Bible Contradictions – Faith Founded on Fact

When most people decide something isn’t for them, they simply set it aside and move on. But when somebody said they left Christianity because of Bible verses that contradict each other –and they wrote about it online- I just had to check it out and see if it makes any sense. What if he knows something I don’t know? I mean, wouldn’t you want to know if he’s right? So when I saw this list of 30 pairs of "conflicting Bible verses," I naturally had to take a closer look. What if the guy’s wrong? Wouldn’t it be sad and tragic if he made a life-changing decision to leave Christianity based on the wrong information? Then, does the Bible contradict itself? This question is on a lot of people’s minds these days. Well, I’ve been debunking Bible contradictions for a while now, and I think maybe I’ve got a few things figured out. But this one could be different. Let’s take a look at the first 10 verses in a row. If he’s right about just one out of these first ten verses, I’ll have to look at all 30. But if it’s possible to reconcile the first ten-in-a-row, I think he will have to admit he’s confused. Deal? OK. Let’s do this. *** But first, check out his introduction. Here’s what he says: Here’s a pair of verses that are completely incompatible: And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. —Luke 12:10 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. —Romans 10:13 So let’s talk about these two verses: Luke 12:10 and Romans 10:13. This author doesn’t know that you can’t just pull Bible verses and compare them without understanding the context. The verse from Luke is about a person who has totally rejected God’s love to the point of committing the Unforgivable Sin –also known as the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What this verse is telling us is that God’s mercy is so deep that he will put up with people saying all kinds of bad things to and about God and after it all God will still forgive. But there is a point where people take that last step of defiance where they utterly and completely reject God’s forgiveness. They say –in essence “I don’t need you, God. I am totally self-sufficient and I do not need your forgiveness.” This is the person who has passed the threshold into blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and crossed a dangerous line. But until that point, (Romans 10:13) God is holding his hand out to them, saying “whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” So these Bible verses –along with the verses that follow- are just fine together when understood in context. And context has long been recognized by Bible scholars as of great importance when interpreting the Bible. But people who claim the Bible is full of contradictions seldom make any attempt to meet the Bible on its own terms. This is why they make such embarrassing errors. *** Here’s the first pair of “Bible verses that contradict each other.” Let’s read them together and consider the logic: And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. —Luke 12:10 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. —Romans 10:13 Unfortunately, this author simply does not give us an explanation of why he put these two verses together. So we have to assume –since he used bold letters- that he is comparing Luke 12:10 to Romans 10:13. But he makes a critical error, because he simply does not know and understand the Word of God. There are many sins people commit. But only one is known as the Unforgivable Sin In a nutshell, the Unforgivable Sin is the total, complete (and usually repeated) rejection of Jesus Christ, and here is where you can read my whole post about the Unforgivable Sin. A person who has committed the Unforgivable Sin (also known as the Unpardonable Sin) is the same person who refuses to call upon the Lord and be saved. So these two verses go together for sure. This poor guy has no idea what he’s talking about. So do these Bible verses contradict each other? No Way. Not even close. Next! It turns out that was just a warm-up. So the meter isn’t even running yet. Here’s where he gets a little more interesting. But while he gets more interesting, his errors of logic get even more serious. Take a look: 1. Thou shalt not kill. —Exodus 20:13 Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side. and slay every man his brother…companion…neighbor. —Exodus 32:27 Unfortunately, this guy doesn’t tell us why he put these two verses together. We just have to guess. Maybe it’s because Exodus 20:13 is quoting the 5th commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” And the verse from Exodus 32:27 talks about slaying which is killing. And it isn’t random slaying. It’s slaying… brother…companion…neighbor. Could this be a problem? Yes. For him. Because the verse that belongs with Exodus 20:13 (Thou shalt not kill) –in this context- should be considered with a totally different verse: Deuteronomy 13:6-11 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace[a] or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods…..You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you. (Emphasis added) Do you see how much more sense it makes now? Our friend failed to match the verse with the other verse that explains it perfectly. The penalty for worshipping other gods was death. God told his people the consequences beforehand. They knew perfectly well what the penalty was for worshipping false gods –but some of them did so anyway. If you’re interested in studying it deeper, see David Guzik’s online Bible commentary here. Are you wondering why it’s so easy to resolve apparent Bible contradictions? Just go and take a look at “The Big Book of Bible Difficulties” (Amazon link) by Norm Geisler and Thomas Howe. These contemporary Bible scholars catalogued many different aspects of the Bible that can confuse people. They show many resolutions of Bible difficulties that have been noticed through the centuries. The overwhelming majority of Bible difficulties have been fully resolved. Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. 2. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. —Revelation 8:7 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. —Revelation 9:4 Apparently –by the bold letters- he doesn’t like the grass burning first and then not burning. And we can infer it’s because Revelation 8:7 says the grass was all burnt up and Revelation 9:4 says they were commanded to not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing. Let’s look at the passages and see what he’s got up his sleeve. Revelation 8:1-9:21 is a section in the Bible called the Seven Trumpet Judgments. It’s a time during the Great Tribulation when God judges the earth by sending Seven Angels. These Seven Angels blow Seven Trumpets. The first angel –in Rev 8:7 that this writer is asking about- has a mission. And that mission is just what we read about in that verse –to burn up the grass- among other things. The verse in Rev 9:4 has to do with the scorpions released by the 5th angel onto the earth to torment men who have rejected Jesus Christ. This 5th angel appears on the scene after the pause in verse 13, so by now the grass from Rev 8:7 has likely grown back. So we have two different angels and two different judgments. It makes total sense. All this guy’s gotta do is read the book of Revelation. Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. 3. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. —Proverbs 12:22 The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. —I Kings 22:23 Let’s take a look at his third supposed contradiction above. Proverbs 12:22 is correct. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. What about 1 Kings 22:23 then? First of all, this author has not quoted ALL OF verse 23. And he didn’t give the context from the verses before it. So he’s trying to create moral contradictions in the Bible where none exist. And he uses a false pretense by not quoting the entire verse in 1 Kings 22:23. When people are totally against God and they display their contempt for God repeatedly, he will finally go along with it and say “now you can have it your way.” And he lets them experience the pain that goes with the corrupt ways they’ve chosen. God’s done trying to get them to change. God also did this with Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. Here he’s doing it with Ahab. A demon volunteers for the mission in verse 21. When the context is known, it all clears up. Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. Bible scholars discovered centuries ago that there were some things about the Bible that require effort to discern. They even catalogued these things in a book. It’s called “The Big Book of Bible Difficulties” by Norm Geisler and Thomas Howe and you can take a look at it on Amazon by clicking this link. 4. And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month…Nebuzaradan…came…unto Jerusalem… —2 Kings 25:8 …in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month…came Nebuzaradan…into Jerusalem… —Jeremiah 52:12 Here we have a discrepancy in the dates of the same event. In 2 Kings 25:8 it says it was the 7th day of the month, and in Jeremiah 52:12 it says it occurred on the 10th day of the same month. As accurate as the Bible is, this is not the only error of this kind, which is very likely a copyist error that may have happened hundreds of years after these books were first written. Here are a few points to consider: The Bible was written many centuries before the invention of printing press.Scrolls wore out and the replacement scrolls had to be laboriously copied by hand. What’s amazing after all this time is how few scribal errors there are.In a book the size of the Bible, there are just a few scribal errors. And they are correctible! And after centuries upon centuries of study and analysis, scholars have found no errors that changed any doctrine of the Bible.You can be 100% confident in the Bible as the true word of the Living God. Here’s where I wrote about a similar discrepancy. Another possibility is that Nebuzaradan entered Jerusalem twice. He could have entered Jerusalem on both the 7th and 10th days of the month, though we have no other record of that. Skeptics like this author love to look for things like this. And they have found a few. Almost all of them have a great explanation. The Bible is still an amazingly dependable document. So here are some questions for the author of the post: “What major (or even minor) Christian doctrine is affected –or changed- by this discrepancy? So what if Nebuzaradan’s entry was on the 7th day of the month or the 10th day of the month? If you ask, all you hear is crickets, because copyist error is not a contradiction. Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. 5. For by grace are ye saved through faith…not of works. —Ephesians 2:8,9 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. —James 2:24 The point our contradictionist friend seems to be making here is that the verse from Ephesians 2 seems to downplay works and the verse from James upholds works. The bold letters are his. As before, context is everything. All you have to do is look at the other words around “works.” The subject of Ephesians 2:8-9 is salvation. The subject of James 2:24 is justification. That’s two different subjects. Here’s the simple way to explain it. When God saves us, it is not by our works. Our works cannot save us. If we depend on works to save us, God views them as filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10) But once we are truly saved, our hearts are changed. We willingly and lovingly do works –not to get saved- but because we are now already saved. Our works are the evidence that we have accepted the free offer of salvation from a loving and righteous God. Now we can have confidence in the day of judgment (1 John 4:17) Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. 6. Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. —2 Kings 24:8 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem… —2 Chronicles 36:9 This one is easy. I already wrote about it at this link to List of the Biggest Contradictions in the Bible, where you can see many other supposed Bible contradictions debunked. A copyist error is not a contradiction. And this is a variation, not a contradiction. And if you’ve got any kind of Bible with study notes, it tells you all about it right on the same page. If this guy was previously a Christian as he said, why didn't he look up these verses in his study Bible and read the notes right there? Scholars figured this one out a long, long time ago. Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. 7. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy…and they shall be your possession…they shall be your bondmen forever. —Leviticus 25:45-46 Undo the heavy burdens…let the oppressed go free,…break every yoke. —Isaiah 58:6 Slavery was a fact of life in the ancient world. And let’s not fool ourselves. Slavery is a fact in the modern world, too. And who is in the vanguard of freeing the slaves today? That would be the Christian. The same Christian that freed the slaves in Great Britain was the same who fought a war to free the slaves in America. Christians -above all other people, fully understand that the meaning of life comes from the Creator. And they know that the Creator’s love is for all people. In the ancient world it was normal for someone in a position of life-threatening poverty to sell themselves into slavery just so they would have enough food to eat. And you can read about it here. That’s just the way it was everywhere. Food security wasn’t a thing back then. As for the Isaiah verse, it’s a totally different context. It’s about fasting and worship and how freedom comes from worship of the One who delivers. The One True God had delivered the Israelites from 400 years of Egyptian slavery. But the people were already forgetting where their freedom had come from. Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. 8. For I am the Lord; I change not. —Malachi 3:6 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. —Exodus 32:14 This pair of verses has caused quite a bit of discussion through the years. The questions have come both from believers and unbelievers. It’s only natural to ask for a resolution. The verse from Exodus is quoted in the King James Version, which expresses things in a way that isn’t so easy for the modern reader to understand. Let’s see how it looks in a translation that is more up-to-date: And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. Exodus 32:14, ESV (emphasis added) The Lord God is a compassionate God. When he saw the repentant heart of Moses who had prayed to him, he relented. Years later, God did the same thing for the wicked people of Ninevah. The prophet Jonah went there to declare judgment on Ninevah, but when they repented from their wickedness, the God of mercy relented then, too. Sadly, Bible contradictionists will blame God when he judges and then again they blame God for when he withholds judgment. You can never satisfy somebody who’s determined to fight God. Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. 9. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. —Exodus 20:5 The Lord is good to all. —Psalms 145:9 I already covered this supposed contradiction in another post. Sadly, contradictionists cite this verse from Exodus 20:5 quite often, and every time I see them do it, they leave off the last part of the verse. Why? Well, it’s probably because they know that if they included the whole thing it would disprove their false argument. You can see my complete response here. Unlike the contradictionist, when I get to Exodus 20:5, I quote the entire verse. Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. 10. No man hath seen God at any time. —John 1:18 For I have seen God face to face. —Genesis 32:30 When I see this pair of verses, I totally understand why somebody would have this question. But why didn’t he try to find the answer before revealing his ignorance to the whole world? How embarrassing. It’s not that hard to find the answer if you’ve got a copy of “The Big Book of Bible Difficulties” (Amazon link) by Geisler and Howe. See pages 403-404. Here’s how to resolve this difficulty: No man can see God in this current, natural life. Mortal man isn’t suited for seeing God face-to-face. But for those of us who put our trust in him, we are beautifully able to see God in the life to come (1Cor 13:12, Rev 22:4). Verdict: Not a Contradiction. Not even close. *** It’s time to revisit this question now that you’ve read almost all the way to the end. Is the Bible full of contradictions? Is it really? Absolutely not! Now that you know the truth about these supposed Bible verses that contradict each other, feel free to read the original article the contradictionist wrote at the link above. Also read these other articles and see how easy it is to refute the false claims of Bible Contradictionists: List of the Biggest Contradictions in the Bible Irrefutable Contradictions in the Bible [REFUTED] Bible Contradictions Chart [BAD DAY FOR ATHEISTS] [ANSWERING] Bible Contradictions That Cannot Be Answered At the beginning of this post, I said if I could resolve the first 10-in-a-row of supposed Bible verses, it would be a sufficient response to prove the falsehood of the original claims. Well, QED. If you consider the odds of flipping a coin and and having it land on "heads" ten-times-in-row, you know the false claims of the Contradictionist weren't resolved by chance. One other thing we can all learn by this: If somebody tells you they are a former Christian and they write something to “expose” contradictions or some other claims against Christianity, you are being played. How could any sincere person say this when the evidence to the contrary is this easy to find? Is your Faith Founded on Fact? Have you decided to follow Jesus?