Contradictions in the Bible?

[homwardbound]

Matthew 28:8 - "So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell His disciples."
Mark 16:8 - "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid."

Describe the same emotions

The events are not written on a time line sequencually.

yet, they do correspond to the whole truth, nothing but the Truth Jesus Christ, The Messiah, is Risen and will never Die again

John 19:30

Living Bible

30 When Jesus had tasted[a] it, he said, “It is finished,” and bowed his head and dismissed his spirit.

"What is Finished"? Oh and use whatever Bible interpretation you choose, thank you


Matthew 5:17

Living Bible

17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come—it isn’t to cancel the laws of Moses and the warnings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them and to make them all come true.

What is next, since it is finished?

Romans 1:5
And now, through Christ, all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us undeserving sinners; and now he is sending us out around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things God has done for them, so that they, too, will believe and obey him.
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is God’s powerful method of bringing all who believe it to heaven. This message was preached first to the Jews alone, but now everyone is invited to come to God in this same way.
Romans 1:25
Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they prayed to the things God made, but wouldn’t obey the blessed God who made these things.
Romans 4:3
For the Scriptures tell us Abraham believed God, and that is why God canceled his sins and declared him “not guilty.”
Romans 4:11
It wasn’t until later on, after God had promised to bless him because of his faith, that he was circumcised. The circumcision ceremony was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him just and good in his sight—before the ceremony took place. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who believe and are saved without obeying Jewish laws. We see, then, that those who do not keep these rules are justified by God through faith.
Romans 4:18
So, when God told Abraham that he would give him a son who would have many descendants and become a great nation, Abraham believed God even though such a promise just couldn’t come to pass!
Romans 4:20
But Abraham never doubted. He believed God, for his faith and trust grew ever stronger, and he praised God for this blessing even before it happened.
Romans 4:24
It was for us, too, assuring us that God will accept us in the same way he accepted Abraham—when we believethe promises of God who brought back Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Believe God (No doubt, when anyone doubts this truth, one keeps themselves out), receive and see. It might take a while to come to see it, I have stood in belief, since age 12, and have gone much astray in past. Learned from all those mistakes, and still learning more everyday, remaining thankful to God's Faithfulness, without God, I am nothing ever. Same with all others IMOP.
I asked why all this Mercy in Love to all?Answer: For people to freely Love me back for it.
"My Kindness is meant for repentance. A change of mind set, seeing from my perspective by my Son the only perfect one for you to be adopted into it If one so chooses

If I am to get anyone to love me, or you are to get anyone to love you. How can you do it? Without taking away free choice?



Colossians 1:21-23

Living Bible

21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies and hated him and were separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. 22 He has done this through the death on the cross of his own human body, and now as a result Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing there before him with nothing left against you—nothing left that he could even chide you for; 23 the only condition is that you fully believe the Truth, standing in it steadfast and firm, strong in the Lord, convinced of the Good News that Jesus died for you, and never shifting from trusting him to save you. This is the wonderful news that came to each of you and is now spreading all over the world. And I, Paul, have the joy of telling it to others.

 

[Evmur]

Dear friends in Jesus,

Ever since I was Saved, I have been an avid reader of the Holy Bible, especially the New Testament. I love reading about all of the amazing things that Our Lord and Saviour Jesus did.

However, last week I noticed that the Gospels of Matthew and Mark appear to contradict each other when they describe what the women who visited Jesus' tomb did after they found that He was gone:

Matthew 28:8 - "So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell His disciples."
Mark 16:8 - "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid."

In addition to this, in the Gospel of Mark it says that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb (Mark 16:1), but in the Gospel of Matthew, only Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" went to the tomb (Matthew 28:1).

As a fundamentalist, I believe that everything in the Bible is literal fact, but I am struggling to understand how both of these accounts could be correct, as they so obviously differ. Are they both true or is only one of them correct? If so, which one?

I would appreciate your opinions on this matter. Thank you, and may God bless you.

The bible does not contradict itself in doctrine. The doctrine here is that Jesus did rise from the dead. The gospels here are following narrative accounts.

The fact that they would appear to say different things shows that the story is not contrived, not rehearsed. They authenticate the bible rather than cast doubts upon it.

 

[NEWTOCHRISTIANITY]

The bible does not contradict itself in doctrine. The doctrine here is that Jesus did rise from the dead. The gospels here are following narrative accounts.

The fact that they would appear to say different things shows that the story is not contrived, not rehearsed. They authenticate the bible rather than cast doubts upon it.

Spot on, brother!!! Great Post!!

 

[Burn1986]

The books do say a little different stuff. We know that the story is they were astonished enough that they ran and told the disciples and the rest is history.

 

[CS1]

Dear friends in Jesus,

Ever since I was Saved, I have been an avid reader of the Holy Bible, especially the New Testament. I love reading about all of the amazing things that Our Lord and Saviour Jesus did.

However, last week I noticed that the Gospels of Matthew and Mark appear to contradict each other when they describe what the women who visited Jesus' tomb did after they found that He was gone:

Matthew 28:8 - "So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell His disciples."
Mark 16:8 - "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid."

In addition to this, in the Gospel of Mark it says that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb (Mark 16:1), but in the Gospel of Matthew, only Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" went to the tomb (Matthew 28:1).

As a fundamentalist, I believe that everything in the Bible is literal fact, but I am struggling to understand how both of these accounts could be correct, as they so obviously differ. Are they both true or is only one of them correct? If so, which one?

I would appreciate your opinions on this matter. Thank you, and may God bless you.

First, you have shown why the Gospel accounts can be trusted. They are snapshots in time told by different eyewitnesses.

Matthew's account is that he was an Apostle who walked and talked with Jesus. And Eye Witnesses

Mark was the disciple of Peter and others who he received His eyewitness account from other Eye Witnesses.

They are both true yet told by those who held and saw the same event at different times.


Tomb account

• Early in the morning, found the stone rolled away
• , women went to the tomb, names not given
• other gospel accounts give the names of some
• The women who fled the tomb were afraid and did not tell anyone until they came to the disciples, who gave the names of the women who told them all they saw. Women were not people to be believed unless they had witnessed.
• The disciples initially did not believe them, and then they ran to the tomb.

There are no contradictions of the Gospel account.

 

[CS1]

Of course there are contradictions in the Bible!

Contradiction (definition):
(1) a combination of statements, ideas, or features of a situation that are opposed to one another.
(2) the statement of a position opposite to one already made.

Example:
Proverbs 26:4–5 (NASB 2020): Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness,
Or you will also be like him.
Answer a fool as his foolishness deserves,
So that he will not be wise in his own eyes.

Something weird happened there; there is an obvious contradiction. It was intended.

Don’t hide it, ignore it, or pretend it isn’t important - in fact its close positioning informs us that the author meant for you to ponder the contradiction.

The genre of Proverbs is Wisdom Literature.
Readers can find wisdom in its sayings. There are times when one saying applies and times when the opposite saying fits better.

When we find something weird in the Bible; something that doesn’t seem to fit or appear to be a contradiction, it needs to be investigated.
Sometimes you’ll find an answer quickly, other times you might need to lay it aside and allow yourself time to find its intended meaning.
There even may be instances where you never fully understand, whereby faith you accept the discrepancy and await the time when we will fully know (1 Cor. 13:12).

There are no contradictions in the word of God.

Eliminating those who are unable to see the context or understand the Authorial intent doesn't contradict anything.

Plenary verbal inspiration. The word of God is fully inspired and without error.
The reason why one pushes back on the word "contradictions" is the association with error that is with it.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

I'd like to believe that there are no contradictions in The Holy Bible!

King James Bible Research Council

 

[UnoiAmarah]

Proverbs 26:4–5 (NASB 2020): Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness,
Or you will also be like him.
Answer a fool as his foolishness deserves,
So that he will not be wise in his own eyes.

Something weird happened there; there is an obvious contradiction. It was intended.

There is no contradiction. It could appear as a contradiction yet as written in John 7:24, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Prov 26:4​

Don't respond to someone who says something that is not true with a response that is not right, lest you you be like unto him.

"...lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, ..." Job 42:8

Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. Prov 26:5
Respond to someone who says something that is not true with the truth, lest they think what they said is correct.​

If a contradiction. the two statements could not be reconciled as being true. And if both statements are true then they cannot be in contradiction.

 

[TheLearner]

Did Elhanan kill Goliath?

Essentially, the basic idea is that the oldest tradition is assumed to have preserved the story of an otherwise unknown Elhanan who killed Goliath, while later traditions deliberately attributed this heroic deed to the future king David


Who killed Goliath? The puzzling text of 2 Samuel 21:19

 

[TheLearner]

The record of Goliath’s defeat at the hand of David is found in 1 Samuel 17. However, a verse in 2 Samuel seems to name Elhanan, instead of David, as the one who toppled Goliath.

Here’s what’s clear: 1 Samuel 17:50 says that David killed Goliath: “So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.” The “Philistine” in this verse is identified as Goliath in verse 4.

Here’s what’s not so clear: in some translations, 2 Samuel 21:19 seems to indicate that it was Elhanan, not David, who killed the giant: “And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam” (ESV). The size of Goliath’s spear shaft is a detail shared by both passages. The obvious difference is who killed Goliath—was it David or Elhanan?

Unless David and Elhanan are different names for the same person—or there were two giants named Goliath—these verses seem to contradict each other. Bringing clarity to the issue is 1 Chronicles 20:5, which says, “In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.” This verse repeats the detail of the size of the spear shaft, and it clearly says that Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother, rather than Goliath himself.

Why the discrepancy? Why does 2 Samuel 21:19 say that Elhanan killed Goliath? One viable theory is that, somewhere in the chain of copying the text, a scribe made a mistake. The Hebrew word for “the brother of” was miswritten, which changed the grammar of the sentence and led to a problematic sentence structure for the next scribe. The second scribe’s attempt to solve the syntactical puzzle produced a reading that omitted the important detail of Goliath’s brother.

Fortunately, we have 1 Chronicles 20:5, which contains the correct Hebrew wording and informs us, through implication, that 2 Samuel 21:19 is missing the words the brother of. We can be confident that David killed Goliath. Elhanan later killed Goliath’s brother.

Further, the context of 2 Samuel 21:19 makes it clear that it is describing an entirely separate event from David’s slaying of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:50. Second Samuel 21:11–14 puts the passage after the death of Saul, who was alive when David killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:31–39, 55–58). Second Samuel 21:15–17 indicates that Elhanan killed “Goliath” when David was the king of Israel, not when he was a servant of King Saul.

For a more detailed explanation of this likely scribal error, we recommend this article in Bible Study Magazine.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Goliath-David-Elhanan.html

https://www.bibleref.com/1-Chronicles/20/1-Chronicles-20-5.html

 

[wattie]

The record of Goliath’s defeat at the hand of David is found in 1 Samuel 17. However, a verse in 2 Samuel seems to name Elhanan, instead of David, as the one who toppled Goliath.

Here’s what’s clear: 1 Samuel 17:50 says that David killed Goliath: “So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.” The “Philistine” in this verse is identified as Goliath in verse 4.

Here’s what’s not so clear: in some translations, 2 Samuel 21:19 seems to indicate that it was Elhanan, not David, who killed the giant: “And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam” (ESV). The size of Goliath’s spear shaft is a detail shared by both passages. The obvious difference is who killed Goliath—was it David or Elhanan?

Unless David and Elhanan are different names for the same person—or there were two giants named Goliath—these verses seem to contradict each other. Bringing clarity to the issue is 1 Chronicles 20:5, which says, “In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.” This verse repeats the detail of the size of the spear shaft, and it clearly says that Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother, rather than Goliath himself.

Why the discrepancy? Why does 2 Samuel 21:19 say that Elhanan killed Goliath? One viable theory is that, somewhere in the chain of copying the text, a scribe made a mistake. The Hebrew word for “the brother of” was miswritten, which changed the grammar of the sentence and led to a problematic sentence structure for the next scribe. The second scribe’s attempt to solve the syntactical puzzle produced a reading that omitted the important detail of Goliath’s brother.

Fortunately, we have 1 Chronicles 20:5, which contains the correct Hebrew wording and informs us, through implication, that 2 Samuel 21:19 is missing the words the brother of. We can be confident that David killed Goliath. Elhanan later killed Goliath’s brother.

Further, the context of 2 Samuel 21:19 makes it clear that it is describing an entirely separate event from David’s slaying of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:50. Second Samuel 21:11–14 puts the passage after the death of Saul, who was alive when David killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:31–39, 55–58). Second Samuel 21:15–17 indicates that Elhanan killed “Goliath” when David was the king of Israel, not when he was a servant of King Saul.

For a more detailed explanation of this likely scribal error, we recommend this article in Bible Study Magazine.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Goliath-David-Elhanan.html

https://www.bibleref.com/1-Chronicles/20/1-Chronicles-20-5.html

I was wondering whether Goliath was also a descriptive then. So that Goliath in one case is the name of the person, but in another case it's describing the type of aggressor.

Probably not the case.. if Goliath became a descriptor of a huge person a while after this.

 

[maxwel]

This Thread:

The OP never came back to respond to anything.
This thread was obviously just a "drive by contradictoring."

.

 

[Mem]

This Thread:

The OP never came back to respond to anything.
This thread was obviously just a "drive by contradictoring."

.

I could see the question coming when I got to the 3rd sentence starting with, "However."
It must be a ghost writer.

 

[Burn1986]

The two on the road to Emmaus bring clarity on the women at the tomb

 

[wattie]

This Thread:

The OP never came back to respond to anything.
This thread was obviously just a "drive by contradictoring."

.

Yea, I notice quite a few threads where this happens. You get posters directly replying to the op and then nothing comes back.

 

[homwardbound]

Essentially, the basic idea is that the oldest tradition is assumed to have preserved the story of an otherwise unknown Elhanan who killed Goliath, while later traditions deliberately attributed this heroic deed to the future king David
Who killed Goliath? The puzzling text of 2 Samuel 21:19

2 Samuel 21:19

Authorized (King James) Version

19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Beth-lehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

A different battle, and was not Goliath, it was the brother of Goliath
hope this sheds light on the ?