BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS: RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

Men's long hair sanctioned: Judges 13:5; Numbers 6:5

Men's long hair condemned: I Corinthians 11:14

Numbers 6 describes the specific situation of someone who wishes to dedicate themselves wholly or for a given time period to God by adhering to a number of rules that will set them apart from the rest of the community's normal practices (a nazirite vow). One of these regulations is to abstain from cutting one's hair. The fact that this is an exception to the general rule shows that the normal custom for a Jewish man was to periodically trim his hair, as Paul much later alludes to in I Corinthians. Of course, Samson (Judges 13) was the most famous example of a Nazirite (not to be confused with a Nazarene).

Circumcision instituted: Genesis 17:10

Circumcision condemned: Galatians 5:2

This was a religious rite performed on all Jewish boys (and men who wished to convert to Judaism) in order to set them apart from most Gentiles. Paul, in Galatians, is addressing a group of Gentile Christians, not Jews. And for them, he explains that they are not converting to Judaism, but to belief in Jesus Christ. Therefore they have no need for the ritual of circumcision. Nowhere does Paul ever teach that Jews are to stop the ritual of circumcision, and he even goes as far as having Timothy, a half-Jew on his mother's side, circumcised.

Only clean animals for food permitted: Leviticus 11

All animals for food permitted: Acts 10-11

This chapter in Leviticus outlines the rather detailed, and in many cases seemingly arbitrary, regulations concerning which animals were clean to eat and which ones were not. The main purpose of these laws was to sharply distinguish the Jews from the surrounding nations as being set aside for God as a holy people. But by NT times, God needed to stress that there was no distinction between Jew and Gentile in His eyes; all could be holy if they accepted Christ's sacrifice on their behalf. Peter is the first one given this message in Acts 10, and he subsequently shares it with the Jerusalem church. They therefore decide to not trouble the Gentile believers with keeping all the Jewish dietary laws, only the one that might disturb their Jewish brothers and sisters the most – eating flesh from which the blood had not been first drained.

Sabbath instituted: Exodus 20:8

Sabbath repudiated: Isaiah 1:13; Romans 14:5; Colossians 2:16

The full chapter 1 of Isaiah demonstrates that it is not at all the institution of the sabbath that is condemned by God, only the fact that the people are following all the ceremonial laws without paying any attention to God's moral laws. Paul, in Romans and Colossians, alludes to sabbaths along with other dates on the religious calendar of the Jews as being of little importance to Christians, whether Gentile or Jew, since they were only a shadow pointing to Christ, whereas the substance, Christ himself has now arrived. (Colossians 2:17) Romans 14:6 stresses that everyone can worship on whatever day they want to as long as it is to the honor of God. Thus, Seventh Day Adventists should not be criticized if they worship on Saturdays, and in turn they should not judge those who worship on Sundays. Note how easy it is to refute this so-called criticism by just reading a verse or two before or after the verses quoted above.

Baptism commanded: Matthew 28:19

Baptism not commanded: I Corinthians 1:14, 17

The critic who came up with this one had to be very careful which verses in I Corinthians 1 he quoted since a complete reading of verses 10-17 would easily contradict what he said. Paul starts out by bemoaning the divisions in the Corinthian church caused by the people who claim their main allegiance is to various human leaders rather than Jesus himself. Solely because of that fact, he says that he is glad that he only personally baptized one or two of them; otherwise they might start another “Paul group.” Finally he states that his personal mission is to preach the word while others can do the baptizing.

Different reasons for the Sabbath are given in Exodus 20:1 and Deuteronomy 5:15.

The author of this “contradiction” seems to feel that there can never be more than one reason behind a given action. This is patently untrue. As a simple example, the various motives behind prescribing jail sentences for certain crimes may be some or all of the following at the same time: require the felon to pay his debt to society as a whole, provide some form of restitution and sense of closure to his/her victims, act as a deterrent to others, and give the felon a chance for a new life and direction through counseling and re-education.

Exodus 20:1 looks all the back to the creation and God's resting on the seventh day for the rationale behind the sabbath observances while Deuteronomy 5:15 invokes the time when the Jews were slaves in Egypt before God rescued them from their labors. J. A. Thompson simply says, “There were thus two good reasons for observing the sabbath.” Two other commentators on the Book of Deuteronomy give their detailed takes on these reasons:

Weinfeld: Combining these two passages provides identification with the Creator (Exodus) and also with the slave (Deuteronomy). “Thus on the Sabbath man resembles God in two ways: by creating and contemplating on the created world, and by giving freedom to those dependent on him.”

Craigie: “The two reasons complement each other and both emphasize man's dependence on God.”