Contradictions in the Bible
لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله
There is no God but Allah(SWT), and Muhammad(PBUH) is his Messenger
Muhammad Asharif Baig
Community For Islamic Research
A normal Christian holds the belief that the Bible is the word of God, and we cannot rebuke their statement until we truly know why the Bible is not the word of God. Even if a Muslim says it the Christian would not agree as we do not believe in the Bible itself, the thing that might convince them can be their own Scholars or the person who holds the belief in the Bible, or the person who holds authority on interpreting the Bible. Let’s consult the Christian evangelical missionary
Dr William Graham Scroggie (1877-1958). He says in his book
“Is the Bible the Word of God?” on page number 17 that, “It is human, yet divine.”
No Christian Scholar with high eminence or just a bit of understanding will ever claim that the Bible was written by Jesus himself. We see 4 Gospels, Gospel of Luke, Mark, Matthew and John but we do not find the Gospel of Jesus. Let’s just first start with the basics;
1) The Bible is the collection of Books.
2) It is the word of God.
3) It is Human.
4) It can have contradictions.
And the third opinion is not my own, but it is the opinion of the Christian scholars that it is human. First I want to make clear that as Muslims we do not believe in the authenticity of the BIBLE, GOSPELS or TORAH, and we consider the QURAN as the last revelation and commandment and the sole authority of the word of ALLAH SWT (God).
Coming back to the topic, the Bible contains 929 Chapters in the Old Testament, 260 Chapters in the New Testament with the total 1189 Chapters in the whole Bible. Now to back up the claims we (Muslims) make we have to give proof why we say so, first of all let me quote you the Biblical verse in which Paul states in 1st Corinthians Chapter 14 Verse 33: “For God is not the author of confusion….” I do not think that a detailed explanation of the verse is needed, because it is very clear that God does not create confusion. Jehovah's Witnesses, a Non Trinitarian denomination of Christianity believes that the Bible contains 50,000 Errors!
You can check this newspaper which was published on 8 September 1957!
And let me quote another one, the King James Version of the Bible is mostly used in Churches, Schools and most of the evangelical works. The world shook when in 1971 the Revised Standard Version was published which is the authorized revision of the King James Version. In 1971 the publication of Revised Standard Version, on it’s preface was written “Yet the King James version has grave defects..” If you do not believe me, have a look at it yourself.
Preface to the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (1971) (bible-researcher.com)
And it is not just one Scholar who is saying that, down with the preface it states that the committee assigned 32 Scholars backed by 50 Cooperating Denominations which came to the conclusion which was written in the preface above. Still if you do not believe me, check this out.
Well you might have thought that only one Scholar or evangelist which I mentioned was the one who said that the BIBLE is human, but now we have 32 Scholars admitting that the BIBLE has defects. I will quote the BIBLE verse again, “For God is not the author of confusion…”
Moving on, the Christians might scream at you that what proof do you have that the BIBLE is corrupted? You can answer them with simplicity that “Isn’t the proof enough that your own Scholars admit that the BIBLE is corrupted?” but that would not inspire the Christian and instead he would say in boast that “That is no PROOF!”
Well they plan and Allah SWT also plans. Obviously I would not be able to quote each and every 50,000 contradictions in the Bible but let’s go with most of them.
Let’s start the count but first on the Old Testament then we would go for the New Testament.
The Old Testament contains many contradictions, far more than you can expect. I will not be quoting all of them but the most obvious ones so it is clear for read
Genesis 32:30: “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved.” (KJV)
John 1:18: “No man hath seen God at any time…” (KJV)
Now the contradiction is clear as crystal, in Genesis Jacob says that he has seen God face to face but in the New Testament in John Chapter 1 where God tells that NO ONE has seen God face to face. Now either Jacob is lying or God is lying, again the decision lies with the Christians.Contradiction number 2:
In 1 Kings 4:26, in New Living Translation and some others it is recorded as 4000 stalls of horses and in King James Version and some others include it as 40,000 horses, now a person might ask that let’s go with the literal translation, Young’s Literal translation keep’s the record for the word in Hebrew which is used for forty or in plural sense as “Ar’ba’im” which is in Hebrew bible “ארבעים” so even if we take this as the right one then it would contradict 2 Chronicles 9:25 in which it states that Solomon had 4000 horses, either the Christian should come to a decision that the New Living Translation which states 4000 horses is true and in that way it would not contradict with 2 Chronicles but if they do that they would be in a nutshell because in the Hebrew Bible in 1 Kings the word Forty is used not Four. Either they do that or agree that the Bible has clear contradictions.
1 Kings 4:26: “And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses…”
2 Chronicles 9:25: “And Solomon had four thousand stalls of horses…”
(Youngs’ Literal Translation)
Contradiction number 3:
2 Samuel 24:1: “And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, GO, number Israel and Judah.” (KJV)
1 Chronicles 21:1: “And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel.” (KJV)
Now in the verses stated above the contradiction is clear, in Samuel God is inciting David to number Israel and in Chronicles Satan is inciting David to number Israel, in these cases we can come to three conclusions, that either God = Satan or Satan = God, the second conclusion is that we can choose one verse and take out the other, and the third is accept defeat that there is no answer to this contradiction.Contradiction number 4:
2 Samuel 24:9: “And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.” (KJV)
1 Chronicles 21:5: “And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew swords: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew swords.” (KJV)
Now these verses are interlinked with the previous contradiction. When GOD or SATAN incited David to number Judah, so the number or the count of the census is given in the later verses as mentioned above, in Samuel it states that there were 800,000 men, but Chronicles state that 11,000,00 were there men. Which one should be taken into consideration as the true statement? Now a person cannot make a statement that it is a historical misunderstanding or we are misunderstanding the author’s intention, ABSOLUTELY NOT. Take a closer look at the verses, the verses are clear, Samuel states “..eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword..” and Chronicles states “..thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew swords..” Now as David Wood or Sam Shamoun or any Christian apologist wants to make the claim that the verses are different but if taken in context or even if out of context it does not match the claims they say. Coming towards the second contradiction in these verses, in Samuel it states men of Judah were 500,000 but in Chronicles it states Judah had 470,000 men. It is a huge difference. And in any case I do not think there is an answer to it, which is one of many Mathematical Contradictions.
2 Kings 24:8: “Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.” (KJV)
2 Chronicles 36:9: “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.” (KJV)
Now the contradiction is clear like crystal again, in Kings it states that Jehoaichin was 18 years old and Chronicles state 8 years old when he came to reign. Also there is a 10 days difference in his rule which states again two contradictions in the above verses, by both the different authors. Thus a very great contradiction in the Bible.
2 Samuel 23:8: “These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lifted up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.” (KJV)
1 Chronicles 11:11: “And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time.” (KJV)
Now in Samuel it states that the chief lifted up his spear and killed 800 and Chronicles say that he killed 300. Now it is a numerical contradiction. But there is somewhat an illogical thing, that it states the killer killed however men 800 or 300 at once, the question is how did he do that? Was the other side sleeping? It is a contradiction as well as an illogical thing. But even if we take it as a miracle still it does not change the fact that it is contradictory.
1 Kings 7:26: “And it was a hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.” (KJV)
2 Chronicles 4:5: “And the thickness of it was a handbreadth, and the brim of it was like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths.” (KJV)
Now again I like to say that the contradiction is crystal clear, in Kings it states there were 2000 bats and in Chronicles states it had 3000 baths, choice remains to Christians that which one they would want to choose?
1 Samuel 28:6: “And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” (KJV)
1 Chronicles 10:13-14: “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; And inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” (KJV)
Now notice the contradiction, in Samuel it states that Saul inquired of the Lord but in Chronicles the author disagrees and writes that Saul did not inquire of the Lord, so what really happened? Did Saul inquire or not?
Ezra 2:8: “The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty and five.” (KJV)
Nehemiah 7:13: “The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five.” (KJV)
Again the contradiction is mathematical. Ezra states children of Zattu were 945 but Nehemiah states children of Zattu were 845, a difference of hundred children. Depends on Christians which one they want to go with.
1 Corinthians 14:33: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” (KJV)
Yes you would be surprised by this, I am quoting the first verse which I quoted before, this is also contradicted by the following verses.
Isaiah 45:7: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” (KJV)
1 Samuel 16:14: “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.” (KJV)
2 Thessalonians 2:11: “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:” (KJV)
Now this is not much of a contradiction, it is an argument, in one verse Paul says that God is not the author of Confusion but in Isaiah, Samuel and Thessolonians that God creates Evil and Darkness and God also sends delusions and lies. Now the Christian would say, “You are proving our point, God shows delusion to those who deny him.” Well I do not disagree with their statement, that is what the Muslims say, but does it mean that God will change his Eternal Book that is according to the Christians BIBLE, such that people would not understand it? I do not think so.
Mark 10:27: “And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” (KJV)
Matthew 19:26: “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (KJV)
Now compare these verses with the latter verse of Judges.
Judges 1:19: “And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.” (KJV)
Now Jesus says that GOD can do impossible things, but in Judges it states that GOD was not able to drive out some HUMANS because they had Iron chariots, it is a contradiction as well as an absurdity.
Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (KJV)
1 Samuel 15:35: “And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.” (KJV)
Exodus 32:14: “And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” (KJV)
Now in Numbers it states that God does not repent but in Samuel and Exodus, God does repent. CONTRADICTION!
Now as most Christians state “Oh you are quoting the Old Testament, show me from the New Testament!” This is why I am making another section for it for the New Testament. I would like to quote Sheikh Ahmed Deedat’s words, that this section is for Hot Gospellers and Bible Thumpers. And as you are going through this book just remember the quotation from the Bible 1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion…”
Romans 2:20: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (KJV)
Romans 2:28: “Therefore we can conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law.” (KJV)
Romans 5:1: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (KJV)
Compare these verses with the latter verse of the New Testament that is;
James 2:24: “Ye see then how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” (KJV)
Now the contradiction is very clear. In the above mentioned three verses of the Romans, SAUL/PAUL the self appointed apostle states that the law or abiding by it does not make a person any better, because a man is justified by his/her Faith. But the later verse of James states that a person is not justified by Faith only but also through his work (abiding by the law). Now the Christian friends decide which one should we consider the right one?
The context is very clear so the Christian cannot claim us to have taken it out of context.
John 3:13: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” (KJV)
Now in this verse it states that no man has gone up to heaven, not even the son of Man that is Jesus. But if we look at the following verses it makes clear that Enoch and Elijah ascended to heaven.
2 Kings 2:11: “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” (KJV)
Genesis 5:24: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” (KJV)
2 Chronicles 6:36: “If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;” (KJV)
1 John 3:9: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (KJV)
Matthew 1:6: “And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;” (KJV)
Luke 3:31: “Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David,” (KJV)
Now the verses stated above, Matthew states that Jesus descended from Solomon, but in Luke it states that Jesus came from Nathan, so the Question is that from which son of David did Jesus descend? Solomon or Nathan?
The contradiction is clear, either the Christian agree that there is a contradiction or take one of them to be true. (I know I am using this phrase many times “Laughter”)
John 19:17: “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:” (KJV)
Matthew 27:31-31:
“31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: he was compelled to bear his cross.” (KJV)
Now the contradiction here is that John says that Jesus carried his own cross, but Matthew records that SIMON OF CYRENE carried the cross of Jesus as he (Jesus) was tired. Which one is true?
Contradiction number 6:
Mark 6:52: “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.” (KJV)
John 6:14: “Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, '' This is of a truth that the prophet should come into the world.” (KJV)
Now this is one of hundreds of Contradictions in the New Testament. Mark tells that people did not change through seeing the miracle but John says that the miracle changed the heart of the people who were seeing it. Now which one is true? Did it change the people or did it not?
Matthew 10:2-6:
“2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6 But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (KJV)
Acts 15:7: “And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.” (KJV)
So read Matthew in the verse above, it says that Peter was to preach to Israel that is the Jews but in Acts it is told to us that Peter preaches to Gentiles, now it is clear contradiction that in one verse he is to preach to Jews but in the other he is to preach the Gentiles.
Matthew 11:9: “But what went ye out to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.” (KJV)
Matthew 17:12-13:
“12 But I say unto you, That Elias has come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer for them.
13 Then the disciples understood that he spoke unto them of John the Baptist.” (KJV)
Now compare the above verses with the latter ones.
John 1:21: “And they asked him, '' What then? Art thou Elias? And he said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, ``No.” (KJV) Now in Matthew verses it says that John the Baptist is Elias but in John it is stated that John is not Elias. Contradiction!
More contradictions in New Testament:
1. Jesus' lineage was traced through David's son Solomon. Matthew 1:6 (KJV)
Jesus' lineage was traced through David's son Nathan. Luke 3:31 (KJV)
2. The announcement of the special birth came before conception. Luke 1:26-31 (KJV)
The announcement of the special birth came after conception. Matthew 1:18-21
3. Jesus' parents were told of their son's future greatness. Matthew 1:18-21;
Luke 1:28-35 (KJV)
Jesus' parents knew nothing of their son's potential. Luke 2:48-50 (KJV)
4. The angel told Joseph. Matthew 1:20 (KJV)
The angel told Mary. Luke 1:28 (KJV)
5. There were 28 generations from David to Jesus. Matthew 1:17 (KJV)
There were 43 generations from David to Jesus. Luke 3:23-31 (KJV)
6. Jacob was Joseph's father. Matthew 1:16 (KJV)
Heli was Joseph's father. Luke 3:23 (KJV)
7. He was to be called Emmanuel. Matthew 1:23 (KJV)
He was called Jesus. Matthew 1:25 (KJV)
8. The devil first took Jesus to the pinnacle, then to the mountain top.
Matthew 4:5-8 (KJV)
The devil first took Jesus to the mountaintop, then to the pinnacle. Luke 4:5-9
(KJV)
9. Satan tempted Jesus. Matthew 4:1-10; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:1,2 (KJV)
Satan had no interest in Jesus. John.14:30 (KJV)
10. John knew of Jesus before he baptized him. Matthew 3:11-13; John 1:28,29 (KJV)
John knew nothing of Jesus at all. Matthew 11:1-3 (KJV)
11. Jesus begins his ministry after John's arrest. Mark 1:13,14 (KJV)
Jesus begins his ministry before John's arrest. John 3:22-24 (KJV)
12. Jesus saw the spirit descending. Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10 (KJV)
John saw the spirit descending. John 1:32 (KJV)
13. The heavenly voice addressed the gathering. Matthew 3:17 (KJV)
The heavenly voice addressed Jesus. Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22 (KJV)
14. Immediately after the baptism, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness.
Matthew 4:1,2; Mark 1:12,13 (KJV)
Three days after the baptism, Jesus was at the wedding in Cana. John 2:1 (KJV)
15. Jesus went to Bethphage and the Mount of Olives, then left for Bethany.
Matthew 21:1,17 (KJV)
Jesus went to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. Mark 11:1;
Luke 19:29 (KJV)
Jesus went to Bethany and then Jerusalem. John 12:1,12 (KJV)
16. Jesus and his disciples taught in Capernaum. Mark 1:20,21 (KJV)
Only Jesus taught in Capernaum. Luke 4:30,31 (KJV)
17. Peter was chosen, with Andrew, by the Sea of Galilee. Matthew 4:18-20;
Mark 1:16-18 (KJV)
Peter was chosen, with James and John, by the lake of Gennesaret. Luke 5:2-11
Andrew chose Jesus and then got Peter to join. John 1:35-42 (KJV)
Now I gave you 12 Contradictions in the Old Testament and 11 in the New Testament in detail and 17 other contradictions in short, so in total we went through 40 of clear contradictions in the Bible. It does not mean that there are no more contradictions in the Bible, there are but I am quoting the most obvious ones. And do not think that these are the only obvious ones there are more than that, in the book further we will talk about them. The Bible is full of contradictions, but I do not know how it can be “Human and yet Divine.” ALLAH SWT says in the Quran Surah Nisa 4:82: “..If it had been from [any] other than Allah , they would have found within it much contradiction.” God does not make mistakes, humans do. If we are to believe that the Bible is the true word of God there it should pass the tests of Non Contradiction which you have seen above, and their own Christian scholars also agree that it has been corrupted, as I told you about the 1957 and 1971 Revised Standard Version of the Bible that the 32 Scholars state that the Bible of King James Version has “GRAVE DEFECTS” and let’s agree that it does not have the defects now then how is it that the New Versions also contradict? We do not know what was the intention of the people who corrupted the Bible but we do know that it is not preserved. If a Christian claims that the Bible is corrupted then how come we find more than 50,000 errors in the Bible? I do not think that the answer is so hard, it is just that it is “NOT DIVINE” by taking out the Divine part from William Scroggie’s statement on the preservation of the Bible we get to know again that the Bible is “HUMAN.” And I do not think that after such clear proofs a man should disagree but this world needs more proof.
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