Don´t forget that when the bible was written it was other times and cultures involved. That´s why some practices would be banned today because of the advancement in the legislation and more exigent ethics.In the future our descendants would wonder about many of our customs we consider "normal" today.

The Word of God cannot condradict itself because God is perfect and His Word is perfect. Those that claim that the Bible contradicts itself just simply don't understand it. It takes the Holy Spirit, study, prayer, and a personal relationship with it's Author, God Himself. I hope this helps. Thank you and God bless you!

Good question! Someone "entering into Christianity" versus being "born into via their family" must face this dilema, given the lack of "faith" that they were taught. My opinion is this...the Bible cannot (and should not) be viewed as "God's words". Why? Because "the Bible" as we refer to it...is nothing more than a collection of letters written to and from men of God. In fact, the Catholics have 'canonized' more books than the Protestants (they have more books in their bible than Protestants do). For better understanding, buy a New American Standard Bible (my fav), it will tell you at the beginning of the book who the letter is written by and who the letter was addressed to (the Ephesians, the Colossians, the Romans, etc.). Not only are they a collection of letters...but, some of them (particularly those from the Old Testament), are 'oral traditions'...meaning they were stories passed down from generation to generation as "campfire stories" or "lessons passed down". Thus, they took on all of the local customs and mores of that culture in that time period. They weaved the rules and laws that were present at the time and they changed everytime one person told them to another. Until they were finally written down and added to the accepted version of the Bible. Many, many, many letters and "books" were left out of the accepted Bible. There was just recently some discussion of a book written by Jude...causing a huge uproar in the Christian world. So, then, what is the Bible? It is a written or transcribed collection that gives us a good idea of how to behave and what happened before video cameras were invented. It tells us of how men of God lived, the struggles they encountered, and the pain that they endured. It gives us stories of hope, stories of pain, stories of enlightenment, and tells of a man (for those religions that believe in the New Testament) who was said to be the Son of God. It describes how he lived and what we should believe in order to meet his Father after death. Unfortunately, most people (because of the corruption of "religion") take the Bible and mangle it into rules, codes of ethics, and standards. Some even create rituals that 'must be done' to obtain salvation. This saddens me.

Thanks for your answer! I’ve written a few questions about religion, but it always just seems to make ppl mad and they downrate me :( that’s my whole problem is that I just don’t agree that the Bible is the direct word of God. It’s been proven by carbon dating that the NT spans across 4 centuries … then, they found those other books buried in Egypt! I mean for how many thousands of yrs were ppl taught that Mary M was a whore and Judas evil ... My main problem is that so many intelligent ppl seem totally blind when it comes to these things, and if I’m not given a rational explanation, then I just can’t agree. The world is only 6000 yrs old … seriously? like, I just don’t get how ppl believe that. Do they think science only exists to test their faith? but, I mean, I really don’t judge them, I just know that I can’t follow that. And, I really am looking for something. I have many theological ‘issues’ from not being raised with any education on the subject. And, though I don’t blame my parents, I want to be sure to have some sort of idea before I have children of my own (if I do …). I just have to find one that I can agree with (put my faith in).

I've read and studied Scripture for 34 + years now and I'm not aware of any contradictions. Bible difficulties yes, but contradictions, no. The Bible does not specifically condemn the practice of slavery. It gives instructions on how slaves should be treated (Deuteronomy 15:12-15; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1), but does not outlaw the practice altogether. Many see this as the Bible condoning all forms of slavery. What many people fail to understand is that slavery in Biblical times was very different from the slavery that was practiced in the past few centuries in many parts of the world. The slavery in the Bible was not based exclusively on race. People were not enslaved because of their nationality or the color of their skin. In Bible times, slavery was more of a social status. People sold themselves as slaves when they could not pay their debts or provide for their family. In New Testament times, sometimes doctors, lawyers, and even politicians were slaves of someone else. Some people actually chose to be slaves so as to have all their needs provided for by their master. Some people claim that the following passage from the Holy Bible condones rape:--"If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated (anah) her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives." Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NIV. There are two points to note here. First, even though the verse may seem to be instructing the rapist to marry the victim the passage nowhere sanctions, condones or even approves of rape. This is simply a gross misreading of the text. The injunction is intended to instruct the Israelites on how to deal with and address a rape situation "if" and "when" it occurs. Second, by taking a careful look at the context and consulting the original languages of the Scriptures a strong case can be made that this is citation isn’t even addressing a rape case at all. We must remember that the Holy Bible was not written in English. The OT was written in Hebrew, with parts of it being written in Aramaic. The NT was written in Koine or common Greek. This means that if we want to know whether an English translation has faithfully and accurately translated the inspired author’s intended meaning we must turn to the original language of the sacred text. Once this is done, it will become quite apparent that the Holy Bible does not sanction rape at all. Sexism is one gender, usually male, having dominance over the other gender, usually female. The Bible contains many references to women that, in our modern minds, sound discriminatory towards women. Does this mean that God, and therefore the Bible, is sexist? We have to remember that the Bible describing an action does not necessarily mean that the Bible is endorsing that action as I stated above. The Bible describes men treating women as little more than property, but that does not mean the Bible indicates approval of that action. Again, as I stated above. The charge of the sexism of the Bible is based upon a lack of knowledge of Scripture. When men and women of all ages have taken their God-ordained places and lived according to "Thus says the LORD," then there is a wonderful balance between the genders. That balance is what God began with, and it is what He will end with. There is an inordinate amount of attention paid to the various products of sin and not to the root of it. It is also very important to understand that the Bible's ascribing different roles to men and women is not sexism. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God expects men to take the leadership role in the church and the home. Does this make women inferior? Absolutely not. Does this mean women are less intelligent, less capable, or viewed as less in God’s eyes? Absolutely not! What it means is that in our sin-stained world, there has to be structure and authority. God has instituted the roles of authority for our good. Sexism is the abuse of these roles…not the existence of these roles.

This can be reconciled through faith. I used to think some parts of the Bible were contradictory and false, but once i grew in the faith God started revealing the true meaning behind the verses. Everything is not as it initially appears in the Bible. The Bible even says in James 1:22 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so decieve yourselves. Do what it says" Do what the Bible says and then God will start revealing the true meanings of everything you dont understand right now. The word is perfect. There are no contradictions.

The rule I go by is this. "God IS GOOD" If I read something that does not fit this then the problem is not with God it is more that likely with the misunderstanding of the scripture rather that God being bad.--We must also remember that every word in the Bible is not God speaking. Sometimes it is man, sometimes it is the devil, sometimes it is stating what happened but not condoning the happening.

God is God he can preserve his own word.

I see no contradictions. I see some things that don't fit into our culture, but with study you can see that there is no evil in the Bible.