Wednesday 6 October 2010

Contradictions in Jesus's "Genealogy" show the Bible is False


Sent to The Star, Johannesburg, Tue 05/10/2010 22:38

Sir

This letter is addressed to those who still believe that the Bible is the infallible, divinely-inspired Truth.

Please read Matthew 1.  It starts with what the author claims is "the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham".  He traces the male descent from Abraham to "Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus".

Now see Luke 3:23-38, which traces the male line in reverse from Joseph back to Adam.

Luke and Matthew use opposite directions so they are difficult to compare, but if you sort their lists (or ask me for the Jesus spreadsheet) and then try to align them, some glaring differences emerge:

From Abraham to David the records agree.  From David to Joseph there are serious discrepancies.  Luke has 40 generations between the two; Matthew has 25, a difference of about 480 years.  Of the names between David and Joseph, only two match exactly, and two approximately.

You don't have to be a judge or a policeman to know that, if two people give you seriously conflicting accounts, one of them is wrong.  Or both.

So, if God inspired Luke and Matthew to write these lists, He's a liar.  Or maybe they weren't that inspired.

Worse is to come.

Remember, Matthew proclaimed "the genealogy of Jesus Christ", supposedly showing his descent from David, in fulfilment of prophecy.  But wait a minute: Isn't the Christian myth that God made Mary pregnant with Jesus?  Well, yes, Matthew later admits that Joseph was only the husband of Mary, not father of Jesus but just the cuckold who was conned into raising another's child.

With no genetic link between Joseph and Jesus, both genealogies are pointless.  Why have them at all?  To mislead the gullible?

Perhaps the original versions did have Joseph as Jesus' dad.  Then later editors grafted the "son of god" story in from older legends, but could not deal with the obvious contradiction.

Too bad that, to them, Mary was only a woman and not worthy of her own genealogy –even if she was left as the only link between Jesus and the human race!

Is this part of the Bible true?  Logically it can't be.

Can the Bible then be the Word of God?  Only if He is very confused...

_______________________________________________________________________

Spreadsheet (contact me for a copy on Excel):

The Table below compares the Genealogy according to Luke 3, Matthew 1, and Genesis 5 &11.  The column headed "Match" indicates whether the names match (most don't). The last two columns estimate the number of years from Adam to Jesus according to Like and Matthew, giving a difference of 15 generations and around 500 years!

By Luke 3:23-38 by Matthew 1 by Genesis 5 & 11 Age at 
Verse Gen Name Generations Name Match? No. Verse Name birth of son
38.3 God.
38.2 1 Adam Yes 1 5.1 Adam 130 130
38.1 2 Seth Yes 2 5.3 Seth 105 105
38 3 Enos Yes 3 5.6 Enos 90 90
37.4 4 Cainan Yes 4 5.9 Cainan 70 70
37.3 5 Maleleel Approx 5 5.12 Mahalaleel 65 65
37.2 6 Jared Yes 6 5.15 Jared 162 162
37.1 7 Enoch Yes 7 5.18 Enoch 65 65
37 8 Mathusala Approx 8 5.21 Methuselah 187 187
36.4 9 Lamech Yes 9 5.25 Lamech 182 182
36.3 10 Noe Approx 10 5.29 Noah 500 500
36.2 11 Sem Approx 11 5.32 Shem (& Ham, and Japheth) 100 100
36.1 12 Arphaxad Yes 12 11.10 Arphaxad 35 35
36 13 Cainan Genesis 9:18   ...and Ham is the father of Canaan.
35.4 14 Sala Approx 13 11.12 Salah 30 30
35.3 15 Heber Approx 14 11.14 Eber 34 34
35.2 16 Phalec Approx 15 11.16 Peleg 30 30
35.1 17 Ragau NO 16 11.18 Reu 32 32
35 18 Saruch Approx 17 11.20 Serug 30 30
34.4 19 Nachor Approx 18 11.22 Nahor 29 29
34.3 20 Thara Approx 19 11.24 Terah 70 70
34.2 21 Abraham Abraham Yes 20 11.26 Abram $ 100 100
34.1 22 Isaac Isaac Yes Isaac # 60 60
34 23 Jacob Jacob Yes Jacob @ 30 30
33.4 24 Juda Judas Approx Judah 30 30
33.3 25 Phares Phares Yes 30 30
33.2 26 Esrom Esrom Yes $ -Genesis 21:5 30 30
33.1 27 Aram Aram Yes # - Genesis 26:26 30 30
33 28 Aminadab Aminadab Yes @ - Ages from here 30 30
32.4 29 Naasson Naasson Yes on are estimates. 30 30
32.3 30 Salmon Salmon Yes 30 30
32.2 31 Booz Booz of Rachab Yes 30 30
32.1 32 Obed Obed of Ruth Yes 30 30
32 33 Jesse Jesse Yes 30 30
31.4 34 David 1 1 David Yes 30 30
31.3 35 Nathan 2 2 Solomon NO 30 30
31.2 36 Mattatha 3 3 Roboam NO 30 30
31.1 37 Menan 4 4 Abia NO 30 30
31 38 Melea 5 5 Asa NO 30 30
30.4 39 Eliakim 6 6 Josaphat NO 30 30
30.3 40 Jonan 7 7 Joram NO 30 30
30.2 41 Joseph 8 8 Ozias NO 30 30
30.1 42 Juda 9 9 Joatham NO 30 30
30 43 Simeon 10 10 Achaz NO 30 30
29.4 44 Levi 11 11 Ezekias NO 30 30
29.3 45 Matthat 12 12 Manasses NO 30 30
29.2 46 Jorim 13 13 Amon NO 30 30
29.1 47 Eliezer 14 NO 30
29 48 Jose 15 14 Josias Approx 30 30
28.4 49 Er 16 15 Jechonias NO 30
28.3 50 Elmodam 17 (in Babylon) NO 30
28.2 51 Cosam 18 NO 30
28.1 52 Addi 19 NO 30
28 53 Melchi 20 NO 30
27.4 54 Neri 21 NO 30
27.3 55 Salathiel 22 16 Salathiel Yes 30 30
27.2 56 Zorobabel 23 17 Zorobabel Yes 30 30
27.1 57 Rhesa 24 18 Abiud NO 30 30
27 58 Joanna 25 19 Eliakim NO 30 30
26.4 59 Juda 26 20 Azor NO 30 30
26.3 60 Joseph 27 21 Sadoc NO 30 30
26.2 61 Semei 28 22 Achim NO 30 30
26.1 62 Mattathias 29 23 Eliud NO 30 30
26 63 Maath 30 24 Eleazar NO 30 30
25.4 64 Nagge 31 NO 30
25.3 65 Esli 32 NO 30
25.2 66 Naum 33 NO 30
25.1 67 Amos 34 NO 30
25 68 Mattathias 35 NO 30
24.4 69 Joseph 36 NO 30
24.3 70 Janna 37 NO 30
24.2 71 Melchi 38 NO 30
24.1 72 Levi 39 NO 30
24 73 Matthat 40 25 Matthan Approx 30 30
23.2 74 Heli 41 26 Jacob NO 30 30
23.1 75 Joseph 42 27 Joseph Yes 30 30
23 76 Jesus 43 28 Jesus* Number of years (Luke vs Matthew) 3696 3216
Difference: 15   generations 480  yrs


*Matt 1:16 "Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus".  No genealogy is given for Mary. So descent of Jesus is not known, only his "step-father". 

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