Factual Errors in the Bible

[nikkmichalski]

Some person I recently met says he will give me $1000 if I can "disprove the Bible". I'm going to get the specifics on "the challenge" but my first thought is that if I merely show a factual flaw in it then it proves that not all of it is true. Proving this is easy (I'm thinking Luke and Matthew contradictions) but convincing him could be the only challenge. So what would you say is the most overwhelming proof that there was a major factual error in the Bible. After all there's tons of 'em!

Be sure to give the good folks at skepticsannotatedbible.com a good cut of your profits, and us of course.

 

[Mark L Holland]

This is from my web site bible,lies.  enjoy you thousand dollars

  In Luke they go to Bethlehem to be taxed, Mary has the baby, And there was great fan fare with the shepherds spreading the word abroad. eight days later Jesus is circumcised and after Mary’s purification they went to Jerusalem where Jesus is proclaimed the Christ by Simeon.  They then went back home to Nazareth and every year journeyed to Jerusalem for pass over.  Verse 42 clearly says this was an ongoing ritual for Jesus was 12 at this time that they went and they had gone every year since his birth.  

  In Matthew Joseph, Mary and Jesus were in a house in Bethlehem, according to the wise men Jesus should have been around two years old, two years past the taxing recorded in Luke.  It was their estimation that Herod used to kill all children under two in Bethlehem and in the coastal cities.  Joseph is told to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt until the death of Herod.  After the death of Herod, Joseph feared the son of  Herod and turned aside into parts of Galilee.  Joseph was returning home to Bethlehem in Judea before God told him in a dream to turn aside into Galilee where he came into and dwelt in Nazareth.

 Let’s take it from the top, Matthew claims that Herod only found out about the new born king when the wise men showed up.  But in Luke the shepherds were spreading the word abroad that the king was born a full two years earlier.  No secret there and a big deal was made at the temple in Jerusalem when the infant Jesus was presented and Simeon declared Jesus the Christ, according to Matthew, two year old baby Jesus and family went into Egypt and stayed there until Herod died.  According to Luke Baby Jesus and family lived in Nazareth and journeyed to Jerusalem every year for Passover which is where Herod lived according to Matthew Herod wanted Jesus dead so badly that he ordered the killing of all two year olds and younger in Bethlehem.  But Jesus visited Jerusalem every year after birth for 12 years

  This of course while Luke claims baby Jesus and family were happily living in Nazareth  awaiting their next pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover while Matthew claims the mass murder of all children 2 years and younger was happening in Bethlehem while baby Jesus and family were hiding in fear in Egypt.  These two stories are lies.  Neither story has any evidence to back them and they contradict each other they are lies.
The Rama prophecy that is claimed to have been full filled by Herod’s killing of the children is a false claim and is a lie

  Matthew 2:17  Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,  Mt 2:18  In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

  Jeremiah 31:15  Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.  Jer 31:16  Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.  Jer 31:17  And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

 This is a rule two prophecy, the author of Matthew tried to show that the killing of the children had been prophesied.  It had not been, In Jeremiah, 31:16 and 31:17 God says the children would return home.  Also the name of the prophet is not Jeremy.   

  Matthew 2:23  And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

 I could find no reference in the Old Testament to, He shall be called a Nazarene.  The closes I could come, was to Sampson the Nazarite.  So either the author lied again or his reference was to Sampson not Christ.  I consider this a rule three prophecy.

Also

Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (born 74 BC, died 4 BC in Jericho, was a Roman client king of Israel.[1] He is often confused with his son Herod Antipas, also of the Herodian dynasty, who was ruler of Galilee (4 BC â€" 39 AD) during the time of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. Herod is known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and other parts of the ancient world, including the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, sometimes referred to as Herod’s Temple. Some details of his biography can be gleaned from the works of the 1st century AD Roman-Jewish historian Josephus Flavius.

So Herod the great died 4 years before Jesus’ Birth, Herod’s son ruled from 4 years before his birth to 39 years after Jesus’ birth so according to this Jesus would have had to have stayed in Egypt for 37 years if he moved there when he was 2 years old, before attempting to return to Bethlehem and Joseph deciding to move to Nazareth.

So it would be impossible for Jesus to have spent his first 12 years living in Nazareth and journeying to Jerusalem 12 times for Passover as Luke claims if he spent 37 years after he was 2 years old living in Egypt. As Matthew claims. Sorry, but as the old saying goes it simply does not compute.