The bible doesn't translate well directly from the original language.

When the bible was translated into the King James Version, many times the scribers just didn't understand the original word and added other words to "clarify". In some cases this has changed a great deal.

And the bible was greatly contridctory. Especially in the new testament.

Jesus came and did away with the ten commandments, changing them to two instead.

1. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
2. Love god with all your heart.

The theory is that if you follow those 2 commandments, you won't break any of the original 10. (Technically it should work.)

The problem is, after Jesus ascended, the apostles got ahold of christianity. And while they are only human living in a judgemental society, many of the lesson's they taught went against those two commandments.

Not only that, they added rules to the christian religion. They did just what Jesus despised and became like the Pharisee's. (Jesus did not like the Pharisee's because they added rules to the jewish faith supposedly to make the jews follow the law better. But many of the rules were just stupid.)

My best example of this is Paul. Now Paul did some ok things in his life. He certainly suffered greatly, but he had a tendency to let his own life influence his decisions.

His first was his view on women. Paul had never spent much time around them. Therefore he was of the belief that women should be seen and not heard. Their place in the church was to be quiet. Which is absurd, and no where did Jesus tell anyone that women were inferior to men.

Also, Paul stated many times that it was better to remain single then to marry. In fact one of the only reason's you should marry is if you were unable to handle the temptations of wanting to have sex. (And we know those marriages that are based purely on sex are such happy affairs in later years.)

Even though God first sanctified and blessed marriage in the beginning. God likes us to be married, but according to Paul, the best way to become the perfect christian is to stay single. (Which is why we have so many priests giving marital advice, and not actually knowing anything about it.)

So yes, the bible does contridict itself. Mostly because it was written to be so open to interpretation.

The bible was given as a guide book, not necessarily a follow to the letter kind of thing.

Besides, if you follow the first two commandments that Jesus gave, you don't need the bible in the first place. You'll embody everything christ has in mind.