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"You Can't Trust the Bible! It's Full of
Contradictions!"
It is a popular view
these days. Many people have the impression that the
Bible is simply an outdated book of fairytales and
contradictions. I have been told that biblical stories
are fine for children, and perhaps they even contain
some moral value. “But, surely” says the critic, “such
stories cannot be taken seriously in our modern age of
science and technology.”
After all, the Bible
speaks of floating ax-heads, the sun apparently going
backwards, a universe created in six days, an earth that
has pillars and corners, people walking on water, light
before the sun, a talking snake, a talking donkey,
dragons, and a senior citizen taking two of every animal
on a big boat! On the surface, these things may seem
absurd, particularly to those unfamiliar with a biblical
worldview. But to make matters even worse, it is
alleged that the Bible contains contradictions.
That is, the Bible seems to say one thing in one place,
and then the opposite in another. Which are we to
believe? Obviously, two contradictory statements cannot
both be true.
While we might come to
accept many of the peculiar claims of Scripture, a
genuine contradiction cannot be true even in
principle. It is not possible to have a sunny
night, a married bachelor, dry water, a true falsehood,
and so on. Thus, the claim that the Bible contains
contradictions is a serious challenge indeed. For if
the Bible has even one real contradiction, then it
cannot be completely true. Yet the true believer
asserts that the Bible is the Word of God and without
error. The claim of contradictions is a serious
allegation against the Christian worldview, and we must
be prepared to defend the Bible against such claims.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:
and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear:
Peter 3:15 KJV ER
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Did Abel Break God' Law?
Was Abel
eating meat soon after the curse when he was not supposed to be (Genesis
1:29), since he kept the flocks and sacrificed an animal in Genesis
4:2–4?
This
supposed contradiction comes from assuming Abel was doing something that
Scripture does not say he was. The relevant passages are:
And God said, Behold, I
have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all
the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Genesis 1:29 KJV ER
And she again bare his
brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of
the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord. And Abel, he also
brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the
Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering:
Genesis 4:2-4 KJV ER
Those
assuming this is a contradiction are assuming that Abel, who was
commanded by God to be vegetarian, was eating the meat from his
sacrifice. Matthew indicates that Abel was righteous and therefore was
surely not being disobedient to God’s command in Genesis 1:29 to be
vegetarian.
That upon you may come
all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous
Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between
the temple and the altar.
Matthew 23:35 KJV ER
So,
there is no reason to assume that Abel was eating any of the meat,
and consequently, there is no contradiction.
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What was the Post-Flood
World Like?
The
Flood of Noah’s day was the greatest catastrophe in earth history, and
it involved much more than rain. It reshaped the surface of the earth,
spawning massive volcanoes and earthquakes that dwarf anything observed
in modern times. Such a tremendous catastrophe would have radically
altered the earth’s climate, resulting in an Ice Age.
In
general terms, an “ice age” is a time of extensive glacial activity that
covers a relatively large area with ice. During the Ice Age, which
ended a few thousand years ago, 30% of the land surface of the earth was
covered by ice. In North America an ice sheet covered almost all of
Canada and the northern United States.
We
know the extent of the Ice Age because the glaciers left features on the
landscape similar to features we observe around glaciers today, such as
lateral and terminal moraines. A “lateral moraine” is a mound of rocks
of varying sizes deposited to the side of a moving glacier, and a
“terminal” or “end” moraine is a mound of rocks dumped in front of the
glacier.
Two
particular aspects of the Flood were instrumental in causing the Ice
Age: (1) extensive volcanic activity during and after the Flood, and (2)
the warm oceans following the Flood.
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Evolutionist Quote of the
Month
“But the reports of Eve’s death may have been greatly
exaggerated. Indeed, no one argues with the idea that all modern humans
inherited their mitochondrial DNA from one common female ancestor. But
what is in dispute is the hypothesis first put forth in 1987 by
molecular anthropologist Allan Wilson of University of California,
Berkeley who claimed to know Eve’s age and whereabouts—that she lived
about 200,000 years ago in Africa.”
Ann
Gibbons, Mitochondrial Eve: Wounded, But Not Dead Yet, Science,
Vol. 257, p. 873, August 14, 1992.
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Until
the next time! Enjoy
every second that
God has given you.
For indeed it is a blessing. |