From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!CAD:tektronix!teklabs!mikec
Newsgroups: net.religion
Title: Biblical Contradictions
Article-I.D.: teklabs.1824
Posted: Mon Mar 14 18:37:39 1983
Received: Fri Mar 18 02:12:20 1983


  In the beginning man created his Gods. Fundamentalists have
been trying to make Hell on earth every since. The supremely
superstitious are certain that there is something to Divine
Revelation. They start out by assuming what they are trying to
prove and then declare a miracle has occurred when they end up
near their starting point.

  The first Biblical contradictions occur in the first chapter
of the first book. Here are a few of the several dozen known
errors in Genesis.

Verse(s)          Statement(s)

Genesis 1:11..12
Genesis 1:26..27  Grass and trees were created before man.

Genesis 2:7..9    Man was created before trees.

     Conclusion : Either (some) people are vegetables
                  or this is a "straw man" argument.


Genesis 1:20..22
Genesis 1:26..27  Birds (fowl) were created before man.

Genesis 2:7
Genesis 2:19      Man was created before birds.

     Conclusion : Some people are bird brained.


Genesis 1:24..27  Animals were created before man.

Genesis 2:7
Genesis 2:19      Man was created before animals.

     Conclusion : No matter what the outcome of evolutionary
                  debates, the Bible will be right again.


Genesis 1:27      Man and woman were created at the same time.

Genesis 2:7
Genesis 2:18..23  Man was created before woman.

     Conclusion : Fundamentalists are certain that a man
                  is at least 3 times better than a woman.


Genesis 1:31      "And God saw every thing that he had made, and,
                  behold, it was very good."

Genesis 6:6       "And it repented the Lord that he had made man
                  on earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

     Conclusion : Even the omnipotent and omniscient screw up.


Genesis 2:17      "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
                  evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day
                  that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
Genesis 3:3       "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the
                  midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall
                  not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
                  ye die.

Genesis 5:5       "And all the days that Adam lived were nine
                  hundred and thirty years."

     Conclusion : Adam was wise to not nit-pick this one. Has
                  anyone out there ever eaten any "smart" fruit ?


Genesis 4:26      "... then began men to call upon the name of
                   the Lord."

Exodus 6:3        "... but my name JEHOVAH was I not known to
                  them."
                  In both verses the same Hebrew word is used in
                  the original (YHVH).

     Conclusion : Another example of "knowing without Knowing".


Genesis 6:2       "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men
                  that they were fair; and they took them wives
                  of all which they chose."

Genesis 6:4       "... when the sons of God came in unto the
                  daughters of men ...".
                  Note that God has several "sons".

1 John 4:9        "... God sent his only begotten son into the
                  world ...".

     Conclusion : In the old days, when families were overly
                  large (to combat high mortality rates), one
                  sometimes looses track of ones progeny.


Genesis 6:4       "There were giants (Nephilim) in the earth in
                  those days ...".

Genesis 7:21      "And all flesh died ... and every man:".
                  The only people to survive were Noah's clan.

Numbers 13:33     "And we saw the giants ... (Nephilim)".

     Conclusion : You can't keep a good giant down (see Goliath).


Genesis 6:19      "And of every living thing of all flesh, two of
                  every sort shalt thou bring into the ark ...".
                  Two of every kind.

Genesis 7:2..5    "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee
                  by sevens ... fowls also of the air by sevens
                  ... And Noah did according unto all that the
                  Lord commanded him."
                  Seven of some kinds.

     Conclusion : While "two" is a subset of "seven", the whole
                  fable is just plain silly. Where did all that
                  water come from ? Where did it go afterward ?
                  Two of every "sort" or "kind" would amount to
                  somewhere between 4,000,000 and 10,000,000
                  different animals on board the "ark". Note
                  that no mention is made of plants.


Micheal D. Cranford
Tektronix
Teklabs