Problem: Some have tried to claim a biblical contradiction between John 1:29–36 and the parallel passages of Matthew 11:2–3 and Luke 7:19–20. “Did John the Baptist know Jesus was the Messiah?”
Seeing this is a potential issue, it’s important to ask: “Did John the Baptist know Jesus was the Messiah?”
Problem: Mark’s Gospel claims Jesus was “immediately” driven into the wilderness after His baptism, but John seems to disagree. We will take a lot at this.
Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him. (Mark 1:12–13)
However, in his Gospel, John seems to say that Jesus was in Cana three days after His baptism. Is there a contradiction?
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Problem: We do not know exactly when John the Baptist finally figured out that Jesus was the Messiah. Even after John was arrested and was in prison, he still wasn’t sure. One possible explanation could be that though John initially seemed to realize Jesus was the Messiah
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Problem: Most people who have done much study from the synoptic gospels are aware that following the baptism of Jesus, He “then” (Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1) “immediately” (Mark 1:12) was sent out by the Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days while being tempted by the devil. Skeptics likewise are “well informed” of this story. In fact, some skeptics presume to know about this time in Jesus’ life so well, they have argued that the apostle John contradicted the synoptic writers (see “Inerrancy;” “Contradictions;” Wells, 2001). Allegedly, John placed Jesus at the wedding in Cana of Galilee just three days following His baptism (John 1:19-2:1), whereas Mark indicated that Jesus went into the desert for forty days “immediately” following His baptism. Is this a real chronological contradiction, as some suppose?
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Problem: Some verses in the gospels seem to say that John the Baptist
Problem: In the Kyle Butt/Dan Barker debate, Dan Barker alleged that He “knows” the God of the Bible cannot exist because “there are mutually incompatible properties/characteristics of the God that’s in this book [the Bible—EL] that rule out the possibility of His existence” (2009). One of the supposed contradictions that Barker mentioned was that God claims invisibility, yet has been seen. (His assertion is found 10 minutes and 55 seconds into his first speech.) Since biblical passages such as Exodus 33:20-23, John 1:18, and 1 John 4:12 teach that God cannot be seen, while other scriptures indicate that man has seen God and spoken to him “face to face” (Exodus 33:11; Genesis 32:30), allegedly “the God of the Bible does not exist.
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Problem: Some argue that the Bible contradicts itself on whether a person can see God face-to-face—but all biblical data should be considered (in context) before leveling that charge.
My pastor asked “who has seen God (face to face)?” I replied that in Genesis several occurrences take place where several individuals talked, walked, and conversed with God as they would with you and/or me. Examples are Sarah (Sarai), Abraham, Jacob (later renamed Israel) just to name a few that come to mind right now. Needless to say the pastor call me out and quoted a Scripture that says that God has not let anyone see him directly to the face because they would surely die.
—Unknown
Problem: Throughout the Bible, we see conflicting messages on the visibility of God. On the one hand, God appeared to Abraham (Gen. 17:1; 18:1) and Moses (Ex. 6:2-3). In fact, Moses recorded that the elders “saw the God of Israel” (Ex. 24:10). However, in this passage, Paul says that God is “invisible” (1 Tim. 1:17), and at the end of this letter, Paul writes that God “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). God told Moses that “no man can see me and live” (Ex. 33:20), and John wrote, “No one has seen God at any time” (Jn. 1:18; c.f. 5:37; 6:46). Critics argue that the Bible seems to be offering a clear contradiction on the visibility of God.
I am taking an online class at DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary) on the book Of Revelation and I want to share this with everyone. In chapter 1 of revelation verse 4-5, I can see the trinity laid out in these verse.
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Problem: John refers to Jesus as “the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father” (Jn. 1:18). Does this imply that Jesus was a created being?
Problem: If Jesus is God’s “only begotten Son,” then how can angels and Christians also be God’s sons?
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Problem: In a 2021 critical article on whether Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem, one of the most telling statements by the author is this:
The Gospels’ different views might be hard to reconcile. But as a scholar of the New Testament, what I argue is that the Gospels offer an important insight into the Greco-Roman views of ethnic identity, including genealogies.
Today, genealogies may bring more awareness of one’s family medical history or help uncover lost family members. In the Greco-Roman era, birth stories and genealogical claims were used to establish rights to rule and link individuals with purported ancestral grandeur.
Problem: The translators of the Jehovah’s Witness Bible (the New World Translation, or NWT) render this verse as follows: “The Word was a god.” These translators argue that there is no article before theos (God). Therefore, they argue, this verse does not support the fact that Jesus is divine. Instead, this passage is describing that Jesus is godlike, but not God. Is this the case?
Problem: Have you ever stopped to consider how flexible people are when using geographical terms to describe somewhere they have been in the past or are going in the future? Perhaps you have heard friends telling about their trip to Dallas, Texas to watch the Dallas Cowboys play football. The truth is, however, the Cowboys technically do not play in Dallas, Texas, but in Arlington, Texas. It may be that one day your family decides to take a trip to Atlanta, Georgia to go to Six Flags. If you do, make sure you first understand that Six Flags is not exactly in Atlanta, but in Austell, Georgia.
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