Has the Bible ever been proven wrong?

Answer 1

Opinions on this question vary from 'Yes, many times' to 'No, The Bible has never been proven wrong'. Below are some of the opinions expressed by our contributors:

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It depends on how one defines "proven." For some people any contention from anyone who disagrees or even hates the Bible constitutes proof.

For something to be proven it would need to be fairly and impartially examined, in its proper context, and then compared with known facts. What often happens is that people do not consider either the context, or the message, or the facts which allegedly prove the Bible wrong. What is evident is that they have already decided the Bible to be wrong before they have even begun. That is a personal belief and is not proof, except to those people.

When one looks at the Bible in its context, including an understanding of the limitations of translating an ancient language with its vocabulary limitations and thought patterns into modern English with its vocabulary and thought patterns the task becomes somewhat more complex. What is clear in even beginning this is that many allegedly proven errors are merely ignorance or misunderstanding which a skeptical reader has not bothered to investigate fully.

Examples of this kind of thing abound, especially of people not even reading what the Bible itself says and then alleging it is in error. One such example follows:

''* God promised many times that he would drive out all the inhabitants of the lands they encountered. But these verses show that God failed to keep his promise since he was unable to drive out the Canaanites.'' ''1:21'''','' ''Judges 27-30''

All of the promises mentioned above are '''conditional''' upon the obedience of the Israelites. It is also clearly promised that if the Israelites do not obey, then they will not be able to drive out the inhabitants. This is precisely what happened. The Israelites did not obey and so the inhabitants could not be driven out.

What this passage and the history of Israel proves is that God's word is completely reliable and trustworthy. It also demonstrates principles of obedience and that God means what He says. Disobedience has consequences. It did for the Israelites and it does for those who come after, down to this present day.

Thus, this particular example, rather than proving the Bible wrong, actually proves it to be accurate, as do many other alleged errors, when rightly understood.

Regarding the following alleged error:

''* The sun also ariseth"''

''Although this verse is interpreted figuratively today, it was taken literally by virtually all Christians until the Copernican revolution, and was used by the Church to condemn Galileo for teaching the heliocentric heresy. Ecclesiaistes'' ''1:5''

The 'language of appearance' is also used even today when we talk about sunrise and sunset.

Secondly, the evidence that this verse was taken literally is not accurate. Some scholars have contended that the majority view and knowledge was of a circular earth.

Thirdly, the condemnation of Galileo was a complex personal and church-political issue as many intelligent examinations of the controversy show. That some people in the Roman Catholic church wrongly understood this scripture and others does not make the Bible wrong. It makes both their theology, and their astronomy wrong. Opinion Yes, it is inaccurate.

The Bible contains many known and accepted inaccuracies. However, those who defend the Bible and their beliefs would rather ignore these, and rather focus their attention on those parts of the Bible that appear to be correct or cannot be disproved.

Another Answer from our community:

There are numerous fallacies in the Bible. Probably the most conclusive one in my mind is that, according to most literalist denominations, the human race is descended from Adam and Eve and who were created by God roughly 6000 years ago.

In the past few years, science has made phenomenal leaps in the research of the human genome. One of the revelations has been that our gene sequence has been mapped to a common ancestor, or a termed "mitochondrial Eve" (please note that this is not the Eve described in the bible, nor did she spring out of nowhere, this is simply the first hominid recognizable as homo sapien). This "Eve" has been mapped to have existed roughly 150,000 years ago, probably in East Africa in the region of Tanzania. There are numerous studies on this and related subjects in scientific journals around the world.

I recommend you start with books by Richard Dawkins. His works are entertaining and will broaden your ability to think about life and the world around you.

Another Answer

* No,the Bible is never wrong because it is inspired by GOD and because it mentionned a lot of facts before even being proved by the science and as an example:the Bible proven that the earth is round before even being proved by the science.

Answer 2

Of course, the Bible has been proven wrong, many times.

The two creation accounts (Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Genesis 2:4b-25) are mutually exclusive, so one r the other must be wrong, in spite of pious attempts to claim that one is merely a summary of the other. And, both accounts are proven wrong by science: Did the earth really exist before the sun, moon and stars or did plants grow before there was a sun to provide light and warmth? Did the first man (Adam) exist before there were any birds or animals? And so on, almost endlessly.

It has been proven that Abraham could not have walked to the land of the Philistines at least a thousand years before they arrived by boat. It has been proven that there never was an Exodus from Egypt as described in the Bible, and that the Israelites never conquered the cities of Canaan. The Hebrew people were actually rural Canaanites who left the region of the rich coastal cities and settled peacefully in the hitherto sparsely populated hinterland. The tradition of a glorious past was written long after the people had forgotten their real origins.