Many contradictions exist in the Bible, the most exemplary being the conflicts between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Lord God is a vengeful God who strikes down sinners and evildoers, who gives free rein to his chosen people to slaughter the many peoples of Canaan, and who destroys his own followers for acts of disrespect. Then, in the New Testament, he sends his own son to be crucified in order to deliver his followers from the consequences of sin. How can these signals be understood? Why does the Lord God not make his will and intent clear?
In this day and age, many see Islam as the religion of murders and terrorists, of those who kill our children and brothers and our sisters, as a result of provocation that is not easily understood. A startling contrast can be found, however, in Christianity. Christians are kind people who evangelize without the use of force, who are charitable, who spend their time serving others without seeking payment or compensation. However, Islam and Christianity are not so different.
Once you examine the sacred texts of the Bible and the Koran, the contrast fades. Should you examine the Koran, you will find that Muslims are given the right to murder unbelievers, to commit unspeakable atrocities in the name of Allah, and suffer no consequences. This is known as Shari'a, or Islamic law.
Yet the Bible is similarly violent and intolerant - here are but a few examples:
God massacres 70,000 innocents because of a census (1 Chronicles, chapter 21)
Names homosexuality as an abomination (Leviticus 18:12)
Allows his chosen people to destroy, pillage, and loot sixty cities, and leave no survivors (Deuteronomy, chapter 3)
Permits you to deliver your daughter into slavery (Exodus, chapter 21)
Freedom to kill believers of other religions (Exodus 22:20, 2 Chronicles 15:12-13)
Freedom to kill every person in a town should there be a believer of another religion (Deuteronomy 13:13-19)
Freedom to put individuals who work on the sabbath to death (Exodus 31:12-15)
Jesus spreads a message of kindness, love, and salvation -- and in the same instant, God the Father promotes such acts. Is this not the ultimate inconsistency in the Bible? Perhaps Christians should instead disregard more than two thirds of their holy text (the Old Testament) to better suit the twenty first century, where such primal and barbaric acts do not belong.
