Where Did Egypt’s Priests Get Water To Turn Into Blood?
The very first of the ten plagues on ancient Egypt was the turning of the Nile river water into blood. But Egypt’s pagan priests did similarly with their magic arts. But this poses a seeming problem, where did the priests get water to turn into blood?
Alleged Contradiction:
The Bible says that for each miracle Moses and Aaron demonstrated the magicians did the same by
their secret arts. Then comes the following feat:
(a) Moses and Aaron converted all the available water into blood (Exodus 7:20-21)
(b) The magicians did the same (Exodus 7:22). This is impossible, since there would have been no water
left to convert into blood.
“Moses and Aaron did as Yahweh ordered. He raised his staff and struck the waters of the River with Pharaoh and his officials looking on, and all the water in the river turned to blood. The fish in the River died, and the River stank; and the Egyptians could no longer drink the River water. Throughout the whole of Egypt there was blood. But by their spells the magicians of Egypt did the same: Pharaoh remained obstinate and, as Yahweh had foretold, refused to listen to Moses and Aaron”—Exodus 7:20-22 NJB
All the water in the Nile river was turned to blood, and it might look like there was no water left to turn to blood. However, the context does give us a clue as to how the magic practicing priests of Egypt had water to turn to blood:
“And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river”—Exodus 7:24 NIV
Obviously the Egyptian people dug into the sand near the Nile river to find fresh water that they could drink. Additionally, there very likely was fresh water stored at other locations. The Egyptian priests could have used the water from these locations to turn into blood.
As is the case with so many other claims of Bible contradictions, so this one also is vanquished once the facts are examined.
9 thoughts on “Where Did Egypt’s Priests Get Water To Turn Into Blood?”
If water had been turned into blood, then this would have been contrary to the laws of physics. There is insufficient evidence that this actually occurred. The claim is almost certainly a fabrication. It is similar to the claim of turning water into wine. Nobody should believe this happened.
Only God could perform these acts, and he doesn’t exist. This has been proven.
“Semper necessitas probandi incumbit ei qui agit” translates to “the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges” and is a Latin legal principle stating that the burden of proof is on the person making an accusation.
You make the accusation that the Bible is not credible. Therefore the burden of proof is on you to prove your charge.
I agree that I have a burden of proof, but so do you. You claim the Bible is credible.
I claim the Bible is not credible, and that is easy to prove. The first verse, i.e. Genesis 1:1 is false. Why is it false? Because God does not exist, and this has been proven. Therefore, the Bible is not credible.
I have presented at least two arguments against the existence of God to you and you found no error in either of them.
We’ve been over this many times. Your so-called proofs are invalid, for one thing, because you set up your own standards that you insist God must operate according to.
Since he doesn’t, you claim he doesn’t exist.
For example, you claim to be a humanist. But, let’s say, my standard to be a credible humanist, you must visit China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc., and attempt to change their governments to conform to humanist principles.Since you haven’t done that, you’re not a real humanist!
BA: We’ve been over this many times.
GW: Yes, we have. I thought you would have changed your conclusions by now.
BA: Your so-called proofs are invalid,…
GW: No, they are valid. You have found no errors in any of them. You won’t because you can’t.
BA: for one thing, because you set up your own standards that you insist God must operate according to.
GW: False. I don’t set the standards for God. Those who have defined God throughout the centuries have set the standards for God by the way they define “God.” For example, they hypothesize that he would be all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly moral. I just summarize the standards and the definition which they have already set! After that, I use Reason to make predictions or inferences about what God would do and not do, if he did exist. Nothing wrong with doing that. You make different predictions or inferences about God, but you use Faith rather than Reason to do this. So here, you have not found an error in my arguments.
BA: Since he doesn’t, you claim he doesn’t exist.
GW: The rational inferences and predictions regarding God are disconfirmed by observations of reality, and this is why God does not exist.
BA: For example, you claim to be a humanist. But, let’s say, my standard to be a credible humanist, you must visit China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc.,
GW: Your standard for being a credible humanist has no validity. In the history of humanity the definition of “humanist” has never included that visitation idea.
BA: and attempt to change their governments to conform to humanist principles.
GW: That standard also has never been included in the definition of “humanist.”
BA: Since you haven’t done that, you’re not a real humanist!
GW: False. You started out with an invalid definition, so your analogy doesn’t work. Do your homework.
GW: If you want to make another attempt to find an error in my Argument #4, then I will present it to you. In fact, I will now present it to you anyway.
Argument 4.
Argument Against the Existence of God Based on Absence of Universal Communication: By Gary Whittenberger, 3-18-2024, 6-19-2024, 7-11-2024, 7-20-2024, 8-8-2024, 8-17-2024, 9-15-2024
1. Definition: God is 1) the hypothetical, unique, exclusive, supernatural, independent, spiritual, normally invisible person, conscious intelligent agent, or sentient entity (primary traits). He/she* is maximally enduring, present, intelligent, rational, knowing, creative, powerful, and resilient (primary traits). He/she is also maximally loving, compassionate, cooperative, and moral with respect to other persons (secondary traits). He/she is designer and creator of the cosmos, occasional interventionist in the world, and the afterlife manager who decides the favorable or unfavorable disposition of human souls after they die (secondary traits). or 2) the Greatest Imaginable Possible Person (the “GIPPer”) or ideal person who, if he/she existed, would possess all desirable traits to the highest degrees and no undesirable traits, and who would be worthy of our greatest respect, admiration, and worship. (*Since God would not have a sex or gender, both male and female pronouns shall be used to refer to God.) (28A)
2. If God did exist, then he/she would communicate with all other persons in the BEST POSSIBLE manner.
3. This BEST POSSIBLE manner would be for God to regularly meet and communicate with all presently existing persons at the same time.**
A. Nature of the Meetings
1) God would give advance notice of the locations, days, and times of his upcoming meetings. All persons would have reserved seats at the venues.
2) These meetings would be objective, not merely subjective.
3)** On Earth the meeting would probably start at the same time, e.g. 9 AM, in each time zone during a single 24-hour period.
4) God would “clone” himself/herself to be in all convenient venues at the same time where other persons exist.
5) God would appear in the same general form as the persons to whom he/she would be communicating and in a specific form so as to minimize fear. For example, to human persons he/she would probably look like a kind, gentle, motherly woman 34-41 years old.
6) God would speak, audibly and objectively, to everyone in their own language at the same time.
7) God would identify himself/herself as “God”.
8) By simple pointing and without the use of any devices, God would perform at least three amazing acts which would violate natural laws, as currently known by us, upon random request from any person in the audience. These would be miracles. Some examples are:
a. Create an entire human person from a handful of dirt.
b. Resurrect a human person who had been dead for at least a year from bones or ashes of that person.
c. Voluntarily withstand destruction from firearms, explosives, heat, cold, or radiation.
d. Eliminate the Sun, Moon, or stars for one minute and then restore them.
e. Create something out of nothing.
f. Halt entropy for one minute and then restore it to its current increasing rate.
9) God would present his/her reasons for allowing or causing the Holocaust.
10) God would specify the one and only moral code – the Correct Universal Ethics for Persons (CUE-P).
11) God would specify the consequences of his/her enforcement of CUE-P.
12) God would show how he/she derived CUE-P from the principles of reason, compassion, and cooperation.
13) God would address a few questions, challenges, and requests from the audience.
14) God would provide printed or electronic copies of his/her lecture and demonstrations to all persons who wanted them.
15) God would have these meetings at regular intervals appropriate to the type of persons of his/her audience. For example, he/she would probably meet with human persons every seven years since age seven is considered the “age of reason” for human persons.
B. Reasons or Motives for the Meetings
1) God would be motivated to present the most important sets of facts to all persons, including his/her existence, his nature, CUE-P, and consequences, so that this knowledge would benefit all persons.
2) God would be motivated to present moral rules for proper behavior to all persons so that they would have a clear understanding of how to behave and not behave.
3) God would be motivated to forewarn all persons of the rewards and punishments for compliance and noncompliance with moral rules, respectively.
4) God would be motivated to “levelize opportunity” so that all persons would have the same basic knowledge of the universe and life with which to work. God would not show favoritism to some people over others in providing this basic knowledge.
5) God would be motivated to minimize punishment which could occur for noncompliance with CUE-P.
6) Almost all persons would attend the meetings of their own “free will” (if such a thing even exists). However, for those who did not make the choice, God would probably temporarily suspend their free will and require them to attend. He would judge that having the basic knowledge, as outlined above, would be more important than a free choice to attend or not attend the meetings. God would be providing good information to help all persons make better decisions in the exercise of their free will after the meetings.
7) God would be motivated to use and would use the BEST POSSIBLE mode of communication in order to minimize eight possible adverse effects — misunderstanding, confusion, distortion, inaccuracy, doubt, disbelief, disagreement, and conflict about himself and the moral code. He/she would want there to be just ONE authority and authoritative text – himself/herself and his/her word.
8) God would not use messengers, emissaries, delegates, assistants, offspring, prophets, angels, or any kind of intermediaries to do his/her communication or other work for him/her. He/she would do it all himself/herself.
a) A single consistent authenticated source is more credible to people than multiple inconsistent unauthenticated sources. God would know this and he/she would want high credibility for his/her communications with other persons.
b) Only deities who are weak, lazy, shy, or deceptive would use intermediaries, and God would have none of those traits.
9) God would be the perfect teacher, judge, and enforcer.
10) God would know all facts about communication, including that it is better to communicate with an entire group rather than with subgroups in terms of objectivity, comprehension, and efficiency.
11) If God did exist, then for any goal at all which he would have, he would accomplish it in the most efficient, moral, and loving manner, i.e. the best possible manner.
4. This kind of meeting of God with all living persons at the same time has never occurred!
5. Therefore, God does not exist.
GW: False. You started out with an invalid definition, so your analogy doesn’t work. Do your homework.
BA—Yes, YOU did exactly that with God, which is exactly why your analogy doesn’t work.
If you believe that the definition of “God” which I present in all of my arguments is invalid, then please suggest additions, deletions, or modifications to it which would make it valid, in your opinion.
Here is the definition: “: God is 1) the hypothetical, unique, exclusive, supernatural, independent, spiritual, normally invisible person, conscious intelligent agent, or sentient entity (primary traits). He/she* is maximally enduring, present, intelligent, rational, knowing, creative, powerful, and resilient (primary traits). He/she is also maximally loving, compassionate, cooperative, and moral with respect to other persons (secondary traits). He/she is designer and creator of the cosmos, occasional interventionist in the world, and the afterlife manager who decides the favorable or unfavorable disposition of human souls after they die (secondary traits). or 2) the Greatest Imaginable Possible Person (the “GIPPer”) or ideal person who, if he/she existed, would possess all desirable traits to the highest degrees and no undesirable traits, and who would be worthy of our greatest respect, admiration, and worship. (*Since God would not have a sex or gender, both male and female pronouns shall be used to refer to God.) (28A)”
There are some of the primary things we are told in the scriptures about Almighty God.
“He, Shaddai (Almighty), is far beyond our reach. Supreme in power, in equity, excelling in saving justice, yet no oppressor”—Job 37:23 NJB
“But these are only hints of his power, only the whispers that we have heard. Who can know how truly great God is?”—Job 26:14 GNB
We cannot fully understand him, yet we do know that his power, equity and justice are supreme.
He is “eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God”—1 Timothy 1:17 NIV
“God is a spirit” (John 4:24 GWT). “God is not human” (Numbers 23:19 NIV), but he is only referred to in the male gender, such as “Father” (Matthew 6:9), “he”, “him” (Mark 12:33,34).
“God is only one” (Galatians 3:20 NASB)
“I am Yahweh, that is my name! I shall not yield my glory to another”—Isaiah 42:8 NJB
“Declares Yahweh . . . my people will know my name”—Isaiah 52:5,6 NJB
“He does not lie”—Titus 1:2 NJB
“Yahweh, God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy, maintaining his faithful love”—Exodus 34:6,7 NJB
“His work is perfect”—Deuteronomy 32:4 NJB
His is the only “one who has perfect knowledge” (Job 36:4 NIV)
“The Lord God Almighty . . . created all things”—Revelation 4:8,11 NIV
This scriptural summary is not all inclusive, but gives us an overall picture of who God is.
BA: There are some of the primary things we are told in the scriptures about Almighty God.
GW: Most of the speculations of the Bible authors are false and/or irrational. I don’t trust them. They are not the Word of God. How could they be? God does not exist, and this has been proven. If he did exist, God would not speak through human authors. He would speak for himself. Duh.
BA: “He, Shaddai (Almighty), is far beyond our reach. Supreme in power, in equity, excelling in saving justice, yet no oppressor”—Job 37:23 NJB
GW: NJB is not the favored version of experts. If God did exist (he doesn’t) he would be all-powerful and perfectly just.
BA: “But these are only hints of his power, only the whispers that we have heard. Who can know how truly great God is?”—Job 26:14 GNB
GW: GNB is not the favored version of experts. If God did exist, he would not “hint” at his power. He would clearly show his power during lectures to everybody at once. Duh.
BA: We cannot fully understand him, yet we do know that his power, equity and justice are supreme.
GW: If God did exist, it would not be necessary for us to “fully understand” God’s power, equity, and justice. We only need to know enough about these things. And God would clearly tell us exactly what we needed to know. And he would tell us during his lectures to all living persons at the same time.
BA: He is “eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God”—1 Timothy 1:17 NIV
GW: If God did exist, he would be unique, eternal, and ordinarily invisible. However, during his lectures to all persons, he would make himself visible to all persons at the same time. Read the standard definition of God in step#1 of all my arguments.
BA: “God is a spirit” (John 4:24 GWT).
GW: GWT is not the favored version of experts. If God did exist, he would be a spiritual being, not a physical being.
BA: “God is not human” (Numbers 23:19 NIV),…
GW: If God did exist, he would be a spiritual person, not a human or physical person.
BA: but he is only referred to in the male gender, such as “Father” (Matthew 6:9), “he”, “him” (Mark 12:33,34).
GW: If God did exist, it would not have a sex or gender, but because the concept of God was invented by men in a patriarchal society, God is referred to with male pronouns. This is tradition. Sometimes I follow the tradition, but sometimes I use “he/she” pronouns.
BA: “God is only one” (Galatians 3:20 NASB)
GW: NASB is not a favored version of experts. But if God did exist, then he would be the only deity which exists. God would not create other deities.
BA: “I am Yahweh, that is my name! I shall not yield my glory to another”—Isaiah 42:8 NJB
GW: NJB is not a version favored by the experts. “Yaweh” was an early name of God. “Allah” was another name. But now we use “God”. These names all refer to the same deity.
BA: “Declares Yahweh . . . my people will know my name”—Isaiah 52:5,6 NJB
GW: See above.
BA: “He does not lie”—Titus 1:2 NJB
GW: NJB is not the version of the experts. Although it is a moral duty for human persons to lie in some situations, e.g. an Anne Frank situation, I can’t think of any situation in which it would be moral for God to lie. Can you?
BA: “Yahweh, God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy, maintaining his faithful love”—Exodus 34:6,7 NJB
GW: NJB is not the version favored by experts. Of course, you are not an expert, so why would I expect you to use the favored version? If God did exist, he would be maximal in his love. Yes, I think God would sometimes get angry, but would be “slow to anger.”
BA: “His work is perfect”—Deuteronomy 32:4 NJB
GW: NJB is not the version of the experts. This verse is too vague. Perfect in what ways? In what perfect way would God ALWAYS communicate to other persons? Describe that way. In only one scenario in the Bible (albeit fiction) does God communicate in the perfect way. Cite the verses and describe this scenario. That is your homework assignment for this week.
BA: His is the only “one who has perfect knowledge” (Job 36:4 NIV)
GW: If God did exist, he would have maximal knowledge. This is also in the definition in step #1 of all my arguments.
BA: “The Lord God Almighty . . . created all things”—Revelation 4:8,11 NIV
GW: If God did exist, he would have created all things which are not himself. But there seem to be only two possible options for this: 1) He created all other things OUT OF NOTHING. This is known as “creation ex nihilo.” Or 2) He created all things by excising a part of himself from himself and then transforming this spiritual material to physical material out of which he created everything else. I think it would be the latter method. I don’t think something can come from nothing.
BA: This scriptural summary is not all inclusive, but gives us an overall picture of who God is.
GW: You have provided a partial summary of who God would be, if he did exist, although there are a few errors. Still, I thank you for that. Here is a better summary of who God would be: “God is 1) the hypothetical, unique, exclusive, supernatural, independent, spiritual, normally invisible person, conscious intelligent agent, or sentient entity (primary traits). He/she* is maximally enduring, present, intelligent, rational, knowing, creative, powerful, and resilient (primary traits). He/she is also maximally loving, compassionate, cooperative, and moral with respect to other persons (secondary traits). He/she is designer and creator of the cosmos, occasional interventionist in the world, and the afterlife manager who decides the favorable or unfavorable disposition of human souls after they die (secondary traits). or 2) the Greatest Imaginable Possible Person (the “GIPPer”) or ideal person who, if he/she existed, would possess all desirable traits to the highest degrees and no undesirable traits, and who would be worthy of our greatest respect, admiration, and worship. (*Since God would not have a sex or gender, both male and female pronouns shall be used to refer to God.) (28A)”
GW: As I have said many times, I do wish that God did exist, but sadly he does not. This has been proven by me and several others. For example, my Argument #4 is a proof, and you have found no errors in it.