Question about possible bible contradiction

[excaliber]

this is a quote from a friend of mine.
Quote

The bible has too many contradictions for me to believe it is from God to us to follow. I’m not talking about small contradictions that can be attributed to grammatical errors or mistranlations. I’m talking about big contradictions that are easily seen if you open your eyes and think with reason.

I’m just going to give one big obvious one… I have a paper to get to so I can’t spend a bunch of time writing this! =P You can research more later when you can. There are plenty!

In the old testiment, God gave Moses ten commandments. Amoung those ten commandments, one was “You shall not murder”(Deut 5:17 NIV). However, God blessed and encouraged his people, the Israelites, to attack and murder several different tribes in pursuit of more land; not to mention they were also told by God to stone various sinners to death. Here are a few examples of the contradiction to the commandment:

Battles and Killing of Tribes:

Deut 20:16 However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you.

The first half of the book of Joshua is pretty much the lists of battles and men the Israelites killed. The beginning of Judges continues it…

Stoning Sinners to Death

Deut 21:20 A rebellious son
Deut 22:21 A promiscious daughter

Just throwing another one in, God changed from the Old Testiment’s:
Deut 19:21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
To the New Testiment’s:
Matt 5:38 If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Not too consistant…

Anyway, as I said before, there are more inconsistancies throughout the bible. Its not too hard to find if you do the research.
Thats all! Thank you for taking your time in reading this!

              End Quote

How should I answer this?

 

[Ary_girl]

Excaliber,

I am no scripture scholar, but I thought that I might just give you some ideas, however helpful or not so helpful they might be. : )

The Old Testament and the New Testament are operating under two different covenants. The Old Covenant (Testament) emphasizes more of the God of justice while the New Covenant (Testament) emphasizes the God of Mercy and Love. God in essence cannot change, but perhaps it is just two sides of the same coin.

The Old Covenant was between God and the Jewish nation. He made them His people and He was their God. Now the violence done against other tribes was done so that He could preserve the nation of Israel against the influences of other nations (Caananites, Hittites, Moabites, and whatnot) who were in the territory before the Israelites moved in. This killing was to preserve the Old Covenant in preparation for the New Covenant.
Thou shalt not murder is a command from God. Murder is between people, person to person. Murder does not involve God. God can take whom He pleases at will, because He is in charge of life and death. Now say He used His people as instruments in implementing His will, would that be considered murder? Certainly it would be considered murder if the Israelites took things into their own hands without waiting for a command from God, but what if God, the Author of Life itself told them to take another person’s life, would that be considered murder? Killing I would think, but not murder. We should not murder because it is God’s place to take the life of others, but if God were to tell someone to end the life of another, then He is giving them permission to act in His place. So then it would not be a contradiction.

Only some thoughts; please critique at will.

Pax Christi,
Ary

 

[aaronjmagnan]

The bible, in the catholic sense is considered the Divinely Inspired Word of God through which our salvation is accomplished. The Bible has been around for thousands of years.

You challenged us to research these: I have a far deeper challenge, for your salvation is at stake here:

How could the inconsistencies in the Bible, having been around for so long, have been ignored while winning converts?

Hint: it is the Spirit of the Word.

To answer your question about the murder: there is a difference between murder and self-defense.

As far as the eye-for-an-eye business, Jesus did away with that later, attributing these things as a hardening of hearts that does not permit the law to be carried out.

It may help you to think about the Old Testament as a record of God’s command, and the resistance and following of His command over the course of ancient Jewish history.

God bless, you are in my prayers.

Aaron Magnan

 

[juliamajor]

The bible, in the catholic sense is considered the Divinely Inspired Word of God through which our salvation is accomplished. The Bible has been around for thousands of years.

You challenged us to research these: I have a far deeper challenge, for your salvation is at stake here:

How could the inconsistencies in the Bible, having been around for so long, have been ignored while winning converts?

Hint: it is the Spirit of the Word.

To answer your question about the murder: there is a difference between murder and self-defense.

As far as the eye-for-an-eye business, Jesus did away with that later, attributing these things as a hardening of hearts that does not permit the law to be carried out.

It may help you to think about the Old Testament as a record of God’s command, and the resistance and following of His command over the course of ancient Jewish history.

God bless, you are in my prayers.

Aaron Magnan

Spirit and truth! How true. Let me add some insights-"Eye for Eye, tooth for tooth- is a Lex Talionis- a measure for measure law-in other words harsh punishments shouldn’t be for every crime. Many Laws of that time period and of that area had very harsh punishments for crimes-like in Islam - if you steal you could lose your hand. The Hebrew scripture tried to temper those laws.In other words you can’t kill someone for stealing your cow - murder could result in a death penalty. Manslaughter and accidental deaths begot the cities of refuge- were one could go and be safe from familial vendettas that could last generations.Only deliberate murder (first degree) acquired a death penalty.
Many of the laws that were stated like those Deut. where rarely- very rarely carried out. Those laws were very similar to the Roman Laws governing the Paterfamilias - in theory he could kill without retribution a disobedient child…It didn’t happen or happened so rarely that no note was made of it.What the law says and how people respond or utilize that law can be very different.A social
custom of a particular time was what probably guided their decisions.

 

[joseph_virgen]

the bible is as the ocean. the majority of people will be content with gazing upon its surface, thereby ignoring the Truth that the majority of its content lays far beneath.

so suit up and dive in. it won’t hurt you. promise.

 

[Angelos]

The bible has too many contradictions for me to believe it is from Just throwing another one in, God changed from the Old Testiment’s:
Deut 19:21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
To the New Testiment’s:
Matt 5:38 If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Not too consistant…

How should I answer this?

It is the notion of Law that changes, not the person (God) who gives the Law. It is true that Christ replaced the Mosaic Law with the Law of love. You could suggest that friend of yours reading Paul’s remarkable comparisons between the Mosaic Law and Jesus’ Gospel.

The Law of Moses

law of sin and death
law of the flesh (body)
law of God’s wrath to sinners

vs the Law of Christ

law of salvation and life                         
law of the spirit            
law of God's mercy  to  believers

The NT verse below summarizes the major difference between the OT and the NT:

John 1:18 For the Law was given through Moses, but the grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.