Bible Contradictions?

[Jesus Freak]

Hey yall,

I am discussing with one of my humanist friends and he believes there are contradictions in the Bible. He starts at Genesis 1:3-19. I know there are no Bible contradictions and all this is, is Athiest poking at the Bible without the use of the Holy Spirit. But it would be nice if yall can help me and try and put it in a way to explain.

1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
1:7 And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

________________

His problem was:
1. Light was somehow created 3 days prior to light producing objects, as well as this, grass, trees, etc. that rely on the sun for photosynthesis were created before the sun was. Where was the light coming from?

2. God made two lights, the greater one, the sun, and the lesser one, the moon. But, the moon does not produce light, it reflects light from the sun. As well as this, if the moon was made to rule the night, why does it spend half of its time moving through the daytime sky?

3. God set the sun, moon, and stars in the sky, in order to light Earth, but only a small fraction of stars is visible from Earth. At best, we can see thousands, but there are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and billions of galaxies.

[mattfivefour]

Dr. John Morris over at the Institute of Creation Research has answered this criticism this way:

Sunlight Before the Sun
by John D. Morris, Ph.D.
According to Scripture, God "created the heaven and the earth" on Day One of Creation Week (Genesis 1:1). Initially all was dark, until God said, "Let there be light" (v. 3). Days Two and Three saw the oceans, firmament (or atmosphere), continents, and plants formed, as the earth was being progressively prepared for man's habitation. It was on Day Four that God created the sun, moon, and stars, proclaiming, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven" (v. 14), one purpose of which was "to give light upon the earth" (v. 15).
This light was directional, coming from a particular source. The earth was evidently rotating underneath it, causing alternating periods of light and dark. "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night" (v. 5).
Skeptics have long ridiculed the science of biblical creation over this point. How could there be light bathing the earth before the sun was created? Obviously the Bible must be in error. But as always, this apparent error drives us to look more closely at the relevant data, both scientific and biblical.
Actually there are many sources of light, not just the sun. There are also many types of light, not just visible light. Short-wave light includes ultraviolet light, X-rays, and others. Long-wave light includes infrared light, radio waves, etc. Light is produced by friction, by fire, by numerous chemical reactions, as well as the nuclear reactions of atomic fission and fusion, which is what we think is occurring in the sun. God had at His fingertips many options to accomplish His purposes. Light does not automatically require the sun.
Furthermore, we have important data given by the Hebrew words used in the creation account. When God created "light" in verse 3, the word used connotes the presence of light only, while the word used for "lights" on Day Four is best translated "light bearers," or permanent light sources. Their purpose was not only to give light, but to serve as timekeepers for man once he was created. According to the best stellar creation theory now available, light from stars created anywhere in the universe on Day Four would reach earth in two earth days, and would be useful to Adam on Day Six. (For more information, see Dr. Russell Humphrey's cosmology articles on The Institute for Creation Research.)
Keep in mind that the Creation Week was a uniquely miraculous time, and we are justified in speculating that miraculous events may have been taking place outside of today's natural laws. Especially when we realize that "God is light" (1 John 1:5) Himself, thus no outside natural source is necessarily mandated.
(Full article: Sunlight Before the Sun)

I agree with his comments about the miraculous events surrounding Creation. And with his reference to "God being light". To this I would add the Revelation account of the New Jerusalem. There will no longer be a sun or a moon, for it says in Revelation 21:23 to 22:2— "The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

Clearly from this passage we can see that neither people nor plants require the sun when the light of God Himself is present.

Hope this helps.

[micah719]

1. Plants can survive at least half a day without light. Your friend may wish to directly observe this by staying up all night to be certain that the said foliage is still alive shorty before sunrise. If he is still sceptical, he can bring one of these plants inside and sit with it in a darkened room and suddenly surprise it with a flashlight in its death throes in the evening..gotcha! Oh....hmmm, maybe the Lord really did mean literal days in creation, seeing as how any other "interpretation" would make a mockery of His eyewitness account of how He made stuff...

2. The Lord explains why He made them: "let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years". What does the humanist expect the moon to do during the day? Surely it's allowed a little time off from ruling so it can engage in its hobbies, such as causing tides, or catching asteroids? And how about the amazingly accurate calendar the Jews have been keeping for so long, tied to both the sun and the moon? And if this person thinks the sun can be hot and bright, how impressive must the Lord Himself be (this whole chapter from Isaiah is a little scary...):

Isaiah 24:20-23
20 The earth shall stagger like a drunken man and shall sway to and fro like a hammock; its transgression shall lie heavily upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again.
21 And in that day the Lord will visit and punish the host of the high ones on high [the host of heaven in heaven, celestial beings] and the kings of the earth on the earth.
22 And they will be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in a pit or dungeon; they will be shut up in prison, and after many days they will be visited, inspected, and punished or pardoned.
23 Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, when [they compare their ineffectual fire to the light of] the Lord of hosts, Who will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders will show forth His glory.


3. Lets hear what the Lord says about His star collection:

A most interesting Psalm this one:
Psalm 19:1
1 THE HEAVENS declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork.

and another:
Psalm 50:6
6 And the heavens declare His righteousness (rightness and justice), for God, He is judge. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

and another, in the past tense, indicating it is written from a future perspective when fools won't be about to plague anyone with extremely stupid questions:
Psalm 97:1-6
1 THE LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles and coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and darkness are round about Him [as at Sinai]; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3 Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about.
4 His lightnings illumine the world; the earth sees and trembles.
5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory.

The Lord even named His stars, individually!:
Psalm 147:4
4 He determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.

As for how many there are, only He knows, and it seems He doesn't put much stock in our ability to count them:
Genesis 15:5
5 And He brought him outside [his tent into the starlight] and said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars--if you are able to number them. Then He said to him, So shall your descendants be.

The first chapter of Romans would be an ideal place to take this sceptical humanist, I'm sure he will be impressed by the references to him in there. Nothing like a little personal attention...it hurts a bit at first but the reconciliation is well worth it. However, his actual problem is in this passage:

John 3:18-19
18 He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation--he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ's name.]
19 The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil.

The really good news however is two verses back...and scattered throughout the Bible. Let's pray that the Holy Spirit opens this man's heart and enables him to come to the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As for contradictions in the Bible....nope, not one. Paradoxes certainly, and things difficult to understand, but that is to be expected when Infinite Intelligence speaks to a dolt, like me for instance.

Proverbs 25:2
2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a thing.

[readytogo]

1. Light was somehow created 3 days prior to light producing objects, as well as this, grass, trees, etc. that rely on the sun for photosynthesis were created before the sun was. Where was the light coming from?

1 John 1:5

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Revelation 22:5

5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.

As for the need for photosynthesis, the plants went without sunlight overnight. So? It happens every day! (As for those who insist that the days =eras or "ages", they would have a heck of a problem with this. But since we're talking about literal 24 hour days, I don't see a problem.)

2. God made two lights, the greater one, the sun, and the lesser one, the moon. But, the moon does not produce light, it reflects light from the sun. As well as this, if the moon was made to rule the night, why does it spend half of its time moving through the daytime sky?

a) The Bible doesn't say that God created 2 objects to produce light. But rather they would would give light. This means that they would give us light whether produced or reflected it. And if your friend argues that the moon does not give light, have him walk out on a moonlit night. He could also try to argue his point with scientists, poets, and other people who insist on referring to "moonlight".

b) While there is no doubt that the moon sometimes appears while the sun is still out, is there any doubt which is the brighter of the two during the day? The sun rules or governs the day. The moon rules the night. If the sun were to come out, it wouldn't be night anymore! The moon rules or governs the night.

3. God set the sun, moon, and stars in the sky, in order to light Earth, but only a small fraction of stars is visible from Earth. At best, we can see thousands, but there are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and billions of galaxies.

The sun and moon give off their light. If you look in Genesis 1:14-19, you'll see that it doesn't say that the stars are to give off their light in the same sense as the sun and moon do. Think of them as decorations. As far as not being able to see all of the stars, why do people decorate the back of the Christmas tree if it sits in the corner of the room? No one will see the back. Yet most people will decorate the tree all of the way around. (As a side note, the stars were set out in patterns by God. This was the mazzaroth. It was the forerunner of the zodiac. In it, God set the gospel out in the heavens for all to see. It started with the virgin birth (Virgo) and went around to the Lion of Judah (Leo). It has since been extremely corrupted and used for occult practices with many of the signs being given new names.)

[Jesus Freak]

thank you guys so much! please pray for him

[Adopted Son]

It is simple. "All things are possible with God." Any argument to this statement must rely on man's inferior intelligence and wisdom, and therefore is foolish. There are no contradictions in the bible, just incomplete understandings of God's Word.