John - General
John 1:1, 14 - These verses imply that Jesus is God, but this is denied other places in the bible.
John 1:18 - This verse says that no human has ever seen God. But throughout the Bible there are account of God being seen.
John 1:21 - Was John the Baptist Elijah? In this verse, John clearly says no. But Jesus just as clearly says yes in Mt.11:14, 17:12-13 and Mk.9:13.
John 1:28 - "These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing." But no such site is known in history. Some translations ASV, NAB, NIV, RSV, NRSV) rename Bethabara as Bethany, but Bethany is a suburb of Jerusalem and, therefore, not "beyond the Jordan."
John 1:29-34 - John baptizes Jesus and declares him to be "the Son of God." But later, as he is about to be beheaded, John is no longer sure what to think about Jesus. So he sends his own disciples to ask, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" (Mt.11:3) Well, if he isn't sure after seeing and hearing the events at Jesus' baptism, then how can anyone else be?
John 1:35, 43, 2:1 - Jesus spends three busy days after his baptism, calling his disciples and attending a wedding. But the gospel of Mark 1:12-13 disagrees, claiming that Jesus was tempted by the devil in "the wilderness" for forty days immediately after his baptism.
John 1:40 - John the Baptist is imprisoned after Peter and Andrew are called in John, but the order is reversed in Mark 1:14-16.
John 1:45 - Here Nathaniel is listed as one of the apostles; Nowhere else in the New Testament is he so included.
John 2:4 - Jesus speaks rudely to his mother, saying: "Woman, what have I to do with thee?"
John 2:19 Jesus says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Mark 14:57-58 says that "false witnesses" claimed he said these words. But how is their testimony false if they correctly quoted Jesus?
John 2:19-21 - Jesus claimed that he would raise himself from the dead. But other verses say that he was raised from the dead by God.
John 3:2 - Nicodemus says he knows that God is with Jesus since he performed so many miracles. Yet the other gospels (Mt.12:39, 6:4; Mk.8:12; Lk.11:29) say that Jesus refused to perform any miracles.
John 3:3, 5 - Jesus says that to be saved a person must "be born again." But in other places he claims that salvation depends upon other things.
John 3:13 - John says that no one has ever ascended into heaven. But according to the Bible both Enoch and Elijah did so.
John 3:16 - Does God love everyone? Not according to MANY scriptures in the OT.
John 3:18, 36 - Here we are told that people are damned or saved depending only on what they believe. But this contradicts Mt.12:37 which says that salvation depends upon what people say; Lk.10:26-28, obeying the commandments; 1 Jn.4:7, by loving others; and Jn.5:29, by doing good, or, in any case, not by faith alone.
John 3:32-33 - Does anyone receive his testimony? Verse 32 says that no one does; the next verse says that some do.
John 3:36 - The "wrath of God" is on all unbelievers.
John 4:24 - If "God is a spirit" and spirits don't have bodies (Lk.24:39), then how can Hab.3:4 claim that God has a body of flesh and bones, or could Moses have seen God's "back parts" (Ex.33:23)?
John 4:39-40 - These verses say that the Samaritans believed in Jesus, but Luke 9:52-53 says the Samaritans rejected him.
John 5:14 - Jesus believes people are crippled by God a punishment for sin. He tells a crippled man, after healing him, to "sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."
John 5:22, 27 - In this verse Jesus says that he judges all men. But later, in Jn.8:15 and 12:47, he denies this and says that he judges no one.
John 5:29 - Here Jesus says that people are saved by doing good works. But Paul vehemently disagrees (Rom.3:28, Gal.2:16, 3:11), insisting that salvation comes not through good works, but through faith alone.
John 5:31 - Jesus says that if he bears witness for himself, then his witness isn't true. But in Jn.8:14 he contradicts this by saying: "Though I bear witness of myself, yet my witness is true."
John 5:46 - Jesus claims that Moses wrote about him. Where? It's a shame he didn't give us chapter and verse.
John 6:42 - The people of Nazareth, who knew Jesus well, did not believe in him.
John 6:46 - Here we are told that no one has ever seen God. But other passages in the Bible claim that many people have seen him.
John 6:70 - Jesus chose "a devil" for an apostle. Oh well, everyone makes mistakes.
John 7:5 - Even Jesus' family didn't believe in him.
John 7:8-10 - Jesus tells his family that he wasn't going to the feast, but he was lying, as he later goes "in secret."
John 7:19-20 - Jesus falsely accuses people of trying to kill him. But the people he accuses say to him, "Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?"
John 7:24 - In this verse, Jesus tells us to judge, but in Mt.7:1 he tells us not to judge.
John 7:38 - Jesus says that those who believe in him will, as the scripture says, have living waters flowing out of their bellies. Well that sounds like fun, but what is the scripture that he was referring to?
John 7:39 - Luke claims that Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Simeon were all filled with the Holy Ghost (Lk.1:41, 67, 2:25-26). But if this verse is true, they couldn't have been, since the Holy Ghost was not given until after Jesus' ascension.
John 8:7 - Jesus tells those who'd like to stone to death an adulteress that whoever among them that is without sin should "cast the first stone." Good advice, but it directly contradicts the teachings of the Old Testament (Lev.20:20). If that wasn't a good law then why did God make it? Has he since changed his mind? Shouldn't it then be removed (along with most of the OT) from the bible?
John 8:14 Jesus says, "Though I bear witness of myself, yet my record is true." But in Jn.5:31 he says, "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true."
John 8:15 - Jesus says that he judges no one. But in Jn.5:22 he says that he judges everyone.
John 8:40 - Jesus says that he is "a man." But in other New Testament verses he is portrayed as a god.
John 8:44 - This verse says that there is no truth in the devil. If so, then why did the devils call him "the Christ, Son of God"? Were they lying then too?
John 8:58 - In this verse, by saying "before Abraham was, I am," Jesus claims to be God.
John 9:39 - Jesus says that he has come to judge people, contrary to his other statement (Jn.8:15, 12:47). He also says that he has come to make people blind.
John 10:8 - "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers." All the prophets, kings, and heroes of the Old Testament; everyone that ever lived before him was a thief and a robber.
John 10:16 - Jesus falsely prophesies that "there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." This will never happen as long a Christian beliefs are based on the Bible.
John 10:33-34 The Jews threatened to execute Jesus for blasphemy, since he claimed be God. But Jesus defended himself by quoting Ps.82:6: "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" So how many gods are there anyway?
John 11:4 - Lazarus must suffer and die so that Jesus can show off his magic tricks by raising him from the dead.
John 12:3-8 - Mary wastes expensive ointment on Jesus' feet, rather than selling the ointment and giving the money to the poor. But Jesus thinks his feet are more important, saying that poor people will always be around, but he and his precious feet won't be. (According to the New Oxford Annotated Bible, 300 denarii would be nearly a year's wage for a labourer.)
John 12:8 - In Matthew 28:20, Jesus says he will be with his disciples always; but here he says the opposite.
John 12:14 - John says that Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a young ass, but Mark 11:7 and Luke 19:35 say he rode into town on a colt, and Matthew 21:7 insists that he rode on both an ass and a colt.
John 12:15 - This verse claims that Jesus fulfils the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. But this cannot be since the person referred to in Zechariah ver. 10-13 was both a military leader and the king of an earthly kingdom.
John 12:40 - The reason people didn't believe in Jesus was that God had "blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart." God did this so that they would not "understand with their heart, and be converted." This way God could damn more people to hell.
John 12:47 - In this verse Jesus says that he judges no one, but elsewhere in John 5:22, 27; 9:39 he says that he judges everyone.
John 13:2 - The devil "was put into the heart of Judas." But by whom? By God?
John 13:27 - John says that Satan entered Judas after the last supper, but Luke 22:3, 7 says the devil entered Judas before supper.
John 13:38 - Jesus tells Peter that "the cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice." But according to Mark 14:68, 72 the cock crowed after Peter's first denial.
John 14:2 - Jesus says that heaven wasn't prepared until after his ascension, but in Mt.25:34 he says that heaven was prepared from all eternity.
John 14:9 - Jesus says that whoever has seen him has seen the father (God?). But this contradicts many Bible verses that say that no one has ever seen God.
John 14:13-14; 15:7,16; 16:23 - Jesus says that whatever you ask either him or his father for you will receive. Now how's that for a big lie?
John 14:26 - Who will send the Holy Ghost? Jesus or his father? (Jn.15:26)
John 14:27 - This verse claims that Jesus came to bring peace, but this is denied in Mt.10:34 and Lk.12:51.
John 14:28 - Jesus implies that he is not God by saying that his father is greater than he. But this contradicts other New Testament statements implying that he is God.
John 15:12, 17 - "This is my commandment, That ye love one another." If this is what it takes to be a Christian, then count me in. Unfortunately, Christians often take Jesus' commandment to mean that Christians should love other, like minded, Christians, and to hell with everybody else.
John 16:30 - In this verse the disciples claim that Jesus knows everything, but Jesus says in Mk.13:32 that there are some things about which he knows nothing.
John 18:33-38 - In Matthew 27:14, Jesus "answered to him never a word" when questioned by Pilate. But here, in the same situation, Jesus makes a rather long speech.
John 18:38 - Pilate asked Jesus a very good question: "What is truth?"
John 19:14 - When was Jesus crucified? This verse says it was sometime after the sixth hour, but Mk.15:25 says it was at the third hour.
John 19:17 - John says that Jesus bore his own cross, but the other gospels (Mt.27:32, Mk.15:21, Lk.23:26) say that Simon the Cyrenian carried it for him.
John 19:19 - In this verse we are told that the sign on the cross said, "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." But this disagrees with the other gospels. (Mt.27:37, Mk.15:26, Lk.23:38)
John 19:23-24 - Since the Roman soldiers were bad guys and they gambled for the robe of Jesus, gambling must be bad. This seems to be the reasoning that the fundamentalists use when claiming that gambling is condemned by the bible.
John 19:25 - John says that there were women who "stood by the cross." But Mathew 27:55 says that the watched from "afar off."
John 19:30 - John disagrees with Matthew 27:46 and Luke 23:46 on the last words of Jesus.
John 19:33,36 - Verse 33 says that during Jesus' crucifixion, the soldiers didn't break his legs because he was already dead. Verse 36 claims that this fulfilled a prophecy: "Not a bone of him shall be broken." But there is no such prophecy. It is sometimes said that the prophecy appears in Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12 and Psalm 34:20. This is not correct. Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12 are not prophecies, they are commandments. The Israelites are told not to break the bones of the Passover lamb, and this is all it is about. And Psalm 34:20 seems to refer to righteous people in general (see verse 19, where a plural is used), not to make a prophecy about a specific person.
John 20:1 - John says that only one woman visited the tomb on Sunday morning. But Matthew 28:8 claims there were two women, while Mark 16:1 says there were three, and Luke 24:10 says there were five or more.
John 20:9 - Jesus, in the other gospels, repeatedly tells the disciples of his impending death and resurrection, but this verse claims that the disciples had never hard any of this before.
John 20:11-12 - John says that Mary Magdalene saw two angels. But Matthew says there was only one angel (28:2), Mark claims it was a young man (16:5), and Luke says the women saw two men (24:3-4).
John 20:14 - Did Mary Magdalene recognize Jesus when she first saw him? John says she didn't, but Matthew says she did (28:9). And to whom did Jesus appear to first after the resurrection?
John 20:17 - Jesus tells Mary Magdalene not to touch him because he hasn't yet ascended, as if the touch of a woman would defile him and somehow prevent him from ascending into heaven. One wonders why he insisted that Thomas touch him later that evening (Jn.20:27), and why he permitted his apostles to touch him and hold him by the feet before his ascension (Mt.28:9).
John 20:19 - This verse says that Jesus first appeared to the eleven in a room in Jerusalem, but Matthew 28:16-17 says that the first meeting took place on a mountain in Galilee".
John 20:20 - Were the disciples glad, as it says here, or terrified, as it says in Lk.24:36, when they first saw the risen Jesus?
John 20:27 - In John 20:17 Jesus tells Mary Magdalene not to touch him because he hasn't yet ascended, yet now, just a few hours later, he demands that Thomas touch him.
John 20:28 - If Jesus didn't believe himself to be God, then why didn't he correct Thomas when he said, "My Lord and my God"?
John 20:30 - John claims that Jesus performed many signs, but Jesus, in Mt.8:12, said he would not give any signs.
John 21:17 - Peter says that Jesus knows everything, but Jesus denies it in Mk.13:32.
John 21:22 - Jesus implies that he will return to earth during the lifetime of John.
