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Bible Contradictions

Answering Some Apparent Contradictions in the Bible

Some opponents of Christianity take delight in exposing what they perceive to be "contradictions" in the Bible. There has been a strong attack on the Bible going on for centuries now. Some go as far as to say that the Bible is the most harmful book ever written.

There are many alleged contradictions. One book which deals with many of these is "Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible" by John W. Haley.

For now, let us consider some of these so-called contradictions that are raised by intelligent opponents of Christianity, and see how difficult they are to resolve. If they are not all that difficult to resolve, then why are they proposed? Could it not be that the true motivation of these attacks is something far more sinister than the apparently noble objective of debunking error and superstition?

THE PROBLEM OF THE GENEALOGY - this is a favorite one of muslims to attack the credibility of the gospels. One of the best answers to this problem I found HERE. Please let me know if this link ever gets moved, as it doesn't have its own domain name.

Rationalchristianity.net - A Catalog of Answers to Bible Objections.

A Couple Apparent Bible Contradictions

In the Words of Jesus

(1) "If I bear witness of myself, My witness is not true." (John 5:31) (NKJV)

(2) Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I come from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going." (John 8:14) (NKJV)

These two verses appear to form a logical contradiction.

Evaluating these statements as a purely binary logical propositions, where A means "I bear witness of myself" and B means "My testimony is true", we have (A->~B^A->B) eq (~Av~B)^(~AvB) eq ~Av(B^~B) eq ~A. Then both of Jesus' statements would be logically true if and only if Jesus is not bearing witness of Himself. But it seems that Jesus is talking about who He is, hence the apparent contradiction.

But first we need to see what Jesus probably meant in each of these situations by "bearing witness of Himself" in the context in which he said it.

Statement (1) occurs in the context of Jesus defending His relationship with the Father (God). A few verses earlier, in the same passage, Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." (vs. 19). In the verse before statement (1), vs 30, Jesus says, "I can do nothing of Myself."

Jesus is obviously not saying that if He says something about Himself then He is telling a lie.

In that passage Jesus makes many other outstanding claims about who He is and how important it is to believe in Him. So it is not unreasonable to interpret Jesus' statement (1) as:

"If I am making all these claims about myself simply 'of myself' or because it is my own idea - if the Father is not speaking through me in these claims - then what I am saying isn't true." But Jesus has just claimed that everything He says and does is "of the Father". He is saying that the Father is speaking through Him, telling the hearers who Jesus is.

Statement (2) - "Even if I bear witness of Myself, my witness is true" in John 8:14 is in a different context. Here the Pharisees have just said, "You bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not true." The Pharisees have possibly misunderstood Jesus' earlier statement in John 5, and are trying to use it against Him to discredit Him. But the Pharisees have not understood what Jesus meant in John 5:17 about "of Himself". The Pharisees are thinking in terms of the need in Jewish law for more than one witness to establish a fact. Jesus' reply can be interpreted fairly as follows.

"Even if I talk about who I am, what I am saying is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don't know these things."

Jesus is saying he is better qualified to say who He is than the Pharisees are. He is not saying that He is the only witness to His authority. But He is saying He knows more about Himself than the Pharisees know about Him, and is therefore more qualified to talk about Himself. He says that the Father bears witness to Him. He says that John the Baptist bore witness to Him, the miracles He does bear witness and that even the Father does (John 5:32-37). Thus Jesus is not just some crazy fanatic that has made outrageous claims for himself with no real supporting evidence.

The contradiction thus vanishes because the phrase "If I bear witness of Myself" has different meanings in the different passages. In John 5:31, Jesus is not bearing witness of Himself - or with no Divine inspiration. In John 8:14, Jesus is not the only one saying who He is. There is no contradiction, and one should look to the evidence to consider this all-important question, "Is Jesus really who He claimed to be?"

Does God repent?

"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19) (NKJV)

And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (Gen. 6:6 KJV) And the LORD repented [Heb: nacham] of the evil [ra] which he thought to do unto his people. (Exod. 32:14 KJV) Who knoweth if He [God] will turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him? (Joel 2:14 KJV)

ANSWER

"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent [nacham]. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19) (NKJV)

This apparent contradiction comes out most strongly in the King James version of the Bible. In the New King James, for example, Genesis 6:6 says, "The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.". Again, the word translated "repent" in Joel 2:14 is translated as "relent" in the NKJV.

The word in the Hebrew is the same in all cases however. Thayer's dictionary gives the following information on the word nacham in Hebrew.

05162 nacham {naw-kham'}
a primitive root; TWOT - 1344; v
AV - comfort 57, repent 41, comforter 9, ease 1; 108

1) to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted
1a) (Niphal)
1a1) to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion
1a2) to be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent
1a3) to comfort oneself, be comforted
1a4) to comfort oneself, ease oneself
1b) (Piel) to comfort, console
1c) (Pual) to be comforted, be consoled
1d) (Hithpael)
1d1) to be sorry, have compassion
1d2) to rue, repent of
1d3) to comfort oneself, be comforted
1d4) to ease oneself

The fact is, ancient Biblical Hebrew had few words and some words had a variety of meanings. There is a range of meaning for "nacham". The Lord is sorry about some things, under certain conditions the Lord relents from doing some things he thinks about doing to punish, but the Lord is not unstable, double-minded, saying one thing and doing the other.

So in Numbers 23:19 we see that God doesn't change his purpose like an unstable man. However, it is a principle that changes in man's basic attitude towards God can occasion God to change what He will do in the case of that person or nation. If we repent of our evil-doing, God may relent from some of the judgments he intended to send on us. If not, God's judgments will certainly stand. "Nacham" can sometimes mean regret, other times it can mean change of action.

To find out what the words of the Bible mean in each of these passages again you have to look at the context. God is not saying one thing and doing another. Yet some of his judgments and blessings are conditional upon our obedience or lack of it.

The fact that God says

"And [at what] instant I shall speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant [it]; 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." (Jeremiah 18:9 KJV).

does not contradict the affirmation of God's integrity in Numbers 23:19.

You are referred to some of the references above if you wish to pursue this enquiry further. A lot of time has been spent in arguments along this line, and I don't believe I have too much to add to them.

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