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by
Dan Barker
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July 22, 2019 - May 9, 2020
“It ain’t those parts of the bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” —Mark Twain
SHOULD WE KILL?
SHOULD WE TELL LIES?
SHOULD WE STEAL?
SHALL WE KEEP THE SABBATH?
SHALL WE MAKE GRAVEN IMAGES?
ARE WE SAVED THROUGH WORKS?
SHOULD GOOD WORKS BE SEEN?
SHOULD WE OWN SLAVES?
DOES GOD CHANGE HIS MIND?
DOES GOD KNOW THE FUTURE?
ARE WE PUNISHED FOR OUR PARENTS’ SINS?
WHOSE FAULT WAS IT THAT MOSES COULD NOT ENTER THE PROMISED LAND?
IS GOD GOOD OR EVIL?
DOES GOD TEMPT PEOPLE?
IS GOD PEACEABLE?
WHO WAS THE PRIEST IN THE STORY OF DAVID AND THE SHEWBREAD?
WHEN WAS JESUS BORN?
WAS JESUS PEACEABLE?
WAS JESUS TRUSTWORTHY?
SHALL WE CALL PEOPLE NAMES?
HAS ANYONE SEEN GOD?
HOW MANY GODS ARE THERE?
ARE WE ALL SINNERS?
HOW OLD WAS JEHOIACHIM WHEN HE BECAME KING?
HOW OLD WAS AHAZIAH WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN?
SHOULD WE SWEAR AN OATH?
WHEN WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED?
SHALL WE OBEY THE LAW?
HOW MANY ANIMALS ON THE ARK?
WERE WOMEN AND MEN CREATED EQUAL?
WERE TREES CREATED BEFORE HUMANS?
DID MICHAL HAVE CHILDREN?
HOW MANY STALLS DID SOLOMON HAVE?
DID PAUL’S MEN HEAR A VOICE?
IS GOD OMNIPOTENT?
DOES GOD LIVE IN LIGHT?
DOES GOD ACCEPT HUMAN SACRIFICE?
WHO WAS JOSEPH’S FATHER?
A true fundamentalist should consider the English version of the bible to be just as inerrant as the original because if we admit that human error was possible in the translation, then it was equally possible in the original writing. (Some fundamentalists do assert that the King James Version is perfect. One preacher reportedly said, “If the King James Version was good enough for the Apostle Paul, then it’s good enough for me.”)
I am using the King James Version not because I think it is the best English translation, but because it tends to be honest in portraying these discrepancies at face value—more honest than some of the later translations that try to paper them over. It is a good idea to consult a number of versions for comparison, especially if you don’t read the Hebrew or Greek.
The bible was written by dozens of authors with diverse agendas, most of whom did not know each other, over hundreds of years. They were human beings. Human beings make mistakes. The bible does contain some truth, but no honest person can pretend it is a perfect book.
Combined with the exaggerations, scientific inaccuracies, borrowings from pagan sources, evidence of tampering and clearly irrelevant passages aimed at bygone, primitive, superstitious people, the contradictions underscore the fact that, on balance, the bible is not a reliable source of truth.
Chapter Fourteen
Understanding Discrepancy
“HEAR” OR “UNDERSTAND”?
“VOICE” OR “SOUND”?
The motives of the NIV and LB translators are made clear in the preface to each book. The NIV, translated by a team of evangelical scholars (instigated by the National Association of Evangelicals), is introduced with these words: “We offer this version of the bible to him in whose name and for whose glory it has been made. We pray that it will lead many into a better understanding of the Holy Scriptures and a fuller knowledge of Jesus Christ the incarnate Word, of whom the Scriptures so faithfully testify.” If there is a contradiction in the New Testament, then it could not “faithfully
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The Living Bible does not claim to be a strict translation. It is a paraphrase by Dr. Kenneth Taylor, who admits in his preface: “[W]hen the Greek or Hebrew is not clear, then the theology of the translator is his guide, along with his sense of logic... The theological lodestar in this book has been a rigid evangelical position.” The theology of the translator is his guide. In Acts 9:7 there is no lack of clarity: phones is “voice.” But if your “theology” dictates that the bible must contain no errors, then a perfectly simple translation that results in a contradiction becomes “unclear,” and
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Let’s face it. Acts 9:7 and Acts 22:9 are contradictory.
