Alleged Bible Contradictions #1

(This appeared in the 1/17/10 church bulletin. This will be the first in a series.)

"How can you possibly believe the Bible? Everybody knows it's full of contradictions." This is what you always hear when discussion the Bible with unbelievers. Countless self-described "infidels" have propagated lists of over one hundred pairs of verses which they claim are contradictory, and thus are evidence that the Bible is a work of men and should be ignored. Many people have blindly accepted the notion that there are contradictions in the Bible because they have heard it so often; these people are guilty of the same thing of which they accuse others. Psychologist William James said, "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it."

Are there difficult passages in the Bible? Nobody will deny that; even Peter said that some things that Paul wrote were "hard to be understood" (2 Peter 3:16). However, there is a great difference between "difficult" and "contradictory." For there to actually be a contradiction, there would need to be two passages that could not be reconciled together. If there is a possible explanation, then there is no contradiction. Occasionally, there may be several possible explanations; we do not need to prove which is the correct explanation to show that there is not a contradiction.

1. God is satisfied with his works. Gen 1:31
God is dissatisfied with his works. Gen 6:6

This is a typical infidel attack. God was pleased with His creation after He created it flawless. Hundreds of years later, the great majority of the world's population had turned wicked, and He was no longer pleased. Few would consider this a true contradiction, unless they were already biased against the Bible.

2. God dwells in chosen temples 2 Chron 7:12,16
God dwells not in temples Acts 7:48

There is nothing in 2 Chronicles 7 that says that God would dwell in the temple. Rather, it was to be a house of sacrifice, a place for the people to come and worship. This was for their sakes, not for God's. This is contrasted with the pagan gods, who were thought to physically live in the temples, and needed their followers to feed them and provide for them.