Answering Bible Contradictions: Part 1

The acclaimed contradictions are in bold and the replies are given in regular type. This discussion took place on a website called "www.jude3.org" between "Truman" (me) and "Jacob Geri." This is the reason I might mention the name "Jacob" through the discussion. Jacob gave these to me from his website "infidels.org" to show how "obvious" it was that there are numerous contradictions.

This was originally separated into just 2 parts, but due to the length, I'm dividing it into 10 parts to keep each post easier to read.

Are there really contradictions in the Bible? We shall see...

PART 1:

God good to all, or just a few?
PSA 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

JER 13:14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

Jeremiah refers to God punishing those who stand against Him in wickedness. In the Psalms, King David talks about how the Lord is good to all men who obey and seek Him. He is righteous when He destroys, for whenever He does destroy anyone in the Bible, He does it out of righeousness. He put the Israelites into bondage because they turned their backs on Him. He even implies in two scriptures before that God is merciful and good to all who obey Him:

"And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness."

--Psalms 145:6-7

This scripture refers to "goodness" as being "righteousness."

War or Peace?
EXO 15:3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
ROM 15:33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

God is characterized by both. So was Ronald Reagan. So what?

Who is the father of Joseph?
MAT 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
LUK 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.

Jacob was Joseph's true father. Heli was Joseph's father-in-law: Mary's dad.

Who was at the Empty Tomb? Is it:
MAT 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

MAR 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

JOH 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

These are not contradictions, but variations in writing of the gospel. Each of the verses do not say that the others were not there, but just mentions certain people coming to the tomb. The Bible writers do this many times, where they leave out a few things, and later mention them in scripture. But these scriptures do not contradict in any way. They just mention things not said before. So, it is obvious that Mark 16:1 is the scripture that shows the most people coming then. Maybe there were even more people who came. But it does not contradict.

Is Jesus equal to or lesser than?
JOH 10:30 I and my Father are one.
JOH 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

Refers to Jesus being the Son of God. He is one with God because He is God in the flesh. The Father is greater than the Son in authority, but they are equal in nature -- both are deity.

Which first--beasts or man?
GEN 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
GEN 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
GEN 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
GEN 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

God directly formed animals out of the ground for Adam to name them. This doesn't mean he created them after Adam. It was just saving time so they didn't have to call all of the animals. How simple is that to understand?

The number of beasts in the ark
GEN 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

GEN 7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, GEN 7:9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

Refers to the animals going into the ark two by two, not only two of each kind.

How many stalls and horsemen?
KI1 4:26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

CH2 9:25 And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

Read the verses carefully and you will see that there is no contradiction. They had chariot teams with ten horses and ten men per chariot in case you got a flat tire! If he had "four thousand stalls for horses and chariots" he would need fourty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots.