Muslims and Atheists says that there are contradictions in the Bible, that Bible is not the inspired words of God and is not the perfect word of God because there are verses that seems to contradict to one another or is not consistent with one to another. So are there really any contradictions in the Bible? Yes and No, Yes if you’re reading from the modern translations (NIV, ESV, NASB, even the NKJV), No if you’re reading the King James Version (KJV).
So let’s take an example of a verse with no apparent contradiction to set the bar of expectation
Example of No Contradiction
2 Kings 23:34-36
34 And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
2 Chronicles 36:1-5 King James
1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.
2 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
3 And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.
5 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.
No errors and it is consistent
Now let's go to the verses that people touted as contradictions which are commonly used by Muslims to discourage the validity of the Christian faith which are the ages of Jehoiachin and Ahaziah
2 Kings 24
6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.
2 Chronicles 36
8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Peter Ruckman: Don’t you know his mother reigned with him ten years before he was “of age”? You say, “Where did you get that from?” The Bible, stupid. Didn’t you read it? Didn’t you read where he had a queen mother with him (Jer. 13:18). When he was taken into captivity they took away the queen too (Jer. 29:2) because the queen was his mother.
A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch.
2 Kings 8:26
26 Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.
27 And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab.
2 Chronicles 22:2
King James Version
2 Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
The queen mother’s role is to act as a counsellor to the young king.
Peter Ruckman: Now, you take Ahaziah. Did any of you ever actually check to see who Ahaziah’s mother was? Ahaziah’s mother wasn’t Jehoram’s wife. Ahaziah wasn’t Jehoram’s literal son: he was counted as a son. But, who that has read the Bible didn’t know that Mary’s husband, Joseph, was counted as a son (Luke 3:23) when he was actually a son-in-law? And who didn’t know that Jesus Christ was called “the son of David” when actually he was a great, great, great, great, great, great, great twenty-eight generation grandson (Matt. 1:1, 17).
Contradiction in the New Testament: Did Judas died in 2 different ways?
Matthew 27:3-5
3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.
8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;
10 And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.
Acts 1:16-18
16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.
17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.
18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
Solution: There is no contradiction surrounding Judas’ death but rather two descriptions given by two different authors of the same event.
Matthew tells us that Judas died by hanging (death is inferred from the passage). Luke, being a doctor, gives us a graphic description of what occurred following the hanging. The reason for ordering the events as such is twofold. First, if someone has fallen and their internal organs spilled out, they would die and so could not subsequently die from hanging. Second, even when people suffer bad falls, they do not usually burst open and have their internal organs spill out. Skin is very tough, and even when it is cut in the abdominal area, internals do not usually spill out. Thus, it is unlikely that Judas could die in this manner merely from falling.
Gruesome as it is, Judas’ dead body hung in the hot sun of Jerusalem, and the bacteria inside his body would have been actively breaking down tissues and cells. A byproduct of bacterial metabolism is often gas. The pressure created by the gas forces fluid out of the cells and tissues and into the body cavities. The body becomes bloated as a result. In addition, tissue decomposition occurs compromising the integrity of the skin. Judas’ body was similar to an overinflated balloon: as he hit the ground (due to the branch he hung on or the rope itself breaking), the skin easily broke, and he burst open with his internal organs spilling out.
Peter Ruckman: For example, Exodus 24:10 says, “And they saw the God of Israel.” John 1:18 says, “No man hath seen God at any time.” Both statements are correct. They didn’t see the soul of God, for the soul of God is invisible; but they saw a physical reflection of God like you see in a mirror. What they saw was the angel of the Lord who was seen by Monoah and his wife and was seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob even wrestled with Him.
In Numbers 25:9 it says 24,000 died in the plague. In 1 Corinthians 10:8 it says 23,000 fell in
one day. Easy! Twenty-three thousand fell in one day, and 24,000 was the total number that died
during a few days.
For example: in 2 Samuel 24:24 David paid fifty shekels of silver for the threshing floor. In 1 Chronicles 21:25 he paid 600 shekels of gold. Easy. First he bought the threshing floor, and then he
bought the whole farm.
In 1 Timothy 6:16 God dwells in light. In 1 Kings 8:12 God dwells in thick darkness. Both are true. God is ominpresent, dwelling everywhere. Therefore, He dwells in outer darkness of outer space, and He dwells in light in the third heaven in eternity. Both statements are true.
In Isaiah 40:28 God never gets tired and never needs rest, but in Exodus 31:17 it said God created the world in six days and “rested, and was refreshed” the seventh day. But, it doesn’t say God rested because He was tired. God rested the seventh day to appreciate that which He had created. He rested in the sense that He stopped making anything more which He could have made.
In John 13:27 Satan entered into Judas during the last supper. In Luke 22:2–3 and 5, it is obvious Satan entered into Judas before the last supper. Easy. Satan could have entered him more than once. After all, he filled Ananias’ heart to lie to the Holy Ghost.
In Acts 1:9, 12 Jesus ascended from Mount Olivet. In Luke 24:50–51 He ascended from Bethany. Easy. Bethany is on Mount Olivet.
In Acts 9:7 Paul’s companions heard a voice. In Acts 22:9 Paul’s companions did not hear the voice. Easy. The companions heard a voice, but didn’t understand the words of the voice that spoke to Paul. Did you ever read John 12:29 where, when the Lord spake, some said “it thundered” and others said “an angel spake to him”? They heard a voice. They just didn’t hear the voice of the one that spoke to Jesus Christ.
In 1 Samuel 6:19 we read that God smote 50,070 for looking at the ark of the covenant. Josephus, the historian, says only seventy people were smitten. That’s easy. Josephus was a liar. That is how to settle those problems. Do you think Josephus was around when the 50,070 people were smitten? Of course not. Do you think Josephus was living at the time the ark of the covenant was taken? Of course not. Do you think Josephus believed the word of God from cover to cover? Of course not. Do you think Josephus was any authority for changing your Bible? Of course not. Don’t be silly.
In Luke 18:35 and 43, Jesus healed one blind man as they came near Jericho. In Mark 10:46 Jesus healed one man as they departed from Jericho. Easy. He either healed two unnamed men some distance from Jericho, or else the city limits crossed each other.
The laws of mathematical statistical probability prove the Bible is the word of God beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt on the part of anyone; atheistic, agnostic, or otherwise. You see, the God of the Bible is the God of numbers and arithmetic and the God of law and order. So, when He wrote His book, He incorporated a mathematical formula in the book that science could not turn down, and by which, if a scientist were to reject the word of God, he would prove himself to be a two-faced hypocrite.
The process is very simple. The Lord put in that Book forty-eight prophecies about a man before that man showed up, and then ordered history so that all forty-eight came in on the button. Now, listen! The chances of forty-eight prophecies (concerning a man who has not been born) coming to pass when that man shows up 400 years after those prophecies are made, is one out of ten to the 157th power. There are not that many atoms in the known universe.
By this, we learn that the Bible is the only scientific textbook in print: there is no textbook on science in print, anywhere on this earth, that displays the mathematical phenomena found in a
King James 1611 Authorized Version. There are forty-eight prophecies made about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, and all forty-eight of those prophecies come true (literally) on Him more than 400 years after they were made.
To add insult to injury, there are more than 200 prophecies about Jesus Christ that are yet to be fulfilled in the next thirty years. Do you know what the chances are of 300 prophecies coming to pass on one man when that man has not showed up yet? The chances of 300 prophecies coming to pass on one person before that individual shows up, including his birth, his birthplace, his name, the condition of his death, the condition of his life, his age, the details of his death, the details of his arrest, the details of his ministry, chances of that happening are less than one out of ten to the 400th power. There are not that many electrons in every atom in the universe.
We do not worship the Bible. We do not think the Bible is God. We can mark our Bibles: you can’t mark God. We can burn our Bibles: you can’t burn God. We can lose our Bible, but you can’t lose God. We know perfectly well that God is not the Bible, and the Bible is not God, but it is the closest thing materially to the Godhead on the face of this earth. This is why the Lord said in Psalm 138:2 that He had magnified the written word above the name of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The word, the written word, is magnified above the very name of God. That is why we believe it is what it is.
When we say “the Bible,” you never have to guess what Bible we are talking about. We have the Bible we are talking about on the desk in front of us. We believe it is the word of God from cover to cover, including the cover. When we say “The Holy Scripture”—the infallible, inerrant authority of God Almighty—we are referring to the Authorized Version of the Holy Bible of the Protestant Reformation; the anti-Roman, anti-agnostic, anti-atheist, anti-Socialist, anti-Communist, individualistic Bible of the missionary, evangelistic, and soul-winning efforts of every genuine, biblical movement on the face of this earth.
Source: Theological Studies Vol II - The Supposed Contradictions by Peter Ruckman
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