The quick answer is “no.” Let’s define a couple of terms, “Contradictory” and “Contrary.” Two things contradict if they cannot both be true. “The Bible says, Jesus loves me,” and “The Bible does not say, Jesus loves me,” are contradictory statements. “I was in California today,” and “I was in Arizona today,” are contrary statements, they may seem contradictory, but they can both be true.
So, when we read Mary Magdalene went to the tomb ((John 20:1) but elsewhere that more than one woman went to the tomb (Mark 16:1) there isn’t a contradiction here anymore than saying, “I saw John at the fair yesterday,” and someone else saying, “I saw John, Mary, and their kids at the fair yesterday.” It’s the same thing with the number of possessed men. There are two mentioned in Matthew 8:28-34 but only one mentioned in Mark 5:1-20. This seems to be contradictory but is only contrary. Both can be true, just one of the possessed was the important one in the story.
No contradictions appear in the passages mentioned. There are other passages where we do see what appears to be contradictions such as Gen. 22:2 where Scripture says Abraham had only one son. Yet, in Gen. 25:6, Scripture says he had more than one. The answer here is similar to that of the passages above. One son alone is of the line to the Messiah. One son, Isaac, was the only son of Sarah. Between Gen. 22:2 and Gen. 25:6, we are told Abraham had other children through Keturah (Gen. 25:1). So, yes Abraham had more than one son.
This is similar to the old question, “If Adam and Eve had just Cain and Able, where did Cain’s wife come from? Geographically, it appears Cain’s wife came from the land of Nod. But, that’s not the question. Cain married one of his sisters (Gen. 5:3-4). Then the question of incest comes up. But, incest was not outlawed until the Mosaic Law (Lev. 18:6-18). No reason is given why the change, but it’s hard to reproduce if you are forbidden to do so through family members when that is the only option. It may also be that the gene pool was not corrupt enough to cause problems until the time of Moses.
Both the “Cain’s wife” problem and the “Abraham’s sons” problem are simple problems of ignorance. Those who pose the problem simply haven’t read the Scriptures concerning these “contradictions.”
As usual, an expanded version of this post can be found in the menu under “Can I Trust My Bible?
Also, Alleged Descrepancies of the Bible is recommended to help answer questions like these. A link to this book on Amazon can be found under “Recommended Books,” also in the menu.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 