Please help (with alleged contradictions.)

[brierpatch1974]

First let me state I claim no denomination of religion but I am always reading and talking to Catholics and have a strong desire in my heart to learn even more. It really stirs up some conversations around here when people find out. This place has more fire and brimstone baptist than anything else. Sometimes I think revelations is the only book these people know about in the Bible. But I think they just prefer scare tactics over teaching God’s love.

Anyways I was sent a list of things from a friend and I am far from being knowledgeable enough to answer or refute his lack of belief and was wondering if someone could help me out and hopefully help him out as well. Here is the list and I am sorry its long.

Who killed Goliath?
(a) David (I Samuel 17:23, 50)
(b) Elhanan (2 Samuel 21:19)

Who killed Saul?
(a) Saul took his own sword and fell upon it… Thus Saul
died…(I Samuel 31:4-6)
(b) An Amalekite slew him (2 Samuel 1:1- 16)

How many disciples did Jesus appear to after his resurrection?
(a) Twelve (I Corinthians 15:5)
(b) Eleven (Matthew 27:3-5 and Acts 1:9-26, see also Matthew 28:16; Mark
16:14 footnote; Luke 24:9; Luke 24:3 3)

Where was Jesus three days after his baptism?
(a) After his baptism;the spirit immediately drove him out
into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days …(Mark
1:12-13)
(b) Next day after the baptism, Jesus selected two disciples. Second
day: Jesus went to Galilee - two more disciples. Third day: Jesus was at
a wedding feast in Cana in Galilee (see John 1:35; 1:43; 2:1-11)

Was baby Jesus life threatened in Jerusalem?
(a) Yes, so Joseph fled with him to Egypt and stayed there until Herod
died (Matthew 2:13 23)
(b) No. The family fled nowhere. They calmly presented the child at the
Jerusalem temple according to the Jewish customs and returned to Galilee
(Luke 2:21-40)

When Jesus walked on water how did the disciples respond?
(a) They worshipped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of
God(Matthew 14:33)
(b) They were utterly astounded, for they did not understand
about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened (Mark 6:51-52)

In the gospels which say that Jesus prayed to avoid the cross, how many
times did he move away from his disciples to pray?
(a) Three (Matthew 26:36-46 and Mark 14:32-42)
(b) One. No opening is left for another two times.(Luke 22:39-46)

Matthew and Mark agree that Jesus went away and prayed three times. What
were the words of the second prayer?
(a) Mark does not give the words but he says that the words were the
same as the first prayer (Mark 14:3 9)
(b) Matthew gives us the words, and we can see that they are not the
same as in the first (Matthew 26:42)

What did the centurion say when Jesus dies?
(a)Certainly this man was innocent (Luke 23:47)
(b) Truly this man was the Son of God;(Mark 15:39)

According to the gospels, what were the last words of Jesus before he
died?
(a) Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!(Luke
23:46)
(b) “It is finished” (John 19:30).

When Jesus entered Capernaum he healed the slave of a centurion. Did the
centurion come personally to request Jesus for this?
(a) Yes (Matthew 8:5)
(b) No. He sent some elders of the Jews and his friends (Luke 7:3,6)

Apart from Jesus did anyone else ascend to heaven?
(a) No (John 3:13)
(b) Yes. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven
(2 Kings 2:11)

Who was high priest when David went into the house of God and ate the
consecrated bread?
(a) Abiathar (Mark 2:26)
(b) Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar (I Samuel 1:1; 22:20)

Did anyone tell the women what happened to Jesus body?
(a) Yes. A young man in a white robe ;(Mark 16:5).
Two men … in dazzling apparel later described as
angels (Luke 24:4 and 24:23). An angel - the one who rolled back the
stone (Matthew 16:2). In each case the women were told that Jesus had
risen from the dead (Matthew 28:7; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:5 footnote)
(b) No. Mary met no one and returned saying, They have taken
the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid
him(John 20:2)

Thanks for all the help.

 

[hazcompat]

It is Revelation, not revelations.

Peace

 

[St_Francis]

Here is the answer to one:
Goliath. He might have the same name as his brother, who had been slain by David forty-three years before; (Salien) or the title of brother may only signify that this giant resembled the former in size and strength, Proverbs xviii. 9. — Beam. See 1 Kings xvii. 7. (Calmet)

Here is the Haydock commentary, a great resource for Catholics. Your friend is quite likely not to be the first to ask these questions, and if you look through this commentary, you will probably find many of the answers to your questions

 

[jakasaki]

thedevineevidence.com/skeptic_contradictions.html

Bible contradictions explained.

There are more sites on the net.

Just google search bible contradictions explained or answered.

 

[St_Francis]

How many disciples did Jesus appear to after his resurrection?
(a) Twelve (I Corinthians 15:5)
(b) Eleven (Matthew 27:3-5 and Acts 1:9-26, see also Matthew 28:16; Mark
16:14 footnote; Luke 24:9; Luke 24:3 3)

Upon a quick perusal, it would seem that these different accounts refer to different events, so at one time,Christ appears to one group of Apostles, like the first time He appeared to them in the Upper Room when Thomas was not with them, and the second time, when Thomas was there.

 

[brierpatch1974]

Thank you all for your help. I may be in the wrong but right now If eel like I need to just learn things for myself and not worry about letting someone try to talk me out of anything or debate my choices. Its hard enough the way it is.

 

[St_Francis]

Thank you all for your help. I may be in the wrong but right now If eel like I need to just learn things for myself and not worry about letting someone try to talk me out of anything or debate my choices. Its hard enough the way it is.

Oh, definitely! BTW, welcome to CAF; I am sure lots of people here can help you!

 

[meteoric]

One of the (annoying to some people) things about the Catholic view of the Bible is that the Bible is true, but not all truths in the bible are facts.

God created the earth in 7 days according to the poem (or, I’ve heard, song) that starts the Bible, finishing with the creation of Man. And in the following chapter, it says God created Man and Woman first and all the other animals and plants for the Man and Woman, and then the next story relates how after creation was done, God created Woman for Man.

Contradictions? Yes. True? Yes. 7 days? Not necessarily. But definitely created by God.

Man first or last? The human writer (which are believed to be two different people for the two creation stories) each placed man in the position of importance to him, because we believe that the Holy Spirit uses the human authors, and the two sacred authors had different concepts of where the most important thing should be.

So, little things, like your list, don’t cause Catholics to say “OMG! The Bible is WRONG! I can’t believe any of it!” We just take it as the details aren’t important to the truth that God is trying to impart to us in the sacred stories collected there.

That said,

Was baby Jesus life threatened in Jerusalem?
(a) Yes, so Joseph fled with him to Egypt and stayed there until Herod
died (Matthew 2:13 23)
(b) No. The family fled nowhere. They calmly presented the child at the
Jerusalem temple according to the Jewish customs and returned to Galilee
(Luke 2:21-40)

I’ve heard that the magi took two years to find Jesus, so they arrived long after the presentation oat the temple.


Tom A.
“The Bible is part of the Deposit of Faith, not the whole thing. Jesus created a church; He didn’t write a book.” - author lost from my memory; sorry.

 

[Della]

Thank you all for your help. I may be in the wrong but right now If eel like I need to just learn things for myself and not worry about letting someone try to talk me out of anything or debate my choices. Its hard enough the way it is.

That’s fine, but you have to have a good starting point as well as have some basic knowledge of the things you are researching or you’ll only get confused rather than find answers–at least it could take you far more time than necessary.

Your statement, if you don’t mind my saying so, says, in so many words, that you can’t trust others to tell you the truth. I don’t think anyone who would try to answer you, Catholic or not, would deliberately mislead you, but a non-Catholic is not going to have the answers you need about the Catholic Church–even ones who left the Church considering that most people who leave the Church do so with limited knowledge or because of personal reasons.

CAF has many people who are quite knowledgeable about the Catholic faith. So, please know that most of us here will tell you what we believe to be true, although not all of us are as knowledgeable as others.

As to your list of “contradictions”, it was obviously composed by someone trying to taint others trust in it. As others have pointed out, these are not contradictions, but rather various verses ripped out of context to make it appear like contradictions. I also highly doubt your friend came up with these on his own–most people don’t put that kind of effort into doing something like that. No, he got it from some ant-faith website meant to destroy people’s faith. Hardly a reliable source.

In order to understand the Bible one must know what it is, why it was written, what it contains, who the various authors were addressing, and so on and so on. It’s much more complex than any other book–and is one that cannot be read cold with no knowledge of history, religion, or ancient cultures. So, please don’t try to read it without finding out more about it from reliable sources.

Another thing you should know is that Catholicism is not a “religion of the book”. Our faith is not based on the Bible, but is based in Sacred Tradition of which the Bible is a part. And even then the Bible is a witness not an authority, nor was it ever meant to be one. Jesus established his Church, not a book, no matter how holy and true. It is the Church to whom he gave the authority to decide matters of faith and morals. I relay all this to you as mere information so you will have a proper basis from which to begin your researches. God bless your journey.

 

[brierpatch1974]

Your statement, if you don’t mind my saying so, says, in so many words, that you can’t trust others to tell you the truth. I don’t think anyone who would try to answer you, Catholic or not, would deliberately mislead you, but a non-Catholic is not going to have the answers you need about the Catholic Church–even ones who left the Church considering that most people who leave the Church do so with limited knowledge or because of personal reasons.

** I am sorry I did not to mean to come off as not trusting anyone. I was thinking to myself when I wrote this and about how two people in my life who are not very religious have been giving me a hard time over things of late. Then they get ticked at me when I don’t spend as much tie with them as I use to but the negativity is just driving me away from them and I no longer enjoy being around them the way I use to. I am sorry if that comment offended anyone. That is not what I meant to do. What I was meaning was that I need to find people with the knowledge of the subject to guide me and not the people around me who know nothing on the matter. **

Another thing you should know is that Catholicism is not a “religion of the book”. Our faith is not based on the Bible, but is based in Sacred Tradition of which the Bible is a part. And even then the Bible is a witness not an authority, nor was it ever meant to be one. Jesus established his Church, not a book, no matter how holy and true. It is the Church to whom he gave the authority to decide matters of faith and morals. I relay all this to you as mere information so you will have a proper basis from which to begin your researches. God bless your journey.

** This comment just explained so much to me. Seeing the Bible as a witness and not an authority clarifies so much. I did not grow up in a very religious family but the few times religion was talked about was just saying the bible is the only authority. I was always told I was just a kid and didn’t know anything when I asked what the Churches did before the bible was written. **

 

[Della]

I am sorry I did not to mean to come off as not trusting anyone. I was thinking to myself when I wrote this and about how two people in my life who are not very religious have been giving me a hard time over things of late. Then they get ticked at me when I don’t spend as much tie with them as I use to but the negativity is just driving me away from them and I no longer enjoy being around them the way I use to. I am sorry if that comment offended anyone. That is not what I meant to do. What I was meaning was that I need to find people with the knowledge of the subject to guide me and not the people around me who know nothing on the matter.

Ah, I see. :tiphat: And I hope I didn’t offend you. My intent was to find out if you were going to try to “go it alone”, which would not be the best way to learn about the faith. It’s sad when friends can’t/won’t understand the changes in our lives. I’m sorry about that. Hopefully, they’ll come around or you’ll find new friends who will be better friends.

**This comment just explained so much to me. Seeing the Bible as a witness and not an authority clarifies so much. I did not grow up in a very religious family but the few times religion was talked about was just saying the bible is the only authority. I was always told I was just a kid and didn’t know anything when I asked what the Churches did before the bible was written. **

It really helps to understand these things. The idea that we can rely on the Bible alone came from the Reformation–a good 1500+ years after the Church was founded by Christ. Until then everyone looked to the Church as the authority God gave us through his Apostles. Both the Catholic and Orthodox churches hold to apostolic succession as passed down through the Apostles.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have. It’s best to start new threads for each new question so we can respond fully to them one at a time. It’s less confusing and you’ll get better replies.

 

[COPLAND_3]

That’s fine, but you have to have a good starting point as well as have some basic knowledge of the things you are researching or you’ll only get confused rather than find answers–at least it could take you far more time than necessary.

Your statement, if you don’t mind my saying so, says, in so many words, that you can’t trust others to tell you the truth. I don’t think anyone who would try to answer you, Catholic or not, would deliberately mislead you, but a non-Catholic is not going to have the answers you need about the Catholic Church–even ones who left the Church considering that most people who leave the Church do so with limited knowledge or because of personal reasons.

CAF has many people who are quite knowledgeable about the Catholic faith. So, please know that most of us here will tell you what we believe to be true, although not all of us are as knowledgeable as others.

As to your list of “contradictions”, it was obviously composed by someone trying to taint others trust in it. As others have pointed out, these are not contradictions, but rather various verses ripped out of context to make it appear like contradictions. I also highly doubt your friend came up with these on his own–most people don’t put that kind of effort into doing something like that. No, he got it from some ant-faith website meant to destroy people’s faith. Hardly a reliable source.

In order to understand the Bible one must know what it is, why it was written, what it contains, who the various authors were addressing, and so on and so on. It’s much more complex than any other book–and is one that cannot be read cold with no knowledge of history, religion, or ancient cultures. So, please don’t try to read it without finding out more about it from reliable sources.

Another thing you should know is that Catholicism is not a “religion of the book”. Our faith is not based on the Bible, but is based in Sacred Tradition of which the Bible is a part. And even then the Bible is a witness not an authority, nor was it ever meant to be one. Jesus established his Church, not a book, no matter how holy and true. It is the Church to whom he gave the authority to decide matters of faith and morals. I relay all this to you as mere information so you will have a proper basis from which to begin your researches. God bless your journey.

You always contribute such great words of wisdom!

 

[Della]

You always contribute such great words of wisdom!

:tiphat: