(...)but you do trust the Bible. In spite of the fact that it is full of contradictions. Here are some examples.
Monotheism is stressed again and again, but polytheism keeps popping up. You may say: that is the Jew falling back in his polytheism (ugarit/egypt), but it is 'God' who says in Genesis ' In the beginning the Gods created...(plural)' And not God explaining how difficult it was for Jews to abandon their polytheism. here we go.
First about montheism/polytheism. Then some contradictions, then some cruelties that clash to much with the love God of Jesus (in my opinion).
82:1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
The Gods?
82:2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
82:4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid [them] out of the hand of the wicked.
82:5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
82:6 I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High.
82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
This Psalm In combination with Genesis.
At least two Creation stories appear in the Bible, and they disagree. The first is in Genesis 1:1 to 2:3, the second in the remainder of Chapter 2.
In the first version, God (in the oldest manuscripts the word Elohim, the Gods, plural!, is used) created men & women on the same day (1:27). subsequent to the creation of all animals (1:25). In the second version, God (Jehovah) created Adam first (2:7). then animals & birds (2:19). then Eve (2:22). In the first version. trees appeared before man (1:11): in the second. the world was barren of vegetation at the time of man's creation (2:5). and plantlife was created later (2:8-9).
Compare these with Genesis 5:1-2, a third creation story, which strongly suggests the simultaneous creation of man & woman. It states that at the time of the creation of men and women. God blessed them and called them "man" (in the Hebrew text, adam).
Most translators and Bible scholars candidly admit the differences in the Creation stories. and call the first two the Priestly and the Yahwehist versions. (In particular, see the New American Bible and its fine commentary.) The versions differ strongly in texture and language as #ell as content. ln some translations, however, verb tenses are subtly altered to conceal the problems.
(This item is clearest in the New International Bible and the Revised KJ Bible.)
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Leviticus 3:17, 11:1-47 God gave many rules about what may be eaten or handled.
Colossians 2:21-22 Such rules come from man, not God.
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Numbers 23:19; I Samuel 15:29 God does not repent.
Genesis 6:6; Exodus 32:14: I Samuel 15:11.35: Psalms 42:10: Jonah 3:10 God does repent.
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Deuteronomy 6:5: Matthew 22:37 We must love God.
Deuteronomy 6:13: I Peter 2:17 We must fear God.
I John 4:18 Perfect love cannot be mingled with fear.
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Who inscribed the Ten Commandments on the second set of stone tablets?
Deuteronomy 10:1-2.4 God inscribed them.
Exodus 34:27-28 God dictated whiie Moses inscribed them.
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Judges 4:21 Jael killed Sisera by driving a tent stake through his head while he slept, fastening his head to the ground.
Judges 5:26-27 When Jael killed Sisera. he sank to the ground at her feet. and died.
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How did King Saul die?
I Samuel 31:4-6: I Chronicles 10:4-5 He committed suicide. II Samuel 1:8-10 An Amalekite slew him.
II Samuel 21:12 The Philistines slew him.
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I Samuel 17:23.50-51 David slew the Philistine, Goliath of Gath.
II Samuel 21:19 Elhanan son of Jair slew Goliath of Gath. Note: In the standard KJ translation, the story is altered in the second instance, so that Elhanan slays the cousin of Goliath; the prevarication is disclosed by the italics in most editions. The contradiction stands in the source texts. See any good Bible commentary.
(Clearest in the Revised KJ version

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Psalms 104:5 (KJ version); Ecclesiastes 1:4 The Earth will last forever.
II Peter 3:10; Hebrews 1:10-11 The Earth will perish.
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Job 7:9: Ecclesiastes 9:5 The dead will never rise again. They will have no further reward.
John 5:28-29: I Corinthians 15:16,52 The dead will rise again to be rewarded or punished.
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John 1:18, 6:46: I John 4:12 No one has ever seen God.
Exodus 33:11 God says no man will ever see His face and live. But ... the Lord appeared to Abraham
(Gen 18:1#. Jacob saw God face-to-face (Gen 32:30). Moses and the Elders gazed upon God (Exodus 24:9-11). God spoke to Moses face-to-face (Exodus 33:11: Deut 34:10). God allowed Moses to see his "back parts" (Exodus 33:22-23). Isaiah saw God in a vision (Isaiah 6:1,5). Ezekiel also saw God in a vision and described Him in some detail (Ezekiel 1:27-28). Amos saw God (Amos 7:7).
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John 3:13 Jesus said that no man but himself has ever ascended to heaven.
II Kings 2:11 Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind.
Genesis 5:24: Hebrews 11:5 Enoch was taken bodily into Heaven.
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Mark 6:8 Jesus instructed his disciples to wear sandals and take a staff on their journey.
Matthew 10:9 Jesus instructed them not to take a staff, not to wear sandals.
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Matthew 11:12,14. 17:12-13 Jesus said that John the Baptist was Elijah.
John 1:21 John the Baptist maintained that he was not Elijah. See also Malachi 4:5. which predicts that Elijah must return before the final days of the world. And see Mark 9:13, where Jesus insists that Elijah has, indeed. returned.
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John 13:34-35 Jesus commanded us to love one another: in this #ay. all men will recognize his disciples.
Luke 14:26 You cannot be a disciple of Jesus unless you hate your father and mother, your siblings, your children. your wife.
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Matthew 27:3-8 Judas returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests, then hanged himself. The priests used the silver to establish a graveyard.
Acts 1:16-18 Judas purchased land with the silver, and subsequently died in a fall.
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John 12:3#-40 # Isaiah 6:10 God causes people not to believe the truth in order to prevent them from being "healed".
II Thessalonians 2:11-12 God sends strong delusions on certain people in order to make them believe false things and be damned.
Romans 9:18 (& subsequent verses) More of the same. Salvation is a matter of God's whim: people have no choice or control or responsibility in the matter.
I Timothy 2:4 Contrary to all this, God "desires all men to be saved" and to have the truth!
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Genesis 17:3.8 God gave the whole land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants, to inhabit forever. (See also: Gen 13:15, Ex 32:13.) Canaan was the land west of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, between those waters and the Mediterranean. the general region later called Palestine. As a matter of history. the Jews did not receive all of Canaan for an everiasting possession. Revolts of the Jews against Rome in 132-135 AD led to their dispersal throughout the world. For eighteen centuries, Turkish, Persian and Arabic peoples occupied Palestine. The Jews began to return in significant numbers only in 1921, shortly before the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
See Acts 7:5 and Hebrews 11:13, which candidly admit that God's promise or prophecy, in this case. failed.
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Matthew 16:27-28 Jesus predicted his Return within the lifetime of some of his listeners. He will be accompanied by his angels, he said, and will "reward each man according to his works" (KJ version).
Matthew 24:3-35; Mark 13:24-30; Luke 21:27-32 Jesus's extensive and detailed description of the end of the world, and of his second coming. All will occur before the present generation passed away. (Some apologists have defended these passages with the observation that the word "generation" may also be translated as "race". But God had promised Abraham that the Jewish race would possess Palestine forever, so such an interpretation would simply render the passages meaningless.)
John 5:25 Very specific statement by Jesus that the "hour has now come" when the dead will #hear the voice of the Son of God" and "those who hear will live."
John 21:20-23 A suggestion by Jesus. after the Resurrection, that he would "return" during the lifetime of at least one of his disciples. Note that the anonymous author or scribe of the Book of John recognized the ostensible failure of this prophecy, and attempted to explain it in the subsequent verses. I Thessalonians 4:15-17 Another statement, by Paul, that Jesus's return would occur within the lifetime of some of his contemporaries.
I Peter 4:7: I Corinthians 7:29-31: Hebrews 10:37 Further statements that Jesus's second coming was imminent. Paul even advised people not to make plans for the future.
I John 2:18 John was even more specific than Paul. The final hour was at hand, and various Antichrists had already appeared on the earth. See also: Matthew 23:25: Hebrews 1:2. 9:26: I Timothy 6:13-14: I Peter 1:20: Revelations 22:20. All these passages imply that the apocalypse was very close, not in some mystical sense, but in human terms.
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Isaiah 23:17-18 Revenue from prostitution will be used to provide abundant food and fine clothes for those living in God's grace.
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Matthew 27:52-53 At the moment of Jesus's death, many of the Jewish saints or patriarchs rose from the dead. They waited in their tombs until after Jesus's resurrection, three days later, then came forth and wandered about Jerusalem. The resurrection of the Jewish saints is easily the most spectacular miracle in Jesus's career, yet one hears very little of it. Not a word of it appears in the other gospels!
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Exodus 21:17 God proclaimed that a child must be put to death if, in a moment of anger, he reviles either of his parents for any reason.
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Exodus 21:20-21 God also proclaimed that it is permissible for a man to beat a slave. as long as death does not occur immediately. The reason: "For the slave is the man's property."
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Leviticus 25:44-46 God authorized slavery.
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Further injunctions from Moses to the Israelites: Deuteronomy 13:6-10 A man must slay his daughter, wife, son or friend for a difference in religion.
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Deuteronomy 13:12-16 Whole cities must be destroyed. plundered and burned, the inhabitants all slaughtered, for the same reason.
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II Kings 2:23-24 The prophet Elisha (protegee of Elijah) caused bears to tear children apart for laughing at his bald head.
David, the "favorite of God," lived by robbery and unprovoked massacre of neighboring tribes, slaughtering both men and women (I Sam 27:8-9), lied afterwards about the killings (I Sam 27:10-11), ordered the blind and lame of the city of Zion to be killed (II Sam 5:8), murdered prisoners of war (II Sam 8:2), maimed horses (II Sam 8:4), tortured and killed more prisoners of war (II Sam 12:31 & I Chron 20:3, KJ version). With his last breath, he betrayed an oath and advocated murder (I Kings 2:8-9).
I Kings 11:6. 15:3,5; Acts 13:22 David followed the Lord completely. All his deeds were right in the eyes of God. except for those regarding Uriah (a small matter of adultery, betrayal and a single murder: see II Sam 11). David was a man after God's heart.
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Psalms 137:9 This psalm proclaims happiness for those who dash Babylonian children against rocks.
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Jeremiah 19:9 God intentionally forces people into acts of cannabalism. The victims are innocent children.
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(KJ version only

Exodus 32:14 God does evil.
Isaiah 45:7 God creates evil.
Jeremiah 26:3 God inflicts evil.
Amos 3:6 God causes evil.
Lamentations 3:38 Evil comes from the mouth of God.
Mark 4:11-12 Jesus deliberately spoke in parables in order to exclude some people from being converted and being forgiven their sins.
See also: John 12:39-40: Isaiah 6:10
Again, you trust a book that has those kind of contradictions? It is said by wise people that the Word of God is in the Bible, but not the whole Bible is the Word of God, and that the fundament to that Word is in the Sermon on the Mount.