In short, the attempts at resolutions of these contradictions cloak an effort to “mine”
truth from the Bible, an effort to interpret Biblical verses correctly. My hope is that this article will not only help you to make conclusions about the Bible’s inerrancy, but also encourage you to discover what you consider to be valid and invalid Biblical interpretations.
However, before we launch into the actual reply, there are several points worth mentioning.
First, it would be prudent to speak of the burden of proof. It’s a general rule in philosophy that she who proposes must explain and defend. If someone says that “X exists,” the burden is on her to provide a case for the existence of X. The burden is not on the one who denies that X exists. For how can one prove a negative?
In this case, it is the critic who proposes. He claims that the Bible is “full of contradictions,” and often proposes a lengthy list such as the one we are about to respond to below. Now, as Christians, we cannot prove that something is NOT a contradiction (i.e., one cannot prove that X [contradictions] do not exist). Instead, all that is required of us is to come up with plausible or reasonable, even possible explanations so that what is purported to be a contradiction is not
necessarily a contradiction. Whether or not our explanation is the “true one” is not all that relevant in such contexts.
This is important. What is really relevant is whether our explanations show that the point of contention is not necessarily a contradiction. If we succeed
, then the critic’s assertion that “X and Y are contradictory” is no longer an obvious truth, instead it becomes merely a belief that someone holds.
A popular mistake is to take things out of context. It is easy to “create contradictions” when there are none by violating the context of the passage(s) in question.
More significant, though less mentioned, is
violating the context of belief. Christian understanding is a synthesis of many beliefs, and Biblical teachings are often interpreted through this background belief which has been synthesized. Such a synthesis may include other facts, not directly related to the contradiction in question, but nevertheless, relevant. When the critic proposes a contradiction, he ought to do so within the context of this background belief. By failing to do this, he merely imposes alien concepts into the text as if they belong. This error is common when the critic tries to cite contradictions related to doctrine or beliefs about the nature of God. For example, orthodox Christians believe in the Trinity. One could argue about this concept elsewhere, but trying to impose contradictions by ignoring Trinitarian belief violates the context provided by the Christian’s background belief.
Or consider a mundane example. Say that Joe is recorded as saying that Sam is not his son. But elsewhere, he is recorded as saying that Sam is his son. An obvious contradiction, right? But what if one’s background belief about Joe and Sam includes the belief that Sam is Joe’s adopted son? By ignoring the context this belief provides, one perceives contradictions where there are none.
The critic sometimes assumes that the Biblical accounts are exhaustive in all details and intended to be precise. This is rarely the case. As such, the critic builds on a faulty assumption and perceives contradictions where none exist.
Also related to the context problem: Let’s say that the only records of Joe speaking about Sam are the two cases where he affirms and denies that Sam is his son. Certainly Joe said many other things in his life, but they were not recorded — including the
fact that he adopted a boy and named him Sam.
Another real-life case concerns a newspaper report which lists the time of birth of twin babies. The first was born at 1:40 AM, and
second was born at 1:10 AM. If this account did not have the added detail that the birth occurred the during the night in which Daylight
Savings ended, it would
appear to be a real contradiction/error. You have to know the whole story, or at least have a plausible explanation.
Since the accounts in the Bible are rarely intended as exhaustive and precise descriptions, it would be prudent to see if differing accounts complement, rather than contradict one another.
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