Collections of interactions with another individual online:
Laura: the fact that so much literature is devoted to the need to 'reconcile' difficult things in the Bible is an implicit admission that there are contradictions in the Bible, otherwise there'd be nothing to reconcile.
Steve: Point well taken, yet, have you never had to 'reconcile' two statements you made that people misunderstood as contradictory? I think you reach too much when you make that point. I am perfectly okay with you saying "I choose to interpret these passages in ways that make them contradict each other." That is your perogative.
I think, however, it is only fair to give a little bit more than a cursory read to a document that is separated from us by 2,000 years of cultural change and several languages.
Laura: I'd call 17 years of Bible study more than a cursory read…anyway I would say it's also only fair to note that across the internet, arguments between Christians who are very familiar with the Bible, over what the Bible teaches, are alive and well. And once I realized I didn't have to believe the Bible couldn't contradict itself, it became very clear to me that the reason these debates go on and on unresolved is that each side uses different verses to support their case and the verses contradict each other. Ironically, since both sides firmly believe the Bible cannot contradict itself (even though their debate rather demonstrates that it does), their solution is to label their own verses as 'key' texts; then they write off the other side's verses as less key than theirs and/or able to be explained away by the context, or whatever.
I've watched this for years; it's real; it's happening and to me it is very strong evidence the Bible does in fact contradict itself.
Steve: …and shouldn't that be the goal? Trying to understand what the author was trying to say?
Laura: Steve, if you are convinced there is one author, who spoke through many others, somehow never contradicting himself, then you have forced your goal to be "explaining away contradictions" rather than taking each piece of writing at face value.
Yes, I think we should try to understand what the author wanted to say and if two authors disagree let's accept that they do.
Our positions are not equivalent; yours is a faith position, based on the belief that the Bible does not contradict itself. Like all people who believe this, you make every effort to resolve apparent 'contradictions' other people claim to have found.
My position is not based on faith. It's based on the observation that if the Bible was clear and non-contradictory, Christians who all say they believe it would not have unresolvable debates over what it says. If all the disagreeing Christians came to agreement today, I'd change my opinion.
Like David, I find that most lists of contradictions have some trivial ones on. I'm happy to set those aside as unimportant. The ones which concern me have to do with the core beliefs of Christians.
Oh, I just thought of another one: does the Bible teach that Jesus is God? That has never been resolved. Historical orthodox Christianity is based on the conviction that the Bible teaches he is God. However, considering how vital this belief is, the Bible is amazingly vague (imo) about it. The proofs are relatively indirect, given its centrality as a doctrine. The Jehovah's Witnesses strongly argue that Jesus is not God. They have their own translation but - in regard to anything related to this issue, the only difference is that they added the word 'a' to one verse! And besides, people who use the same Bible have argued throughout church history that it teaches Jesus is the Son of God, but not God.
Each of these arguments over fundamentals of the faith is easily explained if we are allowed to say the Bible is remarkably unclear about key doctrines of the faith and/or it contradicts itself.
All other explanations rely on one 'side' having superior insight to the other. I don't see any reason to think that's the case, since in my experience each side has smart honest people on it. It's not like you could do an IQ or holiness test and find all the high numbers on one side and all the low ones on the other.
That the Bible is written by different people, in different times and places, by people with different perspectives and different styles of communication explains why there are contradictions/discrepancies.
What I cannot 'reconcile' with a belief that the Bible is God's inspired word and that we are to receive direction from it, is why it would be so easily open to interpretation (let's leave out the word 'contradictions' here, since we do not agree on the meaning of that word)? Humans are fallible, but your Christian God is not. Why was he not more clear?
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