If you mean, Can you honestly say that the Bible does not contradict itself then, if Mike can’t, I can; in a word Yes the Bible does not contradict itself.
However, there are contradictions recorded in the Bible.
For example:
In John 7: 41, 42 The Pharisees state, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? 42Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? and yet two chapters later they say We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. (John 9: 29)
Hear you can see that the Pharisees are directly contradicting themselves. Once they say He (Jesus) cannot be the long awaited Messiah (Christ) because they know where He comes from, and then they turn around and say He can’t be the Messiah because they don’t know where He comes from.
On the question of Omnipotent:
The New Compact Bible Dictionary, 1967, defines Omnipotent as:
The attribute of God, which, describes His ability to do whatever He wills. He cannot do anything contrary to His nature as God, such as to ignore sin, to sin or to do something absurd or self-contradictory. God is not controlled by His power, but has complete control over it; otherwise He would not be a free being.
No one’s power is equal to, or greater than, God’s; No one has equal or grater authority than God. So, not only is God the Ultimate Authority, He is also the Ultimate Power. Any being whose power and authority out strips all others is, by definition, Omnipotent.
As for 24,000 / 23,000 died in plague. Num 25:9 / 1 Cor 10:8
Numbers 25: 9
9And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
1 Corinthians 10: 8
8Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
You failed to fallow the Rules of Interpretation, and the Scientific Method. Rule number one {for both} states, Determine the correct frame of reference
In Numbers 25 it simply states that, twenty and four thousand people died, where as, 1Corinthians specifies that three and twenty thousand fell in one day. So, apparently, a total of twenty four thousand people died, but only twenty three thousand died in one day.
Where is the contradiction again?
As for David took 700 / 7000 horsemen. 2 Sam 8:4 / 1 Chron 18:4
2 Samuel 8: 1 — 4
1And after this it came to pass that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines.
2And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
3David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates. 4And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots. (KJV)
1 Chronicles 18: 1 — 4
1Now after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines.
2And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
3And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates. 4And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots. (KJV)
First ‘Methegammah’ and Gath, according to the Bible Library 4.0 Special Edition software Bible Dictionary, are speaking of the same city. So your argument would seam valid, However, Let us apply the Rules of Interpretation, and the Scientific Method. Rule #1, Determine the correct frame of reference
If you will note 2 Samuel states, David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines. (1b) And that 3David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates. 4And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots. (3,4). Therefore, David troop took seven hundred horsemen from ‘Hadadezer’
In contrast, 1 Chronicles states that david’s troops took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines. (1b) And that 3And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates. 4And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots. (3,4)
So, 2 samuel states that King David’s troops took seven hundred horsemen, in Methegammah, from Hadadezer. Where as, King David's troops took seven thousand horsemen, in and around Gath (Methegammah) from Hadadezer.
Just so we do not miss something here, King David’s Troops defeated the Phillistins, and killed King Hadadezer. From the city of Gath (Methegammah) his men took seven hundred horsemen, where as, from the whole reign Gath and her towns his men took seven thousand horsemen.
As for All / not all cattle, horses died. Ex 9:3,6 / Ex 14:9
Exodus 9: 1 — 6
1. Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
2. For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
3. Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous Murrain.
4. And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.
5. And the Lord appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land.
6. And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.
Exodus 14: 1 — 9
1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
3. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
4. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.
5. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
6. And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
7. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
9. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
According to Exoduses 9: 3 Moses specified six different groups of animals would be effected cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep He said, there shall be a very grievous Murrain. upon these animals.
V6b Tells us that all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.
Then when you jump to chapter 14, you have all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh
Now, if you took nothing else in to consideration, it could be argued that Pharaoh had no horses left if all of his cattle where dead. I believe this is the point you’re trying to make.
Some would probably argue that well all of the cattle died but not all of the horses, asses, camels, oxen, sheep. Well I would say that those were the cattle, I don’t think they had cows over there; however I may be wrong.
You may be saying, Wait a minute, you’re making my point for me. Well let me add a little more fuel to the fire.
Verse nineteen of chapter nine says, 19Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.
This was told to Pharaoh less than three days after all the cattle of Egypt died. So this is defiantly a contradiction, right? Wrong!
Take a closer look at the situation here, we have a King, a Pharaoh who owns slaves, Hebrew slaves to be exact.
If you were Pharaoh, owning, perhaps as many as a million, Hebrew, slaves and all of your cattle died, but none of the cattle you allowed your slaves to keep, would you hesitate to take over theirs? After all, they are technically yours right?
See, God maid a distinction between the cattle of the Hebrews, and that of the Egyptians. On the other hand the Egyptians made no such distinction. What their slaves owned, they owned.
Their slaves, I’m sure, where not their only sours for replenishing their livestock. After all, this would have been a vary high priority; considering their military concerns. So, by the time Pharaoh finally allowed the Hebrews to go they would have replenished, at least some, of their livestock, especially their horses.
I’m still working on the last one, though I think my point is made. Will update, again, soon.
Footnotes:
Now, as I understand it, the scientific method goes something like this.
1) Correctly identify the frame of Reference.
2) Determine the initial conditions.
3) Perform an experiment, or observe the phenomenon noting what takes place, and when and where.
4) Note the final conditions.
5) Form an hypothesis.
6) Test the hypothesis with further experiments and/or observations.
Guidelines for Interpreting Scripture
1) Establish the correct Frame of reference.
2) Make no conclusions without examining and considering the whole Word of God.
3) Accept only those conclusions that are consistent with the whole Word of God.
4) Interpret narrative passages in light of didactic, or instructive, passages and illustrations in light of principles.
5) Take any passage literally unless its context clearly indicates that it should be taken figuratively or symbolically.
6) Accept a symbol definition only if it is defined such elsewhere in scripture.
7) Recognize that many prophecies are fulfilled more than once.
8) Be prepared to draw more that one message or application from a passage.
9) Be alert to occasional problems in translation from the original languages.
Resolving Paradoxes
Contradiction: Direct opposition between two statements or between any two things compared.
Paradox: A seeming contradiction that can be resolved by any one or more of the fallowing means:
1) Establishing the true frame of reference, or point of view, of a given passage or passages.
2) Establishing the correct definition of a given system or systems under consideration.
3) Observing over a longer or shorter range of magnitudes.
4) Observing over more or other dimensions.
5) Gathering more detailed and/or complete information.
{Taken from copies of transparencies use in the lecture series Biblical Paradoxes by Br. Hugh Ross}
Topics: Gath
Text: a wine-vat one of the five royal cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3) on which the ark brought calamity (1 Sam. 5: 8, 9; 6:17). It was famous also as being the birthplace or residence of Goliath (1 Sam. 17:4). David fled from Saul to Achish, king of Gath (1 Sam. 21:10; 27: 2-4; Ps. 56), and his connection with it will account for the words in 2 Sam. 1:20. It was afterwards conquered by David (2 Sam. 8:1). It occupied a strong position on the borders of Judah and Philistia (1 Sam. 21:10; 1 Chr. 18:1). Its site has been identified with the hill called Tell esSafieh, the Alba Specula of the Middle Ages, which rises 695 feet above the plain on its east edge. It is noticed on monuments about B.C. 1500. (See METHEGAMMAH.)
Topics: Me'theg-am'mah
Text: bridle of the mother a figurative name for a chief city, as in 2 Sam. 8:1, "David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines" (R.V., "took the bridle of the mother-city"); i.e., subdued their capital or strongest city, viz., Gath (1 Chr. 18:1).
Omnipotent:
adj. [OFr < L omnipotens < omnis, all + potens: see potent] Having unlimited power or authority; All-powerful — the Omnipotent God (Webster’s New World College Dictionary, third Edition, 1997)
All Scripture references are taken from the King James Version of the Bible, unless other wise stated.
This message has been edited by jrtjr1, 09-07-2004 02:10 AM
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