Counter-Evangelism: Home > Arguments > Biblical contradictions & absurdities
Arguments against hardcore Christian beliefs:
Biblical contradictions and absurdities
(including failed prophecies)
Biblical contradictions are the most powerful argument against "Biblical inerrancy," a notion central to fundamentalism. They are more powerful than any argument based on extra-Biblical historical sources or on science, because (1) fundamentalists trust the Bible a lot more than they trust historians or scientists, and (2) to judge the validity of a Biblical argument, one need only check one's Bible (perhaps in multiple translations), whereas, to be able to check the validity of an extra-Biblical historical or scientific argument, one needs to know a lot about history or science oneself.There are lots and lots and lots of contradictions in the Bible. When debating with fundies, it is generally best to focus on those contradictions which also impact other central Christian doctrines (such as the Resurrection and Jesus's alleged fulfillment of Messianic prophecy) as well.
Fundies have developed ingenious ways to explain away many of the contradictions. When debating with a fundy about Biblical contradictions, keep an eye out for "harmonizations" which, in any way, backpedal on the notion of Biblical inerrancy.
- Biblical Truths (a compilation of contradiction and fallacy, presented as an invitation for further study) by Just Drew
- On The Rejection of Pascal's Wager: A Skeptic's Guide to Christianity:
- List of pages on The Skeptic's Annotated Bible site
- List of pages on the Secular Web (Internet Infidels) site
- Lists of pages on the Biblical Errancy site
- 1001 Errors In The Christian Bible
- Crucifixion/resurrection accounts on Outreach Judaism
- Contradictions and Jesus the False Prophet on Set Free!:
- More later (under construction)
Regarding Jesus's alleged fulfillment of Messianic prophecies, see also Judaism vs. Christianity's "Messianic prophecies" on the Alternative interpretations of the Bible page
See also the other topics listed under "The Bible" on the arguments page. Many of these topics too are, in some of the listed articles, dealt with in terms of Biblical contradictions.
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