Hi, again, blessed76,I'm glad to know that you are reading the Bible. I hope you are reading every day and memorizing some Scripture passages that are particularly meaningful to you. That's how your faith will grow . . . as you get to know the wonderful works of God. He wants to reveal Himself to you, that's why He inspired men to write His teachings to us in the Bible.To answer your question. Make a distinction between the Old Testament Books and the New Testament Books. Jesus came to fulfill (that is, to complete) God's teachings that were first given to the Hebrew nation in the Old Testament period. God chose Israel as His people, not because they were better than other nations, but because He intended to make them better, to make them His witness to all the other nations around them. The Hebrew people didn't know God and so were living in a pagan manner, and God had to begin to teach them . . . slowly, bit by bit. Therefore, he laid down some extremely strict rules to separate their lifestyle from all other peoples. When a thousand years or so went by, the time was perfect in God's plan to send Jesus to become a man (but a perfect man --sinless).Jesus began to refine the teachings that God gave in times past. The Hebrew people didn't understand, yet, that their thoughts are the place where sin begins. Example, they thought that if they didn't have sexual intercourse with a woman other than their wife, that they were innocent of committing adultery. Jesus brought them to a whole higher level of understanding of their sin when he said in Matthew 5:27-28, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."It was time now for Jesus to upgrade their understanding that God does not just look at actions, but He looks at the thoughts in our minds and hearts . . . where all sin begins.So there are no contradictions in the Bible. Rather, God's final stage of teaching us how to live has now arrived through Jesus Christ, through His holy life, through His death on the cross to take the punishment for the sins of all who believe, and, finally, through His resurrection from the dead to be crowned the King of kings.I hope this helps clear up some of your confusion.waynemlj