Bible Difficulties Part II – Answering Supposed Contradictions (Continued)

These are supposed contradictions taken from the American Atheists website.  We’re addressing these because Scripture says we are to earnestly contend for the faith.  Here are answers to tough questions about the Bible.

Jude 1:3 (ESV)  Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

———————————————————————————-

The Sabbath Day

Exodus 20:8 (ESV)
⁸  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Romans 14:5 (ESV)
⁵  One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

So, the problem here is that Christians are no longer under the Law of Moses:

Romans 7:6 (ESV)
⁶  But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

So, this is just a difference in How God relates to His people.  God used the Law to govern His people.  Now we have been released from the Law and are under grace.

————————————————————————-

Will the Earth Last Forever?

Ecclesiastes 1:4 (ESV)
⁴  A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

 

2 Peter 3:10 (ESV)
¹⁰  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

 

A Couple of points here.  First is that Ecclesiastes is written by Solomon, a man who had every earthly pleasure available to him but saw it as empty and futile (vs. 1:2).  So, be careful of what is quoted from Ecclesiastes.  It is Scripture, of course, but written from a human perspective.

What the real problem here in Ecclesiastes is the Hebrew word translated “forever,” Olam.  Olam means a long period of time which can sometimes be, “forever” but can also be translated as “Long ago,” (Ps. 77:5), “enduring” (Eccl. 2:16), and even just as “Long Time,” (Isa 42:14).

So, we see no real contradiction here except, perhaps, in the English translation.  In the Greek and Hebrew, there is no contradiction.