It is almost impossible to mention religion without some debate issuing forth. Fundamentalist Christians like to use the Bible as their sole source of “revelation” and will argue for hours from its pages. Over history, people have developed strange misconceptions about the Bible and the tales it tells. This list hopes to put down some of the more obvious misconceptions people have about the Bible.

10 Adam and Eve’s Fruit

Contrary to popular belief, Adam and Even did not eat an Apple in the book of Genesis. The fruit is not actually named at all - it is referred to only as the fruit of “the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”. The reason this misconception has come about is most likely due to the fact that in Middle English, the word “apple” was used to refer to all fruit and nuts (except berries). Over the centuries, this word has stuck in reference to the Genesis fruit. [Genesis 2:17]

9 Devilish Serpent

The serpent that convinced Eve to take the fruit from the tree of Knowledge and Evil is not referred to as Satan in Genesis. He is known only as the serpent who was “more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth”. Additionally, the term “Lucifer” used in reference to Satan comes from the Vulgate translation of Isaiah 14:12 - at no point in the Bible is Satan directly referred to by the name Lucifer. [Genesis 3]

8 Noah’s Ark

We all know that the “animals went in two by two”… right? Wrong! In fact, all clean animals went in in groups of seven, and unclean animals in groups of two. According to Jewish dietary law, there are far more clean animals than unclean, so the majority of creatures entering the ark went in as a group of 7. [Genesis 7:2-3]

7 The Ten Commandments

Considering the importance of the ten commandments to so many people, you would think they would have a clear idea of how they are defined, but most people do not. The Bible does not list a consistent set of 10 commandments at all. In Exodus, the list includes 14 or 15 “statements”. Though the Bible does refer to a set of “10″ rules, it does not mention them in the same sections as the list commonly known as the ten commandments. Different Christian sects have divided the list of commandments up differently. The Catholic Church combines the first 3 statements in to one commandment, and the Protestants combine the final two in to one statement. You can see a complete list of the differences here. To add to the confusion, there is also another set of 10 commandments called the Ritual Decalogue which includes laws such as “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk”. [Exodus 20]

6 The Immaculate Conception

The immaculate conception is not a reference to Jesus being born without sin, but to his mother Mary. Most Christians believe that all people are conceived with original sin (the sin inherited from Adam and Eve) but that Jesus was not. Additionally, the Catholic Church teaches that Mary was also conceived without sin and this is where the term “Immaculate Conception” has come from. [Luke 1:28]

5 The Three Kings

No doubt most of us have heard the Christmas Carol “We three kings of Orient are;” but in fact, the three “kings” are never referred to as Kings in the Bible. Additionally, they are not referred to as a group of three. The only reference to the number ‘3′ is the number of gifts they carried. [Matthew 2:7-11]

4 Mary Magdalene’s Career

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. In fact, she is barely mentioned at all. Aside from her presence at the ressurection, the only other thing that the Bible does say is that she was possessed by seven demons. [Luke 8:2]

3 The Prodigal Son

Contrary to popular belief, “Prodigal” means “characterized by a profuse or wasteful expenditure” - it is not a reference to leaving or returning. [Luke 15:11-32]

2 Emperor Constantine and the Bible

The Emperor Constantine did not define the canon of the New Testament at the first Council of Nicaea in 325AD - in fact, the Council did not even make mention of the Biblical canon. It was already defined by common use by the early 2nd century in the form in which it is still found in Catholic Bibles. Another little known fact is the Emperor Constantine had no voting power at the council - he was there merely as an observer. [Canons of the Council of Nicaea]

1 Changing Text

Some people believe that over the centuries, the Bible text has been altered to suit the ideologies of the editors. In fact, there are only a very small number of textual alterations that modern philologists and critics consider intentional changes; most are simply errors in spelling or copying. Bart D. Ehrman (a New Testament textual critic) says:

“It would be a mistake. . .to assume that the only changes being made were by copyists with a personal stake in the wording of the text. In fact, most of the changes found in our early Christian manuscripts have nothing to do with theology or ideology. Far and and away the [sic] most changes are the result of mistakes, pure and simple—slips of the pen, accidental omissions, inadvertent additions, misspelled words, blunders of one sort or another.”

Aside from the removal of a number of books in the 16th Century, the Bible is essentially the same now as it was in the 2nd century.

提及宗教，爭議就在所難免。信服正統派基督教的教徒們喜歡將圣經作為他們“啟示”的唯一來源，并會就圣經書上的內容展開數小時的辯論。在歷史發展的過程中，人們對圣經及及圣經故事產生了不少奇怪的誤解。希望這份榜單能消除人們一些很明顯的對于圣經的誤解。

10 亞當與夏娃的禁果

與現在普遍流行的說法相反，創世紀一章中亞當和夏娃吃的并不是蘋果。事實上那個果子并沒有被命名--它指的是“智慧樹”上的果實。這個誤解形成的原因可能是中世紀英語中，“apple”一詞指的是所有水果和堅果（除了漿果）。幾個世紀以后，這個單詞被慣用于指創世紀中的果實。[創世紀 2:17]

9 撒旦

在創世紀中，那條說服夏娃摘取智慧樹果實的蛇并沒有被提及指的是撒旦。對于這條蛇，我們所知的僅僅是“它是所有野獸中最狡猾的”。另外，關于“路西弗”一詞被用來指撒旦是來源于以賽亞書14：12的拉丁文翻譯版--在圣經中沒有直接指出路西華弗的就是撒旦。[創世紀 3]

8 諾亞方舟

我們都知道“動物都以一公一母的形式被帶入方舟”。。。是嗎？錯！事實上，凡潔凈的畜類是以七公七母的形式帶入方舟，而不潔凈的畜類，被帶入方舟的是一公一母。根據猶太人的飲食規律，潔凈的動物遠比不潔凈的多，所以進入諾亞方舟的大多數動物都是以七公七母的形式。[創世紀 7:2-3]

7 十誡

想到世界對如此之多的人的重要性，你也許會認為他們很清楚地知道十誡是如何被定義的，但事實上很多人并不知道。圣經中根本沒有給出一致的十誡。在出埃及中，那份列表包括了14或15條“戒律”。雖然圣經確實提到過“10”條紀律，但它并沒有在通常被認為是十誡的那部分中再次提到這些。不同的基督宗教派別有各自不同的十誡。天主教把前三條紀律歸并成一誡，而新教則將后兩條紀律合并成一誡。從這里你可以看出區別所在。更讓人困惑的是，還有另外一系列十誡稱作摩西的十誡，其中包括“不可用山羊羔母親的奶煮山羊羔”。[出埃及 20]

6 純潔之胎

純潔之胎指的并不是耶穌出生的純潔無罪，而是關于他的母親瑪利亞。大多數基督徒都相信原罪說（人類繼承了亞當和夏娃的罪過），但耶穌并非如此。此外，天主教傳授的教義是瑪利亞也是純潔無罪的，這才是“純潔之胎”一說的由來。[路加福音 1:28]

5 三列王

毫無疑問，我們大多數人都聽過耶誕頌歌“東方三賢士”；但事實上這三位“王”在圣經中從未被提過是“國王”。另外，他們也沒有被提及是三人成組的，唯一提及的關于他們的數字“3”是他們攜帶的禮物。[馬太福音 2:7-11]

4 抹大拉的瑪利亞的職業

圣經中沒有指出抹大拉的瑪利亞是一名妓女，事實上她很少被提及，除了在耶穌復活時有提到過她。圣經中唯一提及她的另一處則是她被七個污鬼附身。[路加福音 8:2]

3 浪子回頭

與如今大家普遍理解的相反，“浪”在圣經中的意思是指“揮霍浪費掉許多財產”--它指的不是離鄉后的回歸。[路加福音 15:11-32]

2 康斯坦丁大帝與圣經

公元325年第一次普世大會在尼西亞召開時，康斯坦丁大帝并沒有規定出新教的教規--事實上，大會甚至沒有提及圣經的教規。實際上教規采用了二世紀早期常用的格式，而這一格式在現今天主教圣經中仍普遍存在。另一個鮮為人知的事實是，康斯坦丁大帝在大會上其實沒有投票權--因為他只是旁觀者。

1 文本的變遷

有人認為在經過幾個世紀的變遷，圣經的文本內容已經遭到修改，為了符合編者的意識形態。事實上，現代語言學家和評論家認為只有極少一部分文本內容被有意修改；其他大部分的錯誤是由于拼寫或復寫時出現了錯誤。巴特·D·葉爾曼說：

“圣經中所有被改動的地方都是因為抄寫者個人對文本的理解產生出入而修改的，這種想法是不對的。事實上，從我們早期的基督教手稿中發現大多數錯誤與理論或意識形態沒有什么關系。可以肯定的是【原文如此】大多數都是單純的錯誤--一時的筆誤，無意的增減，單詞拼錯以及各種類似的錯誤。”

除了在16世紀時被刻意移除過幾章之外，圣經從本質上來看與二世紀時是一樣的。