What errors are there in the bible

Deuteronomy —Did Moses appoint the judges or did the people? Deuteronomy —12—How could this have been written by Moses when it refers to the land of promise which he never entered?

Deuteronomy —Was the land of Ammon given to Israel or not? Deuteronomy —15—Was the law given at Horeb or at Mt. Deuteronomy —21—How could Moses alter the wording of the Ten Commandments from that which God spoke to him? Deuteronomy —Were the Canaanites destroyed quickly or slowly? Deuteronomy —3—When was the Ark made? Deuteronomy —9—Are priests distinguished from Levites or not? Deuteronomy —Was the blood poured out as water or covered with dust? Deuteronomy —How can this passage permit the use of strong drink when other passages condemn its consumption?

Deuteronomy —How can this passage say there would be no poor among them when says the poor will always be in the land? Deuteronomy —Was the passover lamb to be slain at home or at the sanctuary?

Deuteronomy —22—How can false prophets be distinguished from true prophets? Deuteronomy —18—Is this a prophecy about the prophet Mohammed? Deuteronomy —18—How can the command for wholesale slaughter of innocent lives be justified?

Deuteronomy —18—Were the captives to be spared or killed? Deuteronomy —Why did God call it an abomination for men to dress like women and vice versa? Deuteronomy —21—Why is the method of testing chastity different here than in Numbers 5? Deuteronomy —Was homosexuality condemned because it was connected with idolatry?

Deuteronomy —Why was usury interest forbidden only on some but not on all Jews? Deuteronomy —How can this passage state that children will not be killed for the sins of their parents when there are examples of this in other passages? Deuteronomy —Does God circumcise the heart or was Israel to circumcise their own hearts? Deuteronomy —14—How could there be sufficient pasture for the herds of 2 million people in a desert? Deuteronomy —Is this a prediction of the Prophet Mohammed?

Deuteronomy ff—How could Moses have written this chapter which records his own death? Deuteronomy —Was Moses unparalleled among prophets or were others equal to him? Deuteronomy —Does this verse support the Muslim claim that Jesus could not be the predicted prophet of Deut. Joshua —5—How could God bless Rahab for lying? Joshua —Did Israel cross the Jordan here or not? Joshua —How can the total destruction of Jericho be morally justified?

Joshua ff—Why did Israel honor their contract with the Gibeonites once they discovered they had been deceived? Joshua —14—How is it possible for the sun to stand still for a whole day? Joshua —Was Canaan conquered quickly or only gradually? Joshua —24—Were these kings defeated here or not until later?

Joshua —12—What was the correct eastern boundary of the Promised Land? Joshua —Was Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin or in Judah? Joshua —7—Were these cities in the territory of Judah or of Simeon? Joshua —Was the sanctuary originally at Shechem or at Shiloh? Judges —Did Caleb kill the sons of Anak or just expel them? Judges ff—Were the Canaanites destroyed or merely subjugated? Judges —21—Does the Bible approve of assassinations?

Judges —Does God condone assassinations? Judges —Was Sisera lying down when Jael killed him, or was he upright as Judges seems to indicate? Judges ff—How can Jael be commended for such a cruel act of murder? Judges —How long did Israel dwell in Heshbon? Judges —40—How could God allow Jephthah to offer his daughter up as a burnt offering? Judges —How could Samson capture foxes?

Judges —27—If suicide is wrong, why did God bless Samson for doing it? Judges —How could this book have been written in the time or shortly after the time of the judges? Ezra —Who is Sheshbazzar? Ezra —How could the rebuilding have begun during the reign of Cyrus when Ezra says it was in the reign of Darius I?

Ezra —How could foreign influence have caused the work to cease when Haggai blames it on the indifference of the leaders? Ezra —44—Why did God command Israelite men to put away their unbelieving wives, but Paul said not to do so? Nehemiah —If Ai was destroyed earlier, why is it still inhabited here? Esther—How could this book be part of the Holy Scriptures when God is not even mentioned?

Esther —18—How could Esther participate in a pagan beauty contest? Job —If all are sinners, then how can Job be perfect? Job —Was Job a real historical person?

Job —Why does Job offer a burnt offering for his sons if they had blessed God? Job —How can Satan come before God when he was dismissed from heaven? Job —Who are the sons of God mentioned in this verse? Job —21—Does this verse teach reincarnation?

Job —Can God be known by humans? Job —How could Job have children here when they were all killed earlier? Job —Does this verse indicate that the resurrection body will be a body of flesh?

Job —Does the Bible err in speaking of a solid dome above the earth? Job —Does this passage make reference to the mythological figure Leviathan? Psalm —Should Christians meditate, or is this a Buddhist practice? Psalm —How could David have written this Psalm when critics insist that most Psalms were not completed until much later?

Psalm —How can this verse say God hates the wicked when John says that God loves the world? Psalm —Is God approachable or unapproachable? Psalm —How can this verse say God hates some people when John says God loves everyone? Psalm —Is the earth founded upon the seas or on nothing? Psalm 30—Why does the subtitle to Psalm 30 make reference to the dedication of the house of David when the psalm says nothing about it? Psalm 34—Why does the subtitle of this Psalm have the name Abimelech when the name should be Achish?

Psalm , 34—When the wicked are cut off, are they annihilated? Psalm —Do the righteous ever beg bread? Psalm —Does God sleep? Psalm —5—Is this a prediction of Mohammed? Psalm —Was man brought forth in iniquity or made upright? Psalm —Does this verse support the position that an unborn fetus is only a potential human being? Psalm —Did David disavow the sacrificial system of Moses?

Psalm —How can an innocent child be wicked from the womb? Psalm —How can this verse talk about God awakening when Psalm states that God never sleeps? Psalm —Do the dead have remembrance of anything? Psalm —Will the earth abide forever or will it be destroyed? Psalm —Can the dead praise God or are they unconscious? Psalm —How could the Psalmist rejoice at the thought of little ones being dashed against rocks?

Psalm —16—Can it be inferred from this verse that the Bible considers abortion to be murder? Proverbs —Are the righteous rewarded in this life or in the next one? Proverbs —Does God always spare the godly from grave trouble?

Proverbs —Are believers obligated to leave an inheritance to their children? Proverbs —Does God make people to be doomed? Proverbs —How can this verse be true when experience teaches us that often children abandon the principles of their training? Proverbs —Does this verse justify breaking the law to stop abortions? Proverbs —5—How can contradictory commands both be true?

Proverbs —Is foolishness correctable? Proverbs —Is it right to cover sins or not? Proverbs —If the fear of man is on all beasts, why do lions not fear humans? Proverbs —Does this verse encourage drinking strong alcoholic beverages? Ecclesiastes —How can this book be part of the Scriptures since it contains such skepticism? Ecclesiastes —Is wisdom the source of happiness, or the means of sorrow? Ecclesiastes —Is laughter good or bad? Ecclesiastes —Is Solomon commending hedonism here?

Ecclesiastes —If all return to dust, how can there be a resurrection? Ecclesiastes —21—If there is life after death, why does Solomon declare that man has no advantage over the beasts? Ecclesiastes —How is it possible to be too righteous? Ecclesiastes —Are the lives of the wicked prolonged or shortened? Ecclesiastes —Do the dead remember anything?

Song of Solomon —How did a sensual book like this get in the Bible? Song of Solomon —Why do so many people who claim to interpret the Bible literally, spiritualize the Song of Solomon? Isaiah —13—Did the prophet Isaiah disavow the sacrificial system of Moses?

Isaiah —Is this verse a prophecy about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ? Isaiah —Who is Lucifer in this verse? Isaiah —Does this passage predict the coming of Mohammed? Isaiah —Will the light of the sun and moon be increased or decreased in the future kingdom?

Isaiah —If nothing is like God, then how can humans be in the image of God? Isaiah —How could Isaiah talk in such specific terms about a king that would not exist for some years? Isaiah —Is God the author of evil? Isaiah —Was Jesus despised by men or respected by them? Isaiah —Did Isaiah predict there would be homosexuals in the kingdom?

But anyone who wants to take the Bible seriously has to find some language to express its truthfulness and trustworthiness, and figure out how to apply that language consistently to the Bible—a challenging task. What would constitute an error? Are there errors of varying magnitude? Different traditions have chosen different ways to express this doctrine.

Some talk about the Bible as an infallible guide to truth; others squabble over whether the Bible is truth or contains truth. It has become a standard of reference, even for those who do not agree with it on all points. It is where the conversation begins, even if it is not where it ends. In these, inerrancy is qualified as a characteristic of all that the Bible affirms , in all of its teachings. Many people, Christian and not, seem to think that inerrancy means that anything they read in the Bible must be free of error, according to what it appears to say, at first glance.

But to understand what the Bible affirms requires a careful process of interpretation. Inerrancy does not, by itself, tell us what the Bible is truly affirming. It only states that whatever the Bible is affirming is fully true, and free from error. From the earliest theological discussions about the nature of Scripture in the opening centuries of Church history and through the Reformation into modern times, theologians have recognized the need to distinguish between the inerrant message of Scripture and the limited, human cultural context in which Scripture was written.

The Psalmist appears to have no advanced knowledge of how human cognition works, on a scientific level. Is the Bible in error? No, because this passage is not trying to make statements about how the human body works. It does not affirm a view of physiology.

This is not an isolated example. Throughout the Bible, we find constant accommodation to the way that people thought in the ancient world. Entirely justified, you might think.

Except that, in the age of the internet, we only have ourselves to blame. Please consider the environment before printing this email. This article is more than 6 years old. David Shariatmadari. Photograph: Bonhams. Extremely rare Wicked Bible goes on sale. Scientific errors — statements that conflict with facts about reality we have learned through scientific investigation — can be found throughout the Bible because the biblical texts were written at times when human knowledge about our world was quite limited.

We can't blame ancient writers for knowing less than we do now, but we can blame people alive now for preferring the errors of ancient writers over the reliable knowledge developed today. Historical errors are mistakes in the historical record: claims about events happening or which happened but which never did and claims about events that would happen in the future but which never transpired.

One might expect an ancient text to have an accurate record of ancient events, but historians, as we know, have not always been completely honest with their representation of events.

In the past, records were written with an ideological agenda behind them, not for the sake of pure actual accuracy. Historical mistakes and errors are only to be expected.

Under other circumstance, the presence of scientific and historical errors wouldn't be a big deal in an ancient text. They exist in all ancient texts, including religious scriptures, and no one invests a lot of time trying to point them out.

The Bible is different, though, because so many people base their lives around the proposition that it is actually free from errors, infallible, and perfect. If so many Christians and Jews weren't trying to force civil society and civil laws to conform to their Bible, pointing out its errors and mistakes wouldn't be necessary.

Large numbers of Bible errors and mistakes are collected here. Organized according to the individual books in the Bible, each document explains what the error or mistake is and presents the relevant verses from the Bible so it can be examined.