Contradictions Within the Bible?

Examples from the Old Testament and how the New Testament resolves these issues

Shefali O'Hara
7 min readJun 2, 2024
Miniature Scroll of Esther written on sheep skin. The Scroll is written in Sephardic style; source: https://www.gracetranscendingthetorah.com/scrolls/tnk/

One reason many people lose their faith is that when the actually read the Bible from one end to the next, they find contradictions.

This is particularly true in the Old Testament, whereas contradictions in the New Testament can be ascribed to translation errors, misinterpretations or, frankly, deliberate deception by those who found the actual text too radical.

I remember when I first read part of the Bible I was a young girl visiting India. My uncle had a large collection of books, among them the 4 books of the Gospel — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

I remember devouring these. The stories were so interesting, and Jesus was so compelling.

Years later, I was basically an atheist. I was going to MIT, and believed in rational thought and science, not religion.

However, out of curiosity, I went to a Christian church with a friend — and something changed.

I cynically went up to the pastor after the service and asked him questions. I pointed out contradictions within the Bible to him.

And he did something that brought me back to his church every week for the next two years.

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Shefali O'Hara

Cancer survivor, Christian, writer, engineer. BSEE from MIT, MSEE, and MA in history. Love nature, animals, books, art, and interesting discussions.