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，争议就在所难免。信服正统派基督教的教徒们喜欢将圣经作为他们“启示”的唯一来源，并会就圣经书上的内容展开数小时的辩论。在历史发展的过程中，人们对圣经及及圣经故事产生了不少奇怪的误解。希望这份榜单能消除人们一些很明显的对于圣经的误解。

10 亚当与夏娃的禁果

与现在普遍流行的说法相反，创世纪一章中亚当和夏娃吃的并不是苹果。事实上那个果子并没有被命名--它指的是“智慧树”上的果实。这个误解形成的原因可能是中世纪英语中，“apple”一词指的是所有水果和坚果（除了浆果）。几个世纪以后，这个单词被惯用于指创世纪中的果实。[创世纪 2:17]

9 撒旦

在创世纪中，那条说服夏娃摘取智慧树果实的蛇并没有被提及指的是撒旦。对于这条蛇，我们所知的仅仅是“它是所有野兽中最狡猾的”。另外，关于“路西弗”一词被用来指撒旦是来源于以赛亚书14：12的拉丁文翻译版--在圣经中没有直接指出路西华弗的就是撒旦。[创世纪 3]

8 诺亚方舟

我们都知道“动物都以一公一母的形式被带入方舟”。。。是吗？错！事实上，凡洁净的畜类是以七公七母的形式带入方舟，而不洁净的畜类，被带入方舟的是一公一母。根据犹太人的饮食规律，洁净的动物远比不洁净的多，所以进入诺亚方舟的大多数动物都是以七公七母的形式。[创世纪 7:2-3]

7 十诫

想到世界对如此之多的人的重要性，你也许会认为他们很清楚地知道十诫是如何被定义的，但事实上很多人并不知道。圣经中根本没有给出一致的十诫。在出埃及中，那份列表包括了14或15条“戒律”。虽然圣经确实提到过“10”条纪律，但它并没有在通常被认为是十诫的那部分中再次提到这些。不同的基督宗教派别有各自不同的十诫。天主教把前三条纪律归并成一诫，而新教则将后两条纪律合并成一诫。从这里你可以看出区别所在。更让人困惑的是，还有另外一系列十诫称作摩西的十诫，其中包括“不可用山羊羔母亲的奶煮山羊羔”。[出埃及 20]

6 纯洁之胎

纯洁之胎指的并不是耶稣出生的纯洁无罪，而是关于他的母亲玛利亚。大多数基督徒都相信原罪说（人类继承了亚当和夏娃的罪过），但耶稣并非如此。此外，天主教传授的教义是玛利亚也是纯洁无罪的，这才是“纯洁之胎”一说的由来。[路加福音 1:28]

5 三列王

毫无疑问，我们大多数人都听过耶诞颂歌“东方三贤士”；但事实上这三位“王”在圣经中从未被提过是“国王”。另外，他们也没有被提及是三人成组的，唯一提及的关于他们的数字“3”是他们携带的礼物。[马太福音 2:7-11]

4 抹大拉的玛利亚的职业

圣经中没有指出抹大拉的玛利亚是一名妓女，事实上她很少被提及，除了在耶稣复活时有提到过她。圣经中唯一提及她的另一处则是她被七个污鬼附身。[路加福音 8:2]

3 浪子回头

与如今大家普遍理解的相反，“浪”在圣经中的意思是指“挥霍浪费掉许多财产”--它指的不是离乡后的回归。[路加福音 15:11-32]

2 康斯坦丁大帝与圣经

公元325年第一次普世大会在尼西亚召开时，康斯坦丁大帝并没有规定出新教的教规--事实上，大会甚至没有提及圣经的教规。实际上教规采用了二世纪早期常用的格式，而这一格式在现今天主教圣经中仍普遍存在。另一个鲜为人知的事实是，康斯坦丁大帝在大会上其实没有投票权--因为他只是旁观者。

1 文本的变迁

有人认为在经过几个世纪的变迁，圣经的文本内容已经遭到修改，为了符合编者的意识形态。事实上，现代语言学家和评论家认为只有极少一部分文本内容被有意修改；其他大部分的错误是由于拼写或复写时出现了错误。巴特·D·叶尔曼说：

“圣经中所有被改动的地方都是因为抄写者个人对文本的理解产生出入而修改的，这种想法是不对的。事实上，从我们早期的基督教手稿中发现大多数错误与理论或意识形态没有什么关系。可以肯定的是【原文如此】大多数都是单纯的错误--一时的笔误，无意的增减，单词拼错以及各种类似的错误。”

除了在16世纪时被刻意移除过几章之外，圣经从本质上来看与二世纪时是一样的。