Many people contend that there are contradictions in scripture. There are no contradictions in scripture if you have the true word of God in a King James Bible. What many people believe are contradictions are just misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the passages or verses. If one prays and asks the Holy Ghost to reveal the truth and if one looks carefully at the verses in question and compares them with other scripture and believes it is true what it says, it will be seen that often what we think is a contradiction is just not understanding the verses.
One of the first alleged contradictions in
scripture is the creation story as presented in Genesis 1 versus Genesis 2. It
appears it is two different creation stories and that scripture is in error.
One seems to have the plants and animals created before man and the other
created after man. It also seems fowls (birds) where made of water in the first
chapter and out of the ground in the second chapter. A closer look shows there
are no contradictions. We see in Genesis 1 that the plants were made on day
three and the fowls on day four from the water and the land animals on day six
from the earth (ground) prior to the creation of man. (Genesis 1:11-13 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose
seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and
herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was
in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the
third day.) (Genesis 1:20-23 And God said, Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every
living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after
their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was
good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be
fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply
in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the
fifth day.) (Genesis 1:24-25 ¶ And God said, Let the earth bring forth the
living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the
earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after
his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the
earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.) (Genesis 1:26-28 ¶
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that moveth upon the earth.) (Genesis 1:31 And God saw every
thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening
and the morning were the sixth day.) We now will look at the verses in chapter
2 of Genesis. (Genesis 2:8-9 ¶ And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in
Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to
grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of
life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and
evil.) (Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of
the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see
what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that
was the name thereof.) If you look carefully at these various verses
from the first two chapters, we see it is not a contradiction. In Genesis 1,
God created the plants on day three, the fowls from water on day five and the
land animals from the earth on day six before man. This covered the whole
earth. Genesis 2 speaks only of the creation in the garden of Eden where God
placed Adam. God created more plants for Adam to see that where “pleasant to the sight, and good for food”. Not every
tree and plant was recreated. Only those needed for food and pleasant to the
sight. God also created the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and
evil at this time. The animals where only the beasts of the field, not all
animals and the fowls where also made from out of the ground. These beasts and
fowls were not all of them on the earth, but just the ones God placed in the
garden of Eden so Adam could name each one. This is why these where created
after man and only these fowls were made out of the ground. God also wanted
Adam to see him create things so that he knew who the Creator was knowing Satan
later would try to claim to be God.
One alleged contradiction is if Noah was the eighth or tenth person from Adam. If you read the chronology in Genesis 5, it clearly shows Noah as the tenth person, but II Peter 2:5 seems to say the eighth. (II Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;) A closer look at this verse and those around it shows that this verse is not talking about Noah’s genealogy from Adam, but the eight people saved on board the ark. Noah was the last person onboard the ark. This verse is just taken out of context and compared with the wrong scripture.
Another alleged contradiction is if one of
the thieves on the cross repented and was saved. Two gospels seem to say he did
not and Luke seems to say he did. (Matthew 27:44 The thieves also, which were
crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.) (Mark 15:32 Let Christ the
King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And
they that were crucified with him reviled him.) (Luke 23:39-40 ¶ And one of the
malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save
thyself and us.
40 But the other answering rebuked him,
saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?)
Matthew and Mark show both thieves railing against Jesus. Both thieves did
originally do this, but later as seen in Luke, one of the thieves repented and
called upon Jesus and was saved.
How many Isrealites died at Baal-peor? Numbers says 24,000 and I Corinthians says 23,000. Which is it? (Numbers 25:9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.) (I Corinthians 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.) The answer is simple. 23,000 fell in one day and a total of 24,000 over the total time of the plague.
What was the superscription above the cross of Jesus? Each gospel reads differently. (Matthew 27:37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.) (Mark 15:26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.) (Luke 23:38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.) (John 19:19 ¶ And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.) Each gospel writer only gave a part of the superscription. This is the same as witnesses do that see a crime. Each person relates what they think is important. I also believe the number of words in each gospel serves a purpose. The whole superscription read “This is Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.”
Acts 20:35 seems to quote an unrecorded quote from Jesus. (Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.) This is only a problem to those who are weak in the faith to think that everything Jesus said and did is in the gospels. John even tells us they are not. (John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.)
I Corinthians 11 seems to say Jesus body
was broken, but we are told none of his bones were broken. (I Corinthians
11:23-24 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you,
That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it,
and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is
broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.) Other verses say Jesus
had no broken bones. (Psalm 34:20 He keepeth all
his bones: not one of them is broken.) (John 19:33 But when they came to Jesus,
and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:) (John 19:36 For
these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him
shall not be broken.) A closer look at I Corinthians 11:24 shows it says the
body of Jesus was broken, not his bones. The skin of Jesus was broken, torn and
hanging and all of his bones were out of joint. This qualifies as a broken
body, but still not having any broken bones. (Psalm 22:14-15 I am poured out
like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is
melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd;
and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of
death.)
How many baths did the molten sea hold? A bath is about 5.81 gallons or 22 liters. I have seen this as 9 gallons, but archeology seems to support about 6 gallons. We seem to have a contradiction between I Kings which says 2,000 baths and II Chronicles which says 3,000 baths. (I Kings 7:26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.) (II Chronicles 4:5 And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths.) Again a closer look at these verses shows in II Chronicles the molten sea “held” 3,000 baths, but the priests only filled it 2/3 of its capacity with 2,000 baths as seen in I Kings, thus it contained an actual amount of 2,000 baths though it could hold 3,000 baths.
When did Adam die? Many say he did not die as God said he would. Genesis 2 says he would die when he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in that day, though in Genesis 5 it says Adam died at 930 years old. So is there an error? (Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.) (Genesis 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.) God was speaking of Adam’s spiritual death in Genesis 2. Genesis 5 refers to his physical death. Adam did die spiritually on the day he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He immediately knew he was naked. This was because his spirit was disconnected from God and he was a man of sin in need of a Saviour in Jesus. He was spiritually dead, though his physical body lived for 930 years. Many today live their whole physical lives spiritually dead. This is why we all need to be saved to reconnect our spirit with God. Adam also died in the day of his sin in God’s eyes as a thousand years is a day with God. (II Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.) Adam and all who have ever lived died less than a thousand years old. So in both ways, Adam died in the day of his sin of eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
There are many other alleged contradictions in scripture, but those are for other sermons. Now I want to mention just two of the alleged problems with the King James Bible. We will see the King James Bible is superior and is the word of God. The other bible versions are not.
The first is from John 4:24. (John 4:24 God is
a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth.) Jesus who
was speaking said God is a Spirit. Many false bibles say “God is Spirit” (NKJV
[New King James Version], NLT [New Living Translation]) or “God is spirit”.
(NIV [New International Version], NASB [New American Standard Version], RSV [Revised
Standard Version], HCSB [Holman Christian Standard Bible], et cetera) This is
heretical. God is not the only Spirit. Angels both holy and unholy are also
spirits. (Hebrews 1:13-14 But to which of the
angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?) Man also has
a spirit though is never referred to in scripture as a spirit. John 4:24 shows
God is a particular Spirit and is superior to the rest of the spirits. Most of
the bible versions also spell Spirit with a lower case “s”. This denies the
deity of the Holy Ghost, who is the Spirit of God.
Another issue with the King James Bible is its use of Easter instead of Passover in Acts 12. (Acts 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.) Even the New King James Version (NKJV) uses Passover. Easter is the correct translation. All English translations as well as foreign language translations prior to the King James Bible all used Easter. If we look back at verse three, we see it was the days of the feast of unleavened bread. [Acts 12:3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)] The first day of the feast was passover. If that day had already passed, then how can Herod wait until after that day if it already happened. He would not have waited, but brought forth Peter immediately for his death. Easter was a non-Jewish holiday that sometimes occurred around the same time as passover.
People need to just trust scripture and trust the King James Bible. They need to stop making it say what they want it to say or say there are contradictions in scripture, when all can be answered when scripture is closely looked at and compared and trusted.
