Bible Contradiction? How many men were possessed with demons at the country of the Gadarenes?

Source: Brick Bible at http://thebrickbible.com/02_nt/02_the_ministry_of_jesus/12_the_gerasene_demoniac/#image-0

Here’s another Bible contradiction that we’ll be looking at: “How many men were possessed with devils at the country of the Gadarenes?”

Here’s the answer the skeptic annotated Bible gave along with the Scriptures quoted from the NASB that allegedly demonstrate there’s a contradiction:

Only one man was possessed with devils.

They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. 2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, (Mark 5:1-2)

26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He came out onto the land, He was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs. (Luke 8:26-27)

Two men were possessed with devils.

When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. (Matthew 8:28)

Let’s take a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. In responding to alleged Bible contradictions, it seems good to remind oneself what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two claims cannot both be true in the same sense and at the same time.
2. Formally the two claims “Only one man was possessed with devils” and “Two men were possessed with devils” are contradictory.  There can’t be “only one man” while there’s “two men” possessed with demons.  But the next question is whether the Bible verses cited actually supply those two claims.
3. Matthew 8:28 definitely mention two demon-possessed men.  So one is justified in saying the Bible teaches “Two men were possessed with devils” when Jesus was approached near Gadarenes.
4. Both Mark 5:1-2 and Luke 8:26-27 does mention one demon possessed man.  But neither of those passages assert that there was “only one demon possessed man.”  Thus the claim that there’s “Only one man was possessed with devils” is not supported by the text. If it’s not there in the Scriptures one cannot claim there’s a Bible contradiction here.
5. Mentioning “a man” is not the same thing as saying there’s “only one man.”  “A man” and “two men” are not contradictory; it is logically possible that “a man” would be from one of those “two men.”  Logically, “a man” is a subset of “two men” and hence are not contradictory.
6. Some have a hard time with instances like this episode where one account mention one person and another accounts mention two persons.  Again, there is no contradiction logically speaking but one might wonder why one account happen to mention one individual.  Often in such instance it is because the author wants to focus on that one individual with what he is saying and doing.  That individual might have stood out and done something different than than the other individual not being focused upon.  Or that individual is an exemplar of what others are doing.  But remember, this does not mean there is a contradiction.
7. Let me illustrate with an example of point 6.  The other day I was talking to some kids.  I was amazed at how young they were.  They were born after September 11th, 2001 which  was a turning point at a crossroad in my life.  So I asked them if they knew about 9/11.  They said yes.  I asked them what they knew.  They knew about two building being hit by airplanes in New York.  As we talked some were surprised to hear about another flight that crashed in the fields and also another flight that attacked the Pentagon.  Mind you, just because certain documentaries and narratives focus on the Twin towers that doesn’t mean they were denying the other things that happened that day.  Just because one set of witnesses describe the New York incident doesn’t mean they are saying that’s the only thing that happen.  Likewise to read one book whose author decided to focus on New York and another book whose author focuses on both New York and the Pentagon doesn’t make them in of itself contradictory.  They made the decisions of what to leave in and what to leave out.  But that’s not a contradiction at all.  The Scripture and particularly for our case, the four Gospels, are similar in that regards.
8. To further drive the point that there’s not a contradiction here we ask and answer Why Matthew said two men were possessed with demons at the country of the Gadarenes?
9. Thus we don’t have a contradiction here.
10. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”