An Interactive Chart Of Bible Contradictions

[MMS]

False. Revelation was written in the 1st Century. The EARLIEST gnostic text wasn't written until the 4th aside from maybe Thomas which was written in the 2nd Century.​

Book of Revelation - Wikipedia

The author names himself as "John" in the text, but his precise identity remains a point of academic debate. Second-century Christian writers such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Melito (the bishop of Sardis), Clement of Alexandria, and the author of the Muratorian fragment identify John the Apostle as the "John" of Revelation.[1] Modern scholarship generally takes a different view,[2] with many considering that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet.[3] Some modern scholars characterize Revelation's author as a putative figure whom they call "John of Patmos". The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (AD 81–96), which evidence tends to confirm.[4]

The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic.[6] It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, addressing a letter to the "Seven Churches of Asia". He then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Seven-Headed Dragon, the Serpent, and the Beast, which culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus.

The obscure and extravagant imagery has led to a wide variety of Christian interpretations. Historicist interpretations see Revelation as containing a broad view of history, whilst preterist interpretations treat Revelation as mostly referring to the events of the Apostolic Age (1st century), or, at the latest, the fall of the Roman Empire. Futurists, meanwhile, believe that Revelation describes future events, with the seven churches growing into the body/believers throughout the age, and a reemergence or continuous rule of a Roman/Graeco system with modern capabilities described by John in ways familiar to him, and idealist or symbolic interpretations consider that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events, but is an allegory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil.

Steve Moyise uses the index of the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament to show that "Revelation contains more Old Testament allusions than any other New Testament book, but it does not record a single quotation."[111] Perhaps significantly, Revelation chooses different sources than other New Testament books. Revelation concentrates on Isaiah, Psalms, and Ezekiel, while neglecting, comparatively speaking, the books of the Pentateuch that are the dominant sources for other New Testament writers. Methodological objections have been made to this course as each allusion may not have an equal significance. To counter this, G. K. Beale sought to develop a system that distinguished 'clear', 'probable', and 'possible' allusions. A clear allusion is one with almost the same wording as its source, the same general meaning, and which could not reasonably have been drawn from elsewhere. A probable allusion contains an idea which is uniquely traceable to its source. Possible allusions are described as mere echoes of their putative sources.[citation needed]

Yet, with Revelation, the problems might be judged more fundamental. The author seems to be using his sources in a completely different way to the originals. For example, he borrows the 'new temple' imagery of Ezekiel 40–48 but uses it to describe a New Jerusalem which, quite pointedly, no longer needs a temple because it is God's dwelling. Ian Boxall[112] writes that Revelation "is no montage of biblical quotations (that is not John's way) but a wealth of allusions and evocations rewoven into something new and creative." In trying to identify this "something new", Boxall argues that Ezekiel provides the 'backbone' for Revelation. He sets out a comparative table listing the chapters of Revelation in sequence and linking most of them to the structurally corresponding chapter in Ezekiel. The interesting point is that the order is not the same. John, on this theory, rearranges Ezekiel to suit his own purposes.

Alogi - Wikipedia

Cerinthus - Wikipedia

Cerinthus may be the alleged recipient of the Apocryphon of James (codex I, text 2 of the Nag Hammadi library), although the name written is largely illegible. A late second century heretical Christian sect (later dubbed the Alogi) headed by Caius of Rome alleged Cerinthus was the true author of the Gospel of John and Book of Revelation. According to Catholic Encyclopedia: Caius: "Additional light has been thrown on the character of Caius's dialogue against Proclus by Gwynne's publication of some fragments from the work of Hippolytus "Contra Caium" (Hermathena, VI, p. 397 sq.); from these it seems clear that Caius maintained that the Apocalypse of John was a work of the Gnostic Cerinthus." The Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) is unanimously attributed to John by the early Christians before that time; third century theologian Tertullian indicates that all John's foster churches (i.e., the churches of Asia Minor) when traced back to the beginning all rested on the Apostle John as its author, and that it receives the same recognition in all the other churches.[30] Irenaeus makes consistent remarks.[31]

Spoiler: Ezekiel for Reference

Bible Gateway passage: Ezekiel 1 - King James Version

1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

3 The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.

4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

7 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Spoiler: icon of the orthodox perspective of ezekiel

the universe as defined by ezekiel

I AM WATCHING YOU: THE “ALL-SEEING EYE OF GOD” ICON

also worth reading
Montanism - Wikipedia

 

[EndDomination]

While quite a bit of this is accurate, a lot of the "contradictions" cited are matters of ideological and theological interpretation - and are actually quite coherent.

Pretending that the Bible is a singular document written at one time and not centuries of history, Judaic law, philosophy, political theory, and theology split along several different groups is an atheists "gotcha" that shows a tremendous misunderstanding about Christianity as a whole.

 

[EndDomination]

Anyhoo, I had a religion professor tell me that most grimoires were in private collections of high level priests at the Vatican.

da fukk you need them for if you are of the cloth.

Just burn that shyt and KIM!
shyt don’t make no sense.
Edit: I learned a grimoire was a spell book or something like that.

Your professor was being disingenuous.

The largest libraries of most of the first and second millennia were either held by the church, or by state-run collections.
Saying "high-level priests" is just bullshyt sprinkled on top of truth to make it sound mysterious. The Vatican has one of the largest and oldest book collection on the planet, if there are ancient "grimoires" in their possession (magic, alchemy, and old medicine were almost always a part of the same text, along with poetry and art) - they're in the general library.

If you have a research interest, you can email them - and they'll send you a photocopy of a given text.

 

[MMS]

While quite a bit of this is accurate, a lot of the "contradictions" cited are matters of ideological and theological interpretation - and are actually quite coherent.

Pretending that the Bible is a singular document written at one time and not centuries of history, Judaic law, philosophy, political theory, and theology split along several different groups is an atheists "gotcha" that shows a tremendous misunderstanding about Christianity as a whole.

some of these protestant congregations have been taught without any of these perspectives for over a hundred years

IMO this is why Mormonism became a thing in America due to pastors taking liberties on how they define things. Also why you have Judaic, Islamic and Christian interpretations to allow wars and slavery.

Holy texts without perspective are the reason for the crusades

 

[skylove4]

There's a fundamental flaw in people that argue against the bible. They think they are right and God is wrong.

There's no point in arguing with someone that has that mental flaw.

 

[EndDomination]

I looked at one of their “contradictions”

How many sons does God have?

this one says that since the Bible has referred to many people as the sons of God ( Adam, Solomon, humans, angels etc)
Jesus can’t be the only begotten Son of God

this is dumb

the Greek work is monogenes is used for Jesus
This means one of a kind or special

it is also used to refer to Abraham’s son Isaac when it is a well known fact that Abraham had multiple children


All of this so just purposefully misunderstanding context

This is what I saw when I started looking through it.
It's a lot of bad-faith reading of metaphors, similes, and allusions - and pretending that those represent contradictions.
The Bible does have contradictions, but a lot of what is there is sloppy reading.

Believe in a book that says nothing about bacteria, cures for diseases, dinosaurs, or technology but tells you to stone someone for working on Sunday

They do mention technology, but considering it is a collection of books that existed before our modern understanding of biology - of course not.
Many of the traditions mentioned in the Bible, including dietary restrictions - are based, in part, on health concepts - pigs were dangerous because they carried foodborne illnesses, unclean water is the same way.

The bible is Byzantine text, that’s not only white supremacy but white imperialism

That's not right either, it's a collection of ancient texts.

 

[EndDomination]

some of these protestant congregations have been taught without any of these perspectives for over a hundred years

IMO this is why Mormonism became a thing in America due to pastors taking liberties on how they define things. Also why you have Judaic, Islamic and Christian interpretations to allow wars and slavery.

Holy texts without perspective are the reason for the crusades

You're entirely correct about the former point - most churches don't provide a literary and historical explanation of the Bible or Christianity - they instead teach the Bible as a singular book that is the "direct Word of God." And that is entirely incorrect. I grew up in a Pentecostal church and went pretty much every week for 24 years, I've also spent years, probably since age 9 or 10, delving into history.

And yeah, religious interpretations are largely socially-constructed and elastic. You can stretch out verses and sentiments to say and do pretty much anything. This is why working historical knowledge is so important.

 

[EndDomination]

the bible is the GOAT fanfiction novel

While this is a little insulting, in reality the Bible is a collection that was written, edited, and translated based on subjective understandings, but an untold number of authors.

It does carry many of the elements of "fanfiction" and it is self-referential.

 

[BaldingSoHard]

I've never seen "black folks" in real life hate the bible and God so much

Sure you have. The God they hate just has a different name.

 

[EndDomination]

Christianity is steeped in roman practices. To be Christian is to inherit the legacy of rome or you just want to ignore Christian history

I think you're mixing up the "Holy Roman Empire" and the "Roman Empire" breh, they're not the same thing at all

 

[Chrishaune]

Fundamental flaw

 

[MMS]

You're entirely correct about the former point - most churches don't provide a literary and historical explanation of the Bible or Christianity - they instead teach the Bible as a singular book that is the "direct Word of God." And that is entirely incorrect. I grew up in a Pentecostal church and went pretty much every week for 24 years, I've also spent years, probably since age 9 or 10, delving into history.

And yeah, religious interpretations are largely socially-constructed and elastic. You can stretch out verses and sentiments to say and do pretty much anything. This is why working historical knowledge is so important.

remember protestants started from protest

in essence its part of their being. I challenge you to explore Orthodoxy (any of them) and see if you still feel the need to be in opposition

Jesus did indeed rise on the third day and is still in our midst

 

[MikelArteta]

Sure you have. The God they hate just has a different name.

every knee will bow

 

[MMS]

Fundamental flaw

Romans 3:4

4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

 

[EndDomination]

People don't know how to read the bible.

It is not to be read as is, it is an allegorical text.

And actually, it serves a purpose between the separation of the language and spirituality.

Once I read the history of Alexander The Great, I understood the Bible.

You should read City of God by. Saint Augustine - since that's the most influential and prominent interpretative text of Christianity and everything written afterward follows from it.
Or check out Black Theology, Black Power by. James H. Cone.