Contradictions in the Bible? (Part 1)

Steve Wells, author of The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, claimed that the Bible is “unworthy of belief” because of its numerous contradictions and false prophecies.  He is not alone. Dan Barker, in his book Losing Faith In Faith—From Preacher to Atheist, noted “People who are free of theological bias notice that the bible contains hundreds of discrepancies…. The bible is a flawed book.” Dennis McKinsey wrote The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy, in which he claimed:

“Every analyst of the Bible should realize that the Book is a veritable miasma of contradictions, inconsistencies, inaccuracies, poor science, bad math, inaccurate geography, immoralities, degenerate heroes, false prophecies, boring repetitions, childish superstitions, silly miracles, and dry-as-dust discourse. But contradictions remain the most obvious, the most potent, the most easily proven, and the most common problem to plague the Book.”

Parents and grandparents must realize that one of the ways atheists and skeptics recruit our children is by convincing them the Bible is full of contradictions. Over the next few weeks I want to turn our attention to some of these alleged “discrepancies.” It will become very apparent that with a little research and serious study, every single alleged contradiction can be explained. We need to reassure our children that the Bible can withstand the skeptics’ innocuous charges—indeed, the Bible is inspired.

A good example of an alleged contradiction can be found in 1 Corinthians 15:4-5. Regarding Jesus Paul wrote: “and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.” However, Bible students recognize that in Matthew 27:5 we learn that “He [Judas] threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself” (before Jesus’ resurrection).  And we know that Acts 1:26 informs us that Judas’ replacement came after Jesus ascension into heaven: “He [Matthias] was numbered with the eleven apostles.” So why did Paul say He was seen by twelve when there were only eleven living at the time?

Can this discrepancy be explained? Certainly! Consider for a moment how many teams are in the Big Ten conference. Or how about the actual measurements of a 2 X 4. Those familiar with the Big Ten conference know that there are actually more than 10 teams in that conference. Furthermore, carpenters know that a “2 X 4” does not actually measure 2 X 4. While we recognize these items by descriptive terms, the terms do not accurately define their present numbers. The term for this is prolepsis. It is the assignment of something, such as an event or name, to a time that precedes it. There once was a time that the Big 10 conference had ten teams, and a 2X 4 was precisely that. In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth he was simply referring to the group commonly known as the twelve apostles.

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Secrets About Christian Men and Immodesty

Women’s magazines make a living off of disclosing secrets about women and men. Today, another secret will be revealed that may open the eyes of many Christian women and help arm them with knowledge and empathy.

The refrain we often hear from Christian women who dress immodestly is that men aren’t supposed to be looking anyway because of their commitment to God. This logic is dangerously naive.

When a man becomes a Christian he does not cease to be a man with all the passions and sexual drive God gave him. The desire to look at attractive women is still instilled deep in his being and that will not go away when he exits the baptistery. This makes him a male, not a pervert.

The secret that needs to be revealed, to help Christian women, can also help the guilt of Christian men giving them the power to grow in these matters.

Ladies, Christian men have a love/hate relationship with immodesty.

As fleshly men with inherent passions, they desire women sexually and love attractive, immodest women because sex is on their minds all the time.

In our sex-saturated society, men deserve a respite from immodesty when they are among their sisters in Christ. When women in the kingdom are also immodest, men can’t get away from it. It would be like a woman on a strict diet being surrounded by chocolate every where she went.

While men crave beautiful women, Christian men also hate immodesty because it threatens them spiritually. They know lust is sinful (Matthew 5:27-28; Job 31:1) and they wish all women would dress modestly while desiring otherwise. The conflict can be intense.

Christian women often do not know the battles that men face. The fleshly and the spiritual are in constant warfare for dominance in their hearts. Fleshly men just surrender and indulge whenever possible. Yet, Christian men must keep fighting the dragon. They don’t win all the battles, either, and the wounds can be painful.

When will Christian women understand and empathize? When will they start helping men in their struggles? When will they stop fighting against the hearts of godly men?

Do Christian women love Christian men? If so, please express that love by being modest. The enemy is Satan and if we can help each other go to heaven, it will all be worth it.

by Richard Mansel

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After-Birth Atrocities

There are certain things that you never expect to see during your own lifetime. These are things either so technologically advanced or maybe so insanely godless that you assume they will not be a reality while you still walk this earth. Well, one of those has happened. On February 23, 2012 the Journal of Medical Ethics published an article titled “After-Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?” In this article, the authors want to get rid of the term infanticide and begin using the term after-birth abortion. In the introduction of this article, the authors state: “The authors argue that what we call after-birth abortion (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all cases abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled” [parenthesis in orig.].

While the thought of killing newborns may be something you never thought would happen during your lifetime, consider how desensitized Americans have become to abortion. Will our children and grandchildren become desensitized to the killing of newborn babies? The authors state: “This means that many non-human animals and mentally retarded human individuals are persons, but that all the individuals who are not in the condition of attributing any value to their own existence are not persons. Merely being a human is not in itself a reason for ascribing someone a right to life” (emp. added). Being human is special! Man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), and we possess souls that will go on into eternity.

Why would men suggest we kill innocent babies? The authors declare: “The alleged right of individuals (such as fetuses and newborns) to develop their potentiality, which someone defends, is over-ridden by the interests of actual people (parents, family, society) to pursue their own well-being because, as we have just argued, merely potential people cannot be harmed by not being brought into existence. Actual people’s well-being could be threatened by the new (even if healthy) child requiring energy, money, and care which the family might be in short supply of” [emp. added]. In other words, if the baby is an inconvenience in any way, you should be able to kill it. Consider the words found in Proverbs 6:16, “These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood.”

Currently our children are sitting at the feet of instructors who are teaching that man evolved from ape-like creatures. Textbooks have replaced God with naturalism and humanism. Our nation and courts have tried their best to outlaw and silence Jehovah God. Killing children is just the next logical step for a nation that has no absolute standard for right and wrong. While Christians must stand up and fight the atrocity of killing newborns, we must also rise up and address the root of the problem—the reality that God exists and our nation will not stand without Him. The inspired psalmist stated, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). We need to remind our communities, coworkers, friends and family, “Righteousness exalts a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). It is time we teach our children they were created by God, humble ourselves, and seek Him. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

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Article on Intelligent Design

His name was “Dr. Joe.” He described himself as a medical doctor, a homeopathic physician, a Taoist, and a devout atheist. For three hours he and I debated on three televised segments that aired nation-wide in New Zealand. We discussed a spectrum of topics, such as the existence of God, the inspiration of the Bible, and creation vs. evolutionary. The debate proceeded fairly smoothly and we both enjoyed some laughs as the moderator did his best to keep us on topic.

However, as time passed, Dr. Joe found himself having to answer “I don’t know” more and more frequently. I asked him how he would explain the initial matter in the Universe. He quietly said, “I don’t know where that came from.” I followed that up by asking him to describe how life had evolved from non-life. And again he bowed his head and said “We don’t know the mechanism that led to that step yet.”

I then changed tactics and asked him if he had ever performed surgery. He brightened up and said, “Oh yes, I’ve done many surgeries.” I asked him if he had many opportunities to look inside the human body. By this time he was proudly smiling, and his posture had changed to one of confidence. He proclaimed, “I have looked inside the human body countless times!” I asked calmly if he had seen first-hand the distribution of certain nerves, to which he said: “Of course. I have seen this hundreds of times.” I looked over at my opponent and asked, “Did you notice the design in this plexus of nerves?” His response: “Yes, I’ve seen the design.” At which point I simply smiled…and then he realized what he had admitted. He then tried to cover himself by asserting “But that does not mean there is a Designer.”

But the damage had been done. He knew, just like all of the viewers, that you don’t get a poem without a poet. You don’t get a house without a house builder. And likewise, you don’t get a design without a Designer. The inspired psalmist proclaimed “For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well” (139:13-14). Proverbs 20:12 reminds us, “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.” Psalm 94:9 tells us it was: “He that planted the ear and He that formed the eye.”

Later in the debate the moderator asked if we believed in alien (extraterrestrial) life. Dr. Joe was absolutely sure there must be other life forms out there. I quickly demonstrated his pitiful logic. He had ridiculed me for believing in a God I couldn’t see or allegedly didn’t have proof of. And yet, this man was willing to embrace aliens that he could neither see nor provide proof for. The problem was not the evidence, the problem was his heart.

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Living in the Shadow of Your Father and Your Son — Gleanings from the Life of Isaac

Having moved my studious attention from Abraham to Isaac, I find Isaac to be an intriguing individual. He was not the giant of a hero as his father, of whom we know to be the “father of the faithful.” He lived in the shadow of his father. As the son of a preacher, I understand that quite well. It bothers me not at all to introduce myself as “the son of Glen Willcut.” On the other hand, he also lived in the shadow of his youngest son, Jacob. While the life of Abraham comprises some fourteen chapters of Genesis and the life of Jacob (Israel) comprises almost the latter half of the book of Genesis (with chapters also highlighting his son, Joseph), Isaac literally is caught in the middle. The most we read about his life is in a single chapter—Genesis 26. Overall, we see his birth, his marriage, his life of tending his flock, digging wells and his death. In other words, he lives in the shadow of both his father and his son. Yet, we are able to glean a few rich lessons about his life.

Isaac accepted a wife whom God would choose (Gen. 24). While arranged marriages may still be popular in some cultures and areas, most people do not arrange marriages for their children today. Nevertheless, in the days of Abraham, we find the selection of appropriate brides limited within the land of Canaan. Thus, Abraham took an active part in determining whom Isaac would marry. The best thing going for a young man or woman who desires to marry is godly parents who want to help in a positive way. Abraham loved God and his son, Isaac, too much to allow Isaac to marry the wrong woman. When he sends his servant back to his family, who brings back Rebekah, “Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her” (Gen. 24:67). Isaac only had one wife (cf. Matt. 19:3-9), and he could look back over his life and thank God time and time again for the efforts his father made in arranging his marriage to Rebekah, because overall, he knew that God had a hand in selecting his mate. When Christian singles make the effort during the dating and engagement process to know their future spouse, and when they take the pattern that God has provided for marriage seriously, then I can see no greater application than for Christians to choose carefully Christians in marriage—in this way, we may rest assured that God has had a part in the selection process!

Isaac followed the lifestyle of his father—maybe a bit too closely. In both Genesis 12 (Egypt) and in Genesis 20 (Gerar), Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife so that these respective groups would not kill him. To Abimelech in Gerar, he explains, “And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife” (Gen. 20:12). Thus, Sarah was his half-sister. One can only wonder if Isaac, born in the next chapter, heard of the occasions when this took place, so that when he finds himself as an adult with Rebekah, his wife, in Gerar because of a famine, he makes the same mistake that his father made in deceiving the people about his true relationship with his wife. Nevertheless, Rebekah was the daughter of his cousin, Bethuel, (which would equate to her being his second cousin) and not his half-sister, much less his sister at all. One has heard the expression, “Like father, like son,” and as fathers, we should understand the importance of relaying our values and character down to our sons. They will pick up our bad habits as well as our instructions. This is why we have the great responsibility of teaching, training and disciplining our children (Eph. 6:4).

Isaac was concerned about carrying on the legacy of his father. It is of great interest that he dug again the wells that his father once created after the Philistines filled them with dirt (Gen. 26:15-18). Once he spent the time and effort of keeping alive what his father had done, he made sure that he called them by the same names as his father. What a wonderful portrait of extenuating that which is valuable from one generation to another. He never wavered with the thought, “Well, that is what my Dad did, but I could care less, because I am my own man.” Oh no, if it was important to his father, then he knew it should be important to him. This is what every home should strive to do also—relay values from one generation to the next!

These are just a handful of lessons we may glean from this obscure man. Nevertheless, we may benefit richly from his life and example. The church may have her members who are as Abraham or Jacob, but God also needs Christians who are as Isaac. One may not know us for our great accomplishments, but we can still do what God wants us to do, just as Isaac demonstrates. The greatest mistake in life is to do nothing. Isaac did what he could, and thus we see his name immortalized, nestled with the shadow of his father and son–“The God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob” (Acts 3:13).

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