Bible Difficulties 2 (Continued)

Bible Difficulties – Contradictions

Probably the most common accusation against the Bible is that it contradicts itself.  First, though, let’s look briefly at what a contradiction is.  A contradiction, for our purpose, is when one statement says one thing that logically excludes another.  For instance, to say Arizona became a state in 1912 and to say that Arizona did not become a state in 1912 are contradictions.  To say Arizona sits next to California and to say Arizona sits next to New Mexico might seem, at first, to be a contradiction, but it isn’t.

Matthew 8:28 (ESV)
²⁸  And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.

Mark 5:1-2 (ESV)
¹  They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.
²  And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

Are these two passages contradictory?  No.  If I were to say I saw Bill and Trisha at church Sunday, would you think only three people were in church, Bill, Trisha, and I?  Of course not.  Pill and Trisha are the subject of my statement.  Likewise, there were at least two, perhaps more, demon-possessed men who came out to meet Jesus.  Mark is just interested in telling the story of one of them an mentions only him.

The following “contradiction” was taken from the American Atheists website:

Incest

Genesis 20:11-12 (ESV)
¹¹  Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
¹²  Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.

Genesis 17:15-16 (ESV)
¹⁵  And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
¹⁶  I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

 Deuteronomy 27:22 (ESV)
²²  “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

So, isn’t this a contradiction?  Abraham married his half sister, and God blessed it even though it is forbidden in Deuteronomy.  The answer to this is that Abraham was not under the Mosaic Law.  The Law wasn’t given to Moses until hundreds of years later.  Many theologians I’ve read believe this is because Abraham and Sarah were still close enough to Adam and Eve that their genes had not been corrupted enough to cause birth defects.  By the time of Moses, this may no longer have been true, so God warned His people that this was no longer appropriate.

In upcoming blogs, we’ll take the difficulties listed on the American Atheists site and address them.  They are some of the more common objections to the Bible’s reliability, and are actually intelligently presented.