(This
is the first post in “The Mission Field” series)
“How
can one believe the Bible? It’s full of contradictions … it even
contradicts itself!”
C’mon
Ali, you’ve completed Bible school … you have to have an answer
for this. I thought to myself as I stood there appalled at what I
just heard.
“The
Bible may seem that it’s full of contradictions, or that it even
contradicts itself. Just trust me when I say that it doesn’t
contradict itself.”
“But
it does! It does contradict itself. So if it’s full of
contradictions, then we can’t believe it.”
“But
that’s the thing, we can believe it, because it’s the infallible
Word of God. What contradictions are you referring to?”
“God
says He hates jealousy, however, He Himself is a jealous God.
Explain that one.”
“That’s
right, God doesn’t want His children to be jealous of others. But
that’s an attribute of His, because He is the One True God – He
has every right to be jealous when we give our worship to
anyone/anything other than Him.”
This
was a conversation I had with a coworker last week while I was
working an all day shift at the restaurant. It shocked me to hear
what was being said (don’t know why I was shocked, I’ve heard it
before), not to mention … I was saddened. Not only was I realizing
the seriousness of this coworker’s eternity, but I could not for
the life of me remember Bible verses that could explain the exact
opposite of what this person was saying. Like always, the devil
didn’t want me to have the opportunity to be apart of bringing
another into the fold (1 Pet. 2:25)
It’s
been almost a week since that conversation, and I’ve still (to this
day) mulled over the conversation. Praying God would show me how to
bring Truth out of what my coworker had said/and believes (basically
to twist it around to Christ). Then God did the amazing, it was like
a Spiritual light-bulb moment.
The
Bible doesn’t contradicts itself. It contradicts us, because our
brains cannot comprehend what the Bible says, or because we have our
own interpretation of the Bible.
(I
don’t know why this couldn’t have come to me, almost a week ago
lol)
When
I discussed my God given “light-bulb moment” with my parents, my
dad said something else that has stuck with me.
“Anyone
can say anything is contradictory. When someone doesn’t understand
the ‘why’ behind something, it seems contradictory. It takes
understanding to get rid of contradiction.”
Which
is totally true, that’s why Proverbs tells us to get wisdom and
understanding.
But
that didn’t satisfy me at all. I had to know more, so I could help
my coworker see that the Word doesn’t contradict itself. A new
question arose in my mind:
So
if it takes understanding to get rid of contradiction, and the Bible
doesn’t contradict itself, but yet still seems that way to a
nonbeliever – is there a middle ground?
For
some there is a middle ground in regards to contradiction.
What
do I mean by a middle ground? Let me explain it this way:
The
Bible is God’s Word to humankind, I’m sure the majority can agree
with me on this. However, it has also been mediated through authors
that are man (or human). So there could be mistakes, yes? After all
… humankind isn’t perfect. And if it’s God’s Word, wouldn’t
have God actually written the Bible Himself? This in and of itself
is a contradiction, yes?
The
middle ground are for those still searching for answers, but who
believe. Those who can’t fathom how the Bible doesn’t contradict
itself.
Does
the Bible contradict itself?
First
off, let’s take a look at a couple definitions: the definition of
“contradiction” and of “difference”.
contradiction
[kon-truh-dik-shuhn]
1.
the act of contradicting’ gainsaying or opposition
2.
assertion of the contrary or opposite; denial
difference
[dif-er-uh
ns, dif-ruh ns]
1.
the state or relation of being different; dissimilarity
2.
an instance or point of unlikeness or dissimilarity
Now
that we know those definitions, let’s put them into the context of
our question.
There
are two accounts of Jesus’ lineage (Matt. 1 & Luke 1). These
are known as “one of the contradictory passages”.
These
passages show us that there are two different lineages, however –
Jesus only had one earthly parent. How could this be??? This is
a huge contradiction, therefore I won’t believe it!
Why
are there two passages when Jesus had one earthly parent?
Matthew
1 gives us the lineage of Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph.
Luke
1 gives us the lineage of Jesus’ mother, Mary.
See
– not a contradiction … just a difference ;)
The
contradiction would be:
Matthew
1 gives us the lineage of Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph. While
Luke 1 gives the lineage of Jesus’ mother Mary, who conceived Jesus
through Joseph.
A
couple other passages that breed contradiction, are the death
accounts of Judas Iscariot (Matt. 27:5 & Acts 1:18).
Matthew
27:5 tells us that Judas hung himself
Acts
1:18 tells us that Judas fell headlong, and all of his organs gushed
out
Again,
this is not a contradiction … just a difference.
“But
Alisha, these passages are contradictions! They give two different
accounts of Judas’ death!”
Yes
they do, however, let’s put it in a couple different perspectives,
shall we?
1.
Let’s say Judas did hang himself like in Matthew 27:5. And
a couple days, his body decayed, the rope snapped – making him
falling headlong, and causing all of his organs to gush out (just
like in Acts 1:18).
2.
Let’s say Judas attempted to hang himself Matt. 27:5), but
it didn’t work well for him (I would probably chicken out too –
just saying). So instead he fell off a cliff (Acts 1:18).
Does
it really matter how the man died? No it doesn’t! What
matters, is that both accounts say he died (by his own means), and
they named the field he purchased the Field of Blood. How he died is
irrelevant!
The
contradiction to these passages would be:
Matthew
27:5 says he hung himself, while Acts 1:18 says he went and purchased
a field and lived a long life – regretting the betrayal he
displayed towards Jesus.
The
last “contradiction” is a “big one”. It has to do with a
matter of faith, rather than facts.
Paul
tells us three different times in Romans (3:20, 28; 5:1), that our
faith is justified through Christ alone, and not our works. But yet
in James 2:24 Paul tells us that a man is justified through works.
So
which is it?
We
have to look at the context of the word justification in all the
passages.
In
Romans, we see that justification is in regards to standing before
God, while in James 2:24 justification is in regards to standing
before people.
So
yes, our faith isn’t justified through works in order to be saved,
but once we’re saved – we need to be showing the fruits of the
Spirit to those around us.
The
contradiction for these passages would be:
Romans
tells us that we are justified through Christ alone, and that James
would tell us that we need works to get to heaven.
I
could go on and on about the different “contradictions” the Bible
seems to contain, but I won’t.
Instead
of ironing out every single “contradiction” the Bible looks like
it contains, we need to focus on how we can apply it to our lives as
individuals. We need to focus on how we can be the change we want to
see in the world.
It’s
all in how we read Scripture!
We
have to be careful to not presuppose what Scripture is saying in
regards to a particular view, and then try to stuff it into our
preconceived notion. We have to be willing to allow the Holy Spirit
to convict us with Scriptures He wishes to convict us with.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I
hope this post helped some out there, who have wondered why the Bible
“contradicts” itself. I would love to hear your thoughts on this
topic, so be sure to leave a comment below ;)
