DEBATE: Does the Bible have Contradictions?

[00:00:01]Let's try this one.

[00:00:03]Checkers, what is your deal tonight?

[00:00:06]She's so wild. Oh, no.

[00:00:12]Okay.

[00:00:18]Uh hello?

[00:00:19]>> All right. Good night. Good night. Hi.

[00:00:22]>> Um are you at least 18?

[00:00:25]>> Yeah, I'm 30. About to be 31.

[00:00:29]>> About to be 31. Okay.

[00:00:32]Um there's kind of a lot of background noise. Can you maybe get to somewhere a little quieter?

[00:00:37]>> Yeah, sure. Sorry.

[00:00:38]>> That's okay.

[00:00:50]>> Yeah, hello. How are you?

[00:00:51]>> Hi.

[00:00:52]Good. Um so, what can I do for you?

[00:00:56]>> Yeah, so your prompt says no um you don't deserve hell. Like who who doesn't deserve hell? Like >> I don't think any human being deserves hell. And even the very worst human being that you can think of, I don't think that they deserve infinite, eternal, never-ending punishment.

[00:01:17]>> Why don't you think that?

[00:01:18]>> That they they they've sinned against the a holy God, right?

[00:01:24]>> Uh I mean, yeah, but so the scripture says >> Wait, wait, wait. You agree that it's cruel?

[00:01:31]>> Yeah, of course. It says it's there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, right? So, it's it's not a pretty place to be.

[00:01:40]>> Yeah, so your God then is cruel for putting people through that.

[00:01:46]>> No, so the place is cruel. But >> No, no, no. I'm saying creating that place, sending people there is cruel.

[00:01:55]>> So, the the Bible says it was created for the devil and his angels, right?

[00:02:01]Like it wasn't created for man.

[00:02:03]>> So, did God not know that humans would end up there when he created it?

[00:02:09]>> Yeah, I imagine he he he did.

[00:02:12]>> Okay, so he created it knowing humans would go there.

[00:02:16]>> Yeah, but he he made a way so you don't have to go there.

[00:02:20]>> That's irrelevant. Like if I threaten you with torture, but I say, "Hey, there's a way that I might not torture you." Am I a good person or a bad person?

[00:02:32]>> No, that's a that that doesn't um that's not the same thing, right? Because Okay, so there's a all holy God that we've committed a sin against, right? Like and he's a just judge. You have to pay the price for your sins.

[00:02:52]>> So, why is um like the wages of sin is death, right?

[00:02:59]>> Right.

[00:03:00]>> Okay, so I'm absolutely prepared to pay the price of death.

[00:03:05]Um I'm I'm going to be paying that. Why do we have to also introduce infinite never-ending torture?

[00:03:14]>> Death just means uh complete separation from God for eternity.

[00:03:19]>> That's not what it says. It says death.

[00:03:21]Like you can't just make up a new definition for the word death.

[00:03:25]>> No, so the when the Bible speaks of death, right? There are a few different definitions. So, like for instance, when when he said to Adam, "The day you eat of this fruit, you shall surely die." It wasn't a physical death that Adam >> So, that's false. Um do you speak the the Hebrew? Like can you read it in the original language? Do you have any reason to believe that death sometimes means something other than death.

[00:03:54]>> Well, while I can't read the Hebrew, I could um piece together context, right?

[00:03:59]So, like um so, like we you can agree that Adam didn't die on that day when he ate the fruit, right?

[00:04:07]>> Yeah, so it's interesting that when you see the contradiction, rather than reading the text plainly what it is, you're assuming that the words actually don't mean what the words say.

[00:04:24]>> No, so so that's >> on that day you will surely die.

[00:04:30]And on that day they did not die.

[00:04:33]Um and so, instead of acknowledging that, you have to say, "Well, die doesn't actually mean die. It means something else."

[00:04:43]>> No, so so like when Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," right? Um you would agree that life is living here like you're breathing in you're breathing, right? Like you're walking, you're living. But he's using a different word to say he's the life. The life that he's referring to is eternal life, right?

[00:05:02]>> You're not not right.

[00:05:04]Um you're adding stuff in there that isn't in there, and it's convenient, but it's not there. There is no word in ancient Hebrew that means spiritual death. That that's not there.

[00:05:20]The the word in Hebrew says death. It's the same word for physically dying.

[00:05:26]There's absolutely no indication in the text that it says spiritual death.

[00:05:32]That's something that Christian apologists add later because they see the contradiction, and it's uncomfortable.

[00:05:39]>> No, so this is There is no contradiction. So, like what do you think of this? When God says, "Today I put two roads before you."

[00:05:47]>> No, no, let's let's go let's focus on one example here. So when he said to Adam, "On that day you will surely die."

[00:05:56]What evidence do you have that the word die doesn't mean die?

[00:06:05]>> Because he didn't die. He was separated from God. That's what the Bible says to die.

[00:06:10]>> when you read that, like if you read that in any other book, your conclusion would be, "Huh, it looks like God lied then."

[00:06:19]But for some reason you don't come to that conclusion when you read this.

[00:06:25]>> Because there are other places in scripture where death doesn't mean like you're in the grave. It means a separation from God.

[00:06:32]>> How do you know that? And how do you know that that's what God intended in Genesis 2?

[00:06:39]>> Because Adam didn't die.

[00:06:43]>> Okay.

[00:06:44]So >> It's It's pretty simple. Like you're here you >> definitely simple. I agree.

[00:06:51]It's absolutely simple.

[00:06:53]>> Well, you're just saying >> said something would happen.

[00:06:56]It did not happen.

[00:06:58]>> But it did.

[00:06:58]>> And so rather than coming to the obvious conclusion, you're going to say, "Well, God didn't actually mean what he said he meant and so he didn't lie."

[00:07:11]>> Right. Because >> It's a very strange conclusion to come to.

[00:07:16]>> Because we see other places in scripture where death doesn't mean like a physical death. It means it just means >> How do you know that? How do you know the writer's intention? And why do you think that all the scholars that translated the Bible into English all got it wrong?

[00:07:40]>> No, they didn't all get it wrong. Like So so >> But it doesn't say spiritual death.

[00:07:45]It doesn't say spiritual death. It just says death.

[00:07:49]So, if the true intention of the text was to say spiritual death, then that's what should be there in English, but it's not. Because the only thing that's in the text is the word death.

[00:08:03]You're adding this later because you see that it doesn't make sense as written.

[00:08:08]>> No, so if you're reading a piece of literature, right? And you see you see a word mentioned in a in a certain context, and you go to the other page somewhere else in the in the same body of literature, right? And you see that the same word is being used in a different context, you can come to the rational conclusion that, oh, this person must have meant um something else by using this word. It happens all the >> someone is going to use a commonly used word in the language that they speak, and they want to use that commonly used word to mean something totally different, they either need to be explicit about why they're using it totally differently, or they have to specify, or you have to have some reason to believe that they're using it totally differently. So, what I mean by that is that there are places in the Bible where death does mean physical death.

[00:09:04]And so, when you look at the text, it's the same Hebrew word.

[00:09:10]So, the places where it says death and someone just keels over and dies, you as the reader need a reason to believe that, even though death usually means death, sometimes it means something else. You need a specific context clue in that instance to figure out that, oh, I need to use this commonly used word in totally different way.

[00:09:37]And I'm telling you that there is no such context clue in Genesis 2.

[00:09:46]>> Right. So, let's let's use um so >> said right, so you agree with me?

[00:09:52]>> No, I I I don't.

[00:09:54]>> Okay. Where did I have it wrong?

[00:09:57]>> Well, because you're completely dismissing um the context of the scripture, right?

[00:10:02]>> No, I'm asking you for the context.

[00:10:04]Please show me what context clue you used to decide that death means not regular death. What context clue did you find to come to that conclusion?

[00:10:18]>> Uh in Genesis 2?

[00:10:20]>> Yeah.

[00:10:22]>> Right. Because we see that there was a separation from from from God, right?

[00:10:27]They got kicked out of the garden.

[00:10:29]>> So, no, I'm not asking for the plot.

[00:10:31]Like, linguistically, why Like, why did you come to the conclusion >> context clue in Genesis 2.

[00:10:39]>> Okay.

[00:10:40]>> However, >> Great. That's what I thought.

[00:10:42]>> How However, we can find other in other um scriptures, right?

[00:10:47]>> No, no. So, you're then you're you weren't really listening to what I said.

[00:10:51]Um if I have a like a literary I'm looking at a literary work, and throughout the work the author uses death in the normal way.

[00:11:01]And then every once in a while they use death and they assume a different definition.

[00:11:09]Each exception needs to have context clues for you to know that it's an exception.

[00:11:16]Or you're just picking and choosing whatever you like. If there's no context clue in Genesis 2 to tell you that that instance of death suddenly magically has another meaning, then you're just making it up out of convenience.

[00:11:35]>> Okay, I hear you.

[00:11:37]>> Okay.

[00:11:39]>> I still don't agree, but I hear what you're saying.

[00:11:43]>> So, then going back to how we got on this in the first place is I had brought up that the wages of sin was death and that I am going to pay that price.

[00:11:56]Um that's fine. And I don't think infinite punishment is just. It is so disproportionate, right? Like, if you're going to put someone in torment, which on its own I don't agree with, um it's not a million years of torment.

[00:12:20]It's not a billion years of torment.

[00:12:23]It's never ever ever ending. And that is the cruelest thing I can think of. Like, that is like cartoonishly evil.

[00:12:34]And so, God was not obligated to create such a thing.

[00:12:40]God did not have to create even that possibility.

[00:12:45]So, I don't understand why you're cool with it.

[00:12:54]>> Well, the the problem is okay, so when you just quoted the wages of sin is death, right? In what context is that death being used?

[00:13:06]Cuz everyone dies, right? Sinners and um saints die, right? So, like >> Right.

[00:13:12]>> What context is death being used there?

[00:13:14]>> So, the context is actually why there are many Christians who are what we call annihilationists.

[00:13:21]Um the wages of sin the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

[00:13:28]And so, in the rest of that verse saying eternal life is actually making our distinction here. What Don't stomp at me, bunny.

[00:13:40]Have you heard that loud thump? That was my bunny stomping at me. She's very mad tonight. Um so, the verse takes the time to specify that the life will be eternal. And then does not specify that the death will be eternal.

[00:14:01]So, if you look at the context, there's actually a greater argument that the wages of sin is just being annihilated.

[00:14:10]And the gift of God is getting to live in heaven with God forever.

[00:14:16]>> Yeah, but that would that would bring a lot of contradiction to other scriptures where like >> It sure does.

[00:14:23]>> So, so we have to put >> in scripture.

[00:14:26]>> Seemingly, but not quite. But, right?

[00:14:29]So, we have to we have to go through the entire text, right? Like, we can't just isolate scriptures here and say, "Oh, yeah, this is where the Bible >> what you asked, and I brought more context in. Uh let me ask you this. Have you read the Bible cover to cover?

[00:14:44]>> No, not cover to cover.

[00:14:46]>> Okay.

[00:14:47]So, I have. I have read the Bible cover to cover.

[00:14:51]Um and >> A lot of non-believers read the Bible cover to cover.

[00:14:57]>> Cool. Um I read the Bible cover to cover while I was a Christian.

[00:15:02]Um and I read it to get closer to God.

[00:15:05]Um I have read the entire context. Um and I think it's interesting that you're up here defending a book that you haven't even read the whole thing.

[00:15:20]You don't even know what's in some parts of it. Um and so I don't know like if I say there's a contradiction, it might be a contradiction you've never heard of because you haven't read the whole thing.

[00:15:35]So if you're going to come here with the conclusion that there are no contradictions without actually reading the whole thing, that demonstrates to me that you have made your conclusion first and then you're going to maybe look for the evidence second.

[00:15:54]Which puts you at an enormous risk of confirmation bias rather than actually trying to find the truth.

[00:16:06]>> Right. Um so you're saying that I have to read the Bible cover to cover to um understand God and um know how he operates.

[00:16:15]>> Yeah.

[00:16:16]I mean it's crazy that you haven't like you're here >> It's not true.

[00:16:20]>> telling me You're here telling me that I need to look at the context, that I need to look at the whole scripture in order to figure out whether death means death or whether death means something else.

[00:16:36]And I have looked at the whole context and you haven't.

[00:16:39]If you haven't read the whole book, you don't know what's in there.

[00:16:44]And so you cannot claim that the book has no contradictions if you haven't read the whole thing.

[00:16:52]>> I read 75% of the Bible and I have yet to see a contradiction.

[00:16:57]>> So again, you're missing a whole quarter of it. Like a whole quarter of the Bible. There could be anything in there.

[00:17:05]You have no idea, but you've already come to the conclusion without read without having read the whole thing and that is confirmation bias.

[00:17:18]>> So >> you you looked at all the research and all the studies as to why there is no God and you come to this conclusion?

[00:17:26]>> So, you just so we understand each other, you believe that the Bible has no contradictions, but you have not read the whole thing. So, you have come to the conclusion without actually examining the evidence.

[00:17:41]>> Yeah, because I believe in God. I have faith in God, right?

[00:17:45]>> So, now we have left logic. Um and that's fine, but you don't have any good reason to argue with me about it then.

[00:17:56]>> I don't think you have to read the entire Bible to to understand who God is.

[00:18:02]>> I I just so you're you're moving the goal post a little bit. I think you have to read the whole Bible if you want to claim there aren't any contradictions in it or if you want to claim that I need to learn the context, then yes, you do have to read the whole Bible.

[00:18:22]>> Cuz you atheists talk the same it's all the same contradictions and I've looked extensively into them.

[00:18:27]>> Again, >> Like there's only >> you don't know.

[00:18:31]Even if you hear the same contradictions over and over again, what if there's one in there that no one's talking about?

[00:18:38]You have no idea because you haven't read it.

[00:18:41]You're just relying on other people to tell you what's in it.

[00:18:51]>> So, you found all the contradictions?

[00:18:54]>> All right. I'm going to end the call here cuz you're eating on camera and it's it's not great.

[00:19:00]And I'm tired and ready for bed. So, I um hope you have a good night. It doesn't really sound like you want to engage with what I have to say.

[00:19:09]Um I appreciate you coming up and >> Thank you. Thank you for having me. Bye.

[00:19:14]>> You're welcome. Good night.

[00:19:22]That never fails to interest me that people come up here to argue about the Bible and they haven't read the whole thing.

[00:19:36]Like, what do you mean you haven't read the whole thing? You're devoting your life to God and he he took all this time to write this book for you and you aren't reading it? I don't know.

[00:19:49]I It's wild.

[00:19:52]Wild to me.

[00:19:55]Alrighty, my friends. Um I have a podcast with Justin. Um, it's called the Exvangelical Bible Study.

[00:20:06]I we haven't put out a new episode in a little while, but Justin's schedule in the summer is a little crazy. Um, but you can find it on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, so you can catch up. Um and I am on YouTube. Um, please come find me on YouTube. I go live on YouTube on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have some more long-form content over there and I do repost these conversations, so if you want to like revisit the conversations, I post them over on YouTube. Um, and I have a Substack.

[00:20:43]Um Shoot, I still haven't put that in my link tree. It's I think leaving.faith.

[00:20:49]Uh, my YouTube is @leavingfaith.

[00:20:52]Um, and that is definitely linked in um, my bio.

[00:20:57]So, thank you guys so much um, for hanging out and um, for all the support.

[00:21:04]Um, and I will see you all soon.