The Atheist Blogger

The following contradictions are taken from the New International Version of the Bible, although they can be found with a bit of searching (and often with different wordings) in all other versions. After doing a lot of research on these, I’ve found too many contradictions to go in one post so I’ll have to split them up, probably 10 at a time. This is part 1.

Biblical family history

the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon - Luke 3:31-32

and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife - Matthew 1:6

One would have thought the Bible could at least have recorded the correct name of the King’s son…twice.

The divine conception

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. - Luke 1:26-31

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:18-21

So, did the angel announce the pregnancy to Mary after she had become engaged to Joseph, or was Mary already pregnant before she met Joseph, and the angel visited Joseph to stop him divorcing her…it can’t be both ways.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!