Errors, Contradictions and Questions concerning the New Testament

[Sandy]

Old Shepherd said to me:

...I later asked you for specific examples of “errors and contradictions” in the N.T. and you did not respond, you evaded...

So in response I have started this new thread.

I would like to begin with a question which I had asked a while back but received no response.

Why are there so many women with the name Mary (#3137 Miriam) in the Greek Scriptures (NT)?

1. Mary, mother of Jesus
2. Mary Magdalene
3. Mary, mother of James and Joses
4. Mary, wife of Cleophas
5. Mary, sister of Lazarus
6. Mary, mother of John Mark
7. Mary, a Christian in Rome

They are written in the NT as follows:

Mother of Jesus
Matt- Mariam, Marias
Mark- Marias
Luke- Mariam
John- Not named, just called mother of...
Acts- Maria

Mary Magdalene
Matt- Maria
Mark- Maria
Luke- Maria
John- Maria

Mother of James and Joses
Matt- Maria
Mark- Maria
Luke- Maria

Wife of Cleophas
John- Maria

Sister of Lazarus
Luke- Maria
John- Marias, Maria, Marian

Mother of John Mark
Acts- Marias

A Christian in Rome
Rom- Mariam

And it seems that Mary Magdalene was the most important of all the Marys as well as all the woman and all the apostles/disciples, because she was the one who Jesus appeared to first after His resurrection.

[OldShepherd]

I would be very interested in which list of so-called errors and contradictions you got this from. I am almost positive it is not original with you and I have absolutely no interest in responding to a long laundry list of alleged errors you copied from Joe Dipstick's Atheist website.

I don't know why there are six women in the New Testament named Mary or Maria. I never really considered that an issue and until now I don't know of anyone else who ever did. My Strong's shows the name mentioned 54 times in the N.T. and 6 women having that name. "Maria mar-ee’-ah or Mariam mar-ee-am’ Mary the mother of Jesus 19, Mary Magdalene 13, Mary the sister of Martha 11, Mary the mother of James 9, Mary the mother of John Mark 1, Mary of Rome 1; 54"

I don't really see anything strange at all for Jewish parents, in Israel, to name their daughters after one of the heroines of the O.T., Miriam. Why do you? I'll bet that a higher than average number of girl babies born in the U.S. recently have the name Brittney. Does that tell you anything?

04813 Myrm Miryam meer-yawm’
from 04805, Greek 3137 Mariam;; n pr f
AV - Miriam 15; 15
Miriam = "rebellion"
1) elder sister of Moses and Aaron
2) a woman of Judah

I don't understand the problem. Why do you consider it an error for six women to have this name? I think this indicates the great lengths that Bible critics will go to find and create problems. And I don't think that "too many Marys" is really the issue. I have seen Jewish anti-Christian and Atheist sites which also make much of too many Marys, but continue on to propose, without any proof whatsoever, that the story of Mary the mother of Jesus is a actually compilation of several different stories ranging in date from 100 BC to 100 AD +/-.

Both this post and the O.T. post demonstrates your lack of objectivity. I do not see any balance or interest in finding the truth but it appears that you dig through every trash book and Bible hating web site you can find, trying to dig up any little scrap which trashes Christianity. If you were honestly seeking the truth, why can't you find even one of the dozen or more web sites I found, which refute every so-called error or contradiction you could possibly concoct? Or you could read one of the many books on the subject, also listed below.

http://www.tektonics.org/contrad.html

http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/b08.html

http://www.christiananswers.net/menu-at1.html

http://debate.org.uk/topics/apolog/contrads.htm

http://debate.org.uk/topics/apolog/contrads.htm

http://www.pblcoc.org/biblcont.htm

http://www.answers.org/apologetics/contradictions.html

http://www.bible.ca/b-alleged-bible-contradictions-refuted.htm

http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/ans5.html

http://www2.bibelcenter.de/bible/contradictions.php3

http://www.comereason.org/contents.htm

http://www.christian-thinktank.com/hway.html

http://web.utk.edu/~jcarmica/cbc/links.html

http://members.nbci.com/kwunlam/eng/christianity/difficulties/

http://www.genesispark.com/genpark/answered/answered.htm

Books which Refute so-called Errors and Contradictions.

Alleged Bible Contradictions Explained by Dehoff

Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible by John W. Haley

Answers to Tough Questions from Every Book of the Bible : A Survey of Problem Passages and Issues by J. Carl Laney

Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Baker Reference Library) by Norman Geisler

Boyd's Handbook of Practical Apologetics : Scientific Facts, Fulfilled Prophecies and Archaeological Discoveries That Confirm the Bible by Robert T. Boyd

The Complete Book of Bible Answers by Ron Rhodes

Encyclopedia Of Bible Difficulties by Gleason Archer

Hard Sayings Of The Bible by Walter C., Jr Kaiser, Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce, and Manfred Brauch

Interpreting Puzzling Texts In The Bible by Robert H. Stein

When Critics Ask : A Popular Handbook of Bible Difficulties by Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe.

When Cultists Ask : A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations by Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes

When Skeptics Ask : A Handbook of Christian Evidence by Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks

[Sandy]

Wrong again Old Shepherd!

Originally posted by OldShepherd

I would be very interested in which list of so-called errors and contradictions you got this from. I am almost positive it is not original with you and I have absolutely no interest in responding to a long laundry list of alleged errors you copied from Joe Dipstick's Atheist website.

What long list ?
And it is most certainly original with me. The above post concerning the name Mary came straight from me. Every thought and every letter came from ME. It did NOT come from some list or atheist website.

I don't know why there are six women in the New Testament named Mary or Maria. I never really considered that an issue and until now I don't know of anyone else who ever did. My Strong's shows the name mentioned 54 times in the N.T. and 6 women having that name. "Maria mar-ee’-ah or Mariam mar-ee-am’ Mary the mother of Jesus 19, Mary Magdalene 13, Mary the sister of Martha 11, Mary the mother of James 9, Mary the mother of John Mark 1, Mary of Rome 1; 54"

I think you should take another look. My Strongs says there are 7 women named Mary. And I numbered and listed them all in my above post. I will list here the first place each one of them is mentioned:

1. Mary, mother of Jesus (Matt. 1:16)
2. Mary Magdalene (Matt. 27:56)
3. Mary, mother of James and Joses (Matt. 27:56)
4. Mary, wife of Cleophas (John 19:25)
5. Mary, sister of Lazarus (Luke 10:39)
6. Mary, mother of John Mark (Acts 12:12)
7. Mary, a Christian in Rome (Romans 16:6)

I don't really see anything strange at all for Jewish parents, in Israel, to name their daughters after one of the heroines of the O.T., Miriam. Why do you? I'll bet that a higher than average number of girl babies born in the U.S. recently have the name Brittney. Does that tell you anything?

Your comparison is really stuped.

04813 Myrm Miryam meer-yawm’
from 04805, Greek 3137 Mariam;; n pr f
AV - Miriam 15; 15
Miriam = "rebellion"
1) elder sister of Moses and Aaron
2) a woman of Judah

I don't understand the problem. Why do you consider it an error for six women to have this name? I think this indicates the great lengths that Bible critics will go to find and create problems. And I don't think that "too many Marys" is really the issue. I have seen Jewish anti-Christian and Atheist sites which also make much of too many Marys, but continue on to propose, without any proof whatsoever, that the story of Mary the mother of Jesus is a actually compilation of several different stories ranging in date from 100 BC to 100 AD +/-.

The subject of this thread is: Errors, Contradictions and Questions.
I did not say anything about it being an error. I asked as to why? To me it seems odd.

I know nothing about nor have I ever heard of the so-called stories you have mentioned.

Both this post and the O.T. post demonstrates your lack of objectivity. I do not see any balance or interest in finding the truth but it appears that you dig through every trash book and Bible hating web site you can find, trying to dig up any little scrap which trashes Christianity. If you were honestly seeking the truth, why can't you find even one of the dozen or more web sites I found, which refute every so-called error or contradiction you could possibly concoct? Or you could read one of the many books on the subject, also listed below.

Old Shepherd, you exhibit nothing but nastiness toward me and as to your long list of Christian websites and books, well, I will use your own words with a few changes: I have absolutely no interest in responding to a long list of prejudice Christian websites. The ones I did check out were extremely boring.

BTW Old Shepherd, I will be waiting for a response from you on the OT thread. Don't force me to stupe to your tactics and accuse you of evasion .

[OldShepherd]

Sandy,

Posted earlier, "I don't really see anything strange at all for Jewish parents, in Israel, to "name their daughters after one of the heroines of the O.T., Miriam." Why do you? I'll bet that a higher than average number of girl babies born in the U.S. recently have the name Brittney. Does that tell you anything?"

"Your comparison is really stuped."

Now that is an intelligent answer, that must have required a lot of thought. The names of the Biblical heroes and heroines are and have always been very, very popular among Jews. I'm sure that you will find a much higher number of Moses, Davids, Solomons, Esthers, and Miriams among them than among non-Jews. They are also very, very popular among the Amish and Mennonites. I wonder why that is. Do you think maybe there is something sinister about that? Pointing out the obvious is not stupid. Ignoring it is.

"Old Shepherd, you exhibit nothing but nastiness toward me (Oh you mean like your very first post to me saying I had lost all credibility, because you said I attacked Lou, after he had called me dysfunctional at least 4-5 time!) and as to your long list of Christian websites and books, well, I will use your own words with a few changes: I have absolutely no interest in responding to a long list of prejudice Christian websites. The ones I did check out were extremely boring.

You can spends hours surfing the net, desperately, frantically, trying to find a few prejudiced websites which disparage Christianity, without bothering to verify how reliable they are, and ignore the ones which don't sling the dirt they way you want. Which you have done. And I have continually, over and over, proven them to be wrong. But exactly as I said, and you confirm it by your response, you are not interested in the truth, the truth is boring, dirt is interesting. You have no problem with digging up or even creating, dirt about Christianity but make absolutely no effort to try to find or read anything which might answer questions instead of raising them and resolving contradictions instead of creating them. Anything that might disagree with your presuppositions, and assumptions, is prejudiced!

[Sandy]

Originally posted by OldShepherd
Sandy,

Posted earlier, "I don't really see anything strange at all for Jewish parents, in Israel, to "name their daughters after one of the heroines of the O.T., Miriam." Why do you? I'll bet that a higher than average number of girl babies born in the U.S. recently have the name Brittney. Does that tell you anything?"

"Your comparison is really stuped."

Now that is an intelligent answer, that must have required a lot of thought. The names of the Biblical heroes and heroines are and have always been very, very popular among Jews. I'm sure that you will find a much higher number of Moses, Davids, Solomons, Esthers, and Miriams among them than among non-Jews. They are also very, very popular among the Amish and Mennonites. I wonder why that is. Do you think maybe there is something sinister about that? Pointing out the obvious is not stupid. Ignoring it is.

I guess then that these NT parents didn't find Moses, David, Solomon or Esther to be great biblical heroes and heroines, because you don't see any of their names being used among the named followers of Jesus. What did Miriam do that made her such a great heroine that the parents of these specific women wanted their daughters to be named after her? Maybe it was because she was made leprous for speaking out against Moses? (Numbers 12).

"Old Shepherd, you exhibit nothing but nastiness toward me (Oh you mean like your very first post to me saying I had lost all credibility, because you said I attacked Lou, after he had called me dysfunctional at least 4-5 time!)

Your accusation went beyond name-calling.

and as to your long list of Christian websites and books, well, I will use your own words with a few changes: I have absolutely no interest in responding to a long list of prejudice Christian websites. The ones I did check out were extremely boring.

You can spends hours surfing the net, desperately, frantically, trying to find a few prejudiced websites which disparage Christianity, without bothering to verify how reliable they are, and ignore the ones which don't sling the dirt they way you want. Which you have done. And I have continually, over and over, proven them to be wrong. But exactly as I said, and you confirm it by your response, you are not interested in the truth, the truth is boring, dirt is interesting. You have no problem with digging up or even creating, dirt about Christianity but make absolutely no effort to try to find or read anything which might answer questions instead of raising them and resolving contradictions instead of creating them. Anything that might disagree with your presuppositions, and assumptions, is prejudiced!

Maybe you spend hours surfing the net, but I do not. Your endless lists of sites have proved nothing.

[OldShepherd]

Sandy,

"Your accusation went beyond name-calling."

Yeah, right! Lou stated or implied, several times, that I, as a Christian, was dysfunctional and immoral. And I suggested, by reference to situations which I have personal knowledge of, that his problems with Christianity might be a direct result of his own dysfunction, dishonesty, and/or immorality. As long as its them doing the name calling, that's okay, you don't say a word. But when the ancient sheepherder gets fed up and strikes back, well he doesn't have any credibility. Now please explain the difference to me, or get out of my face with your prejudiced, biased dog puke.

"Maybe you spend hours surfing the net, but I do not. Your endless lists of sites have proved nothing."

Whether it was ten minutes or a few hours. Whatever, you spent some period of time sailing past web sites which didn't agree with you in order to find those few that you did link to. How would you know what my links prove or don't prove since you are too d*amned prejudiced and biased to read any of them?