I used to be a devout Christian and an Eastern Orthodox Christian priest, and, as such, I was convinced that every assertion in the Bible was somehow true. It might not be literally true, but it was at least figuratively or allegorically true. Then I came to the conclusion that the Bible is probably a very flawed book with many contradictions, factual errors, and evil moral teachings. Inside the cover of one of my Bibles, I started recording Bible verses which seemed to me obviously false and/or evil. I did this to embrace the truth and free my mind from the childish trust I had in the Bible. In other words, I wanted to completely break the spell that kept me from thinking honestly and freely.
Contradictions and factual errors are closely related, because if two assertions contradict each other, then at least one of them is a factual error. Unlike the "Contradictions" section, the section entitled "Factual Errors" does not deal with contradictions between Bible verses. It deals with contradictions between the Bible and reality, as we know reality through credible science and history.
By no means is this book an exhaustive list of the obviously false and/or evil verses I have become aware of. These are basically the verses I recorded in my Bible with some commentary. The Revised Standard Version has been used throughout this writing, because I regard it as the best English translation because it is both accurate and understandable.
When the word Yahweh is used in this book, it refers to the main deity of the Bible. Yahweh is used instead of God for that deity because the two are not necessarily the same. According to the Bible, Yahweh created the universe, punished all humans for the sin of the first man and woman with suffering and death, flooded the entire Earth to kill most air-breathing creatures, established the nation of Israel to teach other nations and beget the Messiah, became incarnate as a human being through a virgin, atoned for humanity's sins through His own sacrificial death to Himself, resurrected from the dead, and ascended to Heaven. Yet according to many philosophers, God exists but Yahweh does not. God created the universe but did not do all the other things Yahweh is said to have done. Unless I am quoting the Bible, when I use the word God, I mean the real creator of the universe, which is probably not Yahweh. I mean God in the Deist sense.
I hope that this writing helps you to think honestly and freely.
What follows here are just six examples of important Bible problems from Bible Problems: Some Contradictions, Factual Errors, and Evil Moral Teachings in the Bible--two contradictions, two factual errors, and two evil moral teachings. If you want to read many more, you can order the e-book in PDF by clicking here.
Exodus 20:1-17, 32:19 versus Exodus 34:1, 14-28
What are the real Ten Commandments? Exodus 20:1-17, 32:19 and Exodus 34:1, 14-28 are very different.
Exodus 20:1-17, 32:19
[20:1] And God spoke all these words, saying,
[2] "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
[3] "You shall have no other gods before me.
[4] "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
[5] you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
[6] but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
[7] "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
[8] "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
[9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work;
[10] but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates;
[11] for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
[12] "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
[13] "You shall not kill.
[14] "You shall not commit adultery.
[15] "You shall not steal.
[16] "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
[17] "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's." . . .
[32:19] And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
Exodus 34:1, 14-28
[1] The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two tables of stone like the first; and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which you broke. . . .
[14] (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
[15] lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they play the harlot after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and one invites you, you eat of his sacrifice,
[16] and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods and make your sons play the harlot after their gods.
[17] "You shall make for yourself no molten gods.
[18] "The feast of unleavened bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
[19] All that opens the womb is mine, all your male cattle, the firstlings of cow and sheep.
[20] The firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the first-born of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
[21] "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
[22] And you shall observe the feast of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
[23] Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.
[24] For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.
[25] "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left until the morning.
[26] The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."
[27] And the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."
[28] And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
The First Tablets (Exodus 20)
The Second Tablets (Exodus 34)
1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
1. [Y]ou shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image. [Y]ou shall not bow down to them or serve them.
2. You shall make for yourself no molten gods.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
3. The feast of unleavened bread you shall keep.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
4. All that opens the womb is mine.
[Sacrifice firstborn male animals to Yahweh.]
5. Honor your father and your mother.
5. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest..
6. You shall not kill.
6. [Y]ou shall observe the feast of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven.
8. You shall not steal.
8. [N]either shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left until the morning.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God.
10. You shall not covet.
10. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.
2 Kings 8:26 versus 2 Chronicles 22:2
How old was Ahazi'ah when he began to reign? 2 Kings 8:26 says that Ahazi'ah was twenty-two years old, but 2 Chronicles 22:2 says that Ahazi'ah was forty-two years old.
2 Kings 8:26
[26] Ahazi'ah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athali'ah; she was a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.
2 Chronicles 22:2
[2] Ahazi'ah was forty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athali'ah, the granddaughter of Omri.
In reality, the Earth orbits the sun. In the understanding of most ancient people and, thus, in the Bible, the sun orbits the Earth. The orbit of the sun around the Earth was supposedly stopped so that the Israelites could kill their enemies.
[12] Then spoke Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the men of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel,
"Sun, stand thou still at Gibeon,
and thou Moon in the valley of Ai'jalon."
[13] And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.
[14] There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD hearkened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.
Jesus said that he would return to Earth on a cloud in great glory and that his return would happen before that generation died. That was approximately 2,000 years ago, and all of that generation is long dead.
[27] “And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
[28] Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
[29] And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees;
[30] as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near.
[31] So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
[32] Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all has taken place.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 sanctions raping female virgins.
Suppose you were a man who lusted after a certain female virgin who was not romantically interested in you. All you had to do, if you were an Israelite, was rape her, pay her father some money, and then marry her. After that, you could rape her almost every night because she would be your wife. It sounds like this rule was invented by an ugly, odious, and exceedingly horny male Israelite.
[28] If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found,
[29] then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her; he may not put her away all his days.
Ephesians 6:5-8 advocates slavery.
Some Christian apologists will argue that this verse does not teach that slavery is good, but they are wrong. It at least indirectly teaches that slavery is good. According to Christian theology, Christ is God, and God is good. Christian theology also teaches that it is good for people to do whatever Christ/God tells them to do. People should, in fact, be the servants, or slaves, of Christ/God. Consider now what the author of Ephesians is doing. He is saying that slaves should obey their masters like all people should obey God. Thus, he is at least indirectly teaching that slavery is good, like people obeying God is good. He certainly is advocating that slaves stay slaves rather than escape or rebel.
[5] Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ;
[6] not in the way of eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
[7] rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to men,
[8] knowing that whatever good any one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
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