Lloyd Evans: 30 Obvious Bible Contradictions.
The purpose of this collection of rebuttal essays is to either agree with
Mr. Evans that he has found a real inconsistency in the canonical Bible, such
as the KJV, or to explain how he has not. I plan on going through them one
at a time. My first task is to introduce myself and my second task is to react
to Evans's preface to his thirty questions. He refers to this preface as
'my introductory comments.'
*Exceptions: As I go through these questions, I find that I should leave some
of them to the Christian apologists, who are the experts. Maybe later on, I
can come back to them.
My name is Patrick Reany. I graduated with a BS in mathematics in 1983. I am not a
Christian apologist per se. I am just an ordinary Christian who has had to resolve
these so-called Bible inconsistencies myself. I have been a successful Christian since
2008. On the day that I was converted, I was a changed person. I knew by intuition
that I was a very different person that morning I woke up. I won't go into details
here, but if you claim to become a believer in Jesus and you haven't experienced a
radical change in inner drives and personality, I question if you really are a true
believer. And beyond that, Jesus claimed that He would manifest Himself to His true
believers [John 14:21]:
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:I claim that these manifestations have been true for me on many occasions, and I have
and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and
will manifest myself to him.
Anyway, this is my main personal method of dealing with alleged inconsistencies or
dealing with any complex topic or doctrine within the Bible pages: I take all the verses
that bear on it and try to consisticize them together. What does that mean? It means to
let the verses interpret each other so as to minimize the apparent inconsistencies within
them. Now, I'm sure from the introductory comments that Mr. Evans gave us that he will
immediately cry foul and reject anything that would result from such a process. He'll
have eternity to regret that belief. I think it's obvious that if you have closed your
mind to the possibility that there exists a resolution to these alleged inconsistencies,
that it is impossible for you to find one.
Furthermore, I do not claim that the scriptures are inerrant, even in their original forms.
They well may be inerrant, but I am not trained to defend that claim. If that's the position
the apologists wish to defend, then more power to them. But I have to make my decision
about the overall validity of the Bible as part of the means by which I will successfully
communicate with God based on probability and do so in a finite amount of time, and so too
do you. Anyways, these Biblical writings were not only meant for the peoples of the 21st
century. (As I will indicate below, I have other means of communicating with the God of the
Bible -- and they're all scriptually based, too.)
Look, the Bible books were written by dozens of people of varying cultures, and emphasis
at the moment, to peoples of varying degrees of formal education, and most of all, the
people of that current generation cannot be left out of receiving wisdom, instruction,
and prophecies from what the godly prophet has to say and write. What the Bible is not:
It is not a 700-page mathematics textbook that has every occurence of a definition or a
theorem stated exactly one way from start to finish. Let this sink deep down into your
heads, friends, that the Bible is a slowly progressive revelation of God, the devil, the
consequences of the fall of man, the messiah, and the ultimate fate of the universe and
of Mankind. What does the word 'progressive' mean to you?
One of the biggest problems I have with skeptics, agnostics, atheists, and even so-called
Christians is that they tend to approach God on just one of four cylinders, that being the
mind, where rational thought occurs. That being the case, even if you claim to be a
Christian you will probably miss God altogether, because God never told you to approach
Him on just the level of the mind.
The following graphic is a side-by-side picture of the Carina Nebula, which was taken
by the Hubble telescope. On the left was taken in the visible range of wavelengths, and
on the right in the infrared wavelengths. So, I ask you, dear reader: Which is the true
picture of the nebula?
Actually, it's a stupid question! They are both the true images of the nebula.
They are just two different but complementary images of the nebula, obtain by
two different but complementary means of communicating with it through
electromagnetic radiation.
Likewise, we have four modes of relating to God: through the heart, soul, mind, and strength.
In Luke 10:24-28, we read that Jesus was in a "discussion" with a certain lawyer:
For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things,
which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear,
and have not heard them. And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted
him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him,
What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said,Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, andAnd he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.Okay, Jesus did not Himself state this list, but He did validate it once it was
spoken. So, what does this list really mean? It means four things, at least to me:
First, as it states these are four separate means of love and devotion to God.
But they are also four means of worship, of meditation, and of indirect and direct
communication with God. So, if you attempt to access God only on the level of mind
(that is, only rationally), not only are you in direct disobedience to God, you are
likely to miss God altogether. So, if that is your real goal -- to access God only
through your mind -- then you will almost certainly fail to meet God. The choice
is yours.
Reply to Evans's prefacing comments
Evans begins by telling us that he is a former Jehovah's Witness member. He
also tells us that he gets his Bible references from the New World Translation
Bible, but that he finds it a totally discredited translation of the Bible. Frankly,
I find it a bit odd that Evans wants to give Bible references from a translation
that he has himself 'discredited', but no matter. I will present the text of his
chapter-verse references from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.Evans asks the question, "Does this matter?" To which I reply: Absolutely these
'contradictions' or apparent contradictions matter! Here's a quote from his preface:And, speaking of objections, it's probably worthwhile, before we begin,Frankly, I'd be surprised if in 30 challenges that Evans doesn't rightly fall under
asking the question, "Does this matter?" Because I know that there will
be comments on this video -- if a previous video is anything to go by
-- where people are saying, "This guy's being misleading; this guy is trying
to pull the wool over our eyes. He's using examples that are metaphors
or that were never intended to be literal; or he's skewing them or
misrepresenting them in some way."
at least one of these criticisms, especially since he admits to being accused of
having done so. But, this is my first exposure to the views of Lloyd Evans (so far
as I can remember), so I'll just have to wait and see. Nevertheless, after having
read his first two claims of Bible inconsistencies, I find no inappropriateness
in them.But I have a complaint to lodge against Evans at this point. He claimed that God is
supposed to be the 'greatest communicator' in the universe. I have a problem with
this kind of characterization on two levels. The first is my mistrust of this
characterization of God in that it is a superlative characterization of God. This
superlative falls into the same category as does claims like God being "all-powerful"
or "All-loving". And I wouldn't be surprised if Evans has these superlatives in his
list of 30 inconsistencies.I'm not aware of any Bible verse that claims that God is the greatest communicator in
the universe, and I have no idea what it even means. For example, I have about a
thousand questions I'd like to ask God about events in the history of man that includes
the details of why, who, where, when, etc. So, as a communicator, God has left out a lot
of interesting information.Or, does it perhaps mean that God is clear and complete about those topics that He has
broached? Well, not according to Psalm 78:2 and Matthew 13:33-35. Jesus said that His
audience has to eat his flesh [John 6:54]. And that if they tear down His temple that
He will raise it up in three days [John 2:19]. Even Jesus's own disciples complained
that He used mysterious parables all the time.I can think of three reasons why God is often vague. The first is that doctrines are often
presented progressively in detail or comprehensiveness. Also, God remains vague
because He doesn't want to reveal His 'prophetic hand' before its proper time.But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom,Thirdly, to reduce the level of condemnation He will give people who will never accept Him
which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the
princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. [1 Corinthians 2:7-8]
as savior. To those who will be saved, they will push into the kingdom of God until they
have entered into eternal life up to their last breath on earth. Jesus told those that had
seen Him doing His mighty works that they are accountable for that degree of revelation,
and if they reject it, their condemnation will be more. He said that if they had been blind,
they would be less acountable to God's justice. [John 9:41]Okay, back to the topic: I don't mind the use of superlatives about the character of God
if they can be supported by scriptures.Finally, Evans claims that just a single contradiction in the Bible is enough for him
to throw out the entire Bible. Lloyd Evans, if you were handed a 700-page calculus book
or history book or book of wisdom that had just one contradiction in it, would you just
throw it away?Evans claims that God should be considered as all-wise and all-knowing and those
are two superlatives describing God that I am willing to accept.
Evans's 30 questions (as I have time to reply to them):
Question 1: Can God be seen by humans?
Question 2: Is salvation through faith or works?
Question 3: Will those who worship God suffer?
Question 4: Should people be punished for the sins of past generations?
Question 5: How many of each animal entered the Ark?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 6: How many children did Solomon's daughter Michal have?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 7: Can or will our planet be destroyed?
Question 8: Can the dead be tortured for their sins?
Question 9: Can humans be sacrificed?
Question 10: How high we the copper pillars on Solomon's tempel?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 11: Is God's power unlimited?
Question 12: Is incest wrong?
At some point in time bewtween Adam and Eve and the billions of people now
inhabiting the earth, God decided that it is no longer permissible for people
to marry close kin, and then it was time to formalize rules against incest.
Mr. Evans has a really hard time to understand that there are different
dispensations in which God determines the moral rules for people to live by.
Apparently even God has, at times, to defer to practicality.Question 13: On what day of the month did Nebuzarandan come to burn down
Jerusalem?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 14: Is there such a thing as predestination?
Question 15: Will the dead be resurrected?
Absolutely YES: There will be a universal resurrection of all souls, saved and unsaved.
And, up against the many New Testament verses that declare this resurrection, Mr.
Evans counters with Ecclesiastes and Job. Let's look at Ecclesiastes 3:19-20
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thingNow, I don't know about the resurrection of animals, but this couple of verses
befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one
breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
-- Ecclesiastes 3:19-20.
does not tell us that there is no resurrection of people. In fact, it only
repeats what we were told way back in Genesis:In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return untoJob is interesting:
the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return.
-- Genesis 3:19.As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down toI don't think that Job, at this miserable time of his life, was acting as a prophet in making
the grave shall come up no more. -- Job 7:9.
this utterance. Instead, I think he was acting as a confused and frustrated man, trying to
figure out why his world fell apart for no apparent reason. But even at that, Job had
his better moments:For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter dayNow, that seems to me that Job was expecting to be resurrected from his dead body
upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in
my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall
behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
-- Job 19:25-27.
and made anew in the latter day.Question 17: Is it OK to rejoice in the downfall of your enemy?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 18: Is it possible to never die at all?
Question 19: When was Jesus born?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 20: Who was Christ's paternal grandfather?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 21: Could Christians carry staffs?
Question 22: Could Christians carry swords?
Question23: Should Christians do good works in secret?
Question 25: Did Jesus and Pilate have a conversation?
Question 26: Was Jesus cruficied before or after the passover?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 27: At what hour was Jesus cruficied?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 28: Was the sun up or down when Mary Magdalane visited Christ's tomb?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.Question 29: How did Judas commit suicide?
Question 30: Did the women who discovered Christ's empty tomb tell others?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.
Remember this: The righteous are mindful of the poor and help them; the wicked do not! (Proverbs 29:7)
You either get control of your lusts and feelings of entitlements or they will get control of you. -- Ilfinor