - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Where does the son of God fit in with these words said by Jehovah Himself?
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As I showed above, you took a tiny part of the message about of context. You must take the scriptures in context of the passage and in context with other scriptures. Jesus fits in as the Son of God because He is the second person in the triune Godhead as He was revealed in the Old and New Testaments.
There many other passage where Jehovah God speaks out and saids He is the only Saviour and Redeemer,and that there are no other god but Him.Is Jehovah God a lier. Jesus Christ is Jehovah God in the Human.
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Harry

I’m a bit confused about your last sentence. Did you just set up your argument to answer it with your last sentence? Pardon my confusion.

As I said before, there is a Godhead and when we see one person of the Godhead speaking, He can refer to all three or even two of the three.

God bless,
Jason
 
Not to sound synical, but it’s nice you concluded the bible is inerrant. The Church made that same conclusion a long time ago. All ribbing aside, though, what do you know of the differing accounts of the death of Judas. One Gospel says he hung himself, and another says his bowels spilled. I have seen this issue come up from people who say Scripture contradicts itself. Anything you’ve seen about this?
 
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everlastingthur:
Not to sound synical, but it’s nice you concluded the bible is inerrant. The Church made that same conclusion a long time ago.
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In my experience it’s far more valuable and convincing to others when one studies diligently and produces a conclusion instead of simply taking someone else’s word for it or having blind faith. This is why I articulate the fact that I have studied the Word for thousands of hours, found an answer to every alleged error, and I conclude (not assume) that the Word is inerrant. I have informed faith. smile
All ribbing aside, though, what do you know of the differing accounts of the death of Judas. One Gospel says he hung himself, and another says his bowels spilled. I have seen this issue come up from people who say Scripture contradicts itself. Anything you’ve seen about this?
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This one is pretty simple. Can anyone else give the answer before I do?

God bless,
Jason
 
Dear Jason,

I think St. John saying that Jesus carried His own cross (or carried it “by himself”) is not an omission on his part. Thus, I don’t think I am making an argument from silence. St. John *said * *something * and I am arguing from what he said. It seems that you are, in fact, basing your argument, at least in part, on what he didn’t say by claiming that he “omitted”, for whatever reason, something which was there in the events.

If an eyewitness to an accident says “He was in the car by himself.” and another says “There was someone else with him in the car.”, neither are omitting any facts. Their “facts” are different and one of them is wrong. An omission on the first witness’s part would occur if he were to simply say “He was in the car.” all the while knowing that there was someone else in there, too. Is this similar to what St. John did? I hope not. If he didn’t purposefully omit Simon, then apparently St. John didn’t witness everything that happened. If that’s the case, what’s he doing claiming to be an eyewitness?

I think I might be getting a little far afield.

And, kman025, it’s good that someone out there knows what OCD stands for. 🙂

On a different subject (and I’m not trying to make any comparisons to the earlier one), are the greek words for “purple” and “scarlet” the same or could they mean either color, or what? I’m just wondering since Pilate’s soldiers are said, in two accounts, to put a “purple” cloak on Jesus and in one account, a “scarlet” one.??

I’m going to be “offline” for a couple weeks so I won’t be responding to any subsequent posts…
 
Jason Gastrich:
Hi Shemp,

I just looked at the timeline. It looks very suspect.

Instead of pointing out all the problems in this timeline, it would be wise for me to study the scriptures and make my own timeline based on the biblical accounts. This will take a little time, but I will put it on my list of things to do.

Thanks,
Jason
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Jason, I’m interested in seeing the timeline you come up with regarding the Nisan 14 vs. Nisan 15 discrepancy. How is it coming along?
 
Jason Gastrich:
If someone is not in a state of grace, then they are an unbeliever. If a person isn’t resting in God’s grace, then they are under His wrath.

Sincerely,
Jason
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Was David an unbeliever between the time he commited adultery and the time he repented? Of course not. He believed that God was one, and trembled.
 
Okay,

Gen.18:14"Is any thing too hard for the LORD?"
Code: 
   Jd.1:19 "And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants           of the mountain; *but could not drive out the inhabitants of the           valley, because they had chariots of iron.*"
%between%Also
Mk.6:5
Hb.6:18
 
One that I owned had the table of content on the back of the book…I hated that…:dancing:
 
Br. Dan:
Dear Jason,

I think St. John saying that Jesus carried His own cross (or carried it “by himself”) is not an omission on his part. Thus, I don’t think I am making an argument from silence.
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John omitted the part about Jesus needing help. Did John say that Jesus carried the cross by himself for the entire trip without any help? No. Therefore, for whatever reason, he simply omitted the part that we discover in the other gospel.

Jesus carried the cross by himself . . . . from point x to point y; not from point x to point z.

God bless,
Jason
 
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Chesster:
Jason, I’m interested in seeing the timeline you come up with regarding the Nisan 14 vs. Nisan 15 discrepancy. How is it coming along?
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Hi Chesster,

I’ve been very busy, so I haven’t had a chance to start it, yet. Has anyone else had the time to make one?

God bless,
Jason
 
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