Bible Contradiction? Is it a good thing to be childish?

Today’s post will tackle another question that the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: “Is it a good thing to be childish?”

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Yes, it is good to be childish.

and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 18:3)

But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)

Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” (Mark 10:15)

Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” (Luke 18:17)

No, it is not good to be childish.

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11)

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. (1 Corinthians 14:20)

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness ^[b]in deceitful scheming; (Ephesians 4:14)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

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

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.
2. Given that a grown adult cannot become a child again we can rule out the interpretation that the passages above is talking about becoming literal physical children all over again. That would be impossible.  Therefore the function of being child-like in these passages is to make comparisons of certain attributes of children and making that analogous to certain truth that the Bible wishes to convey.
3. Since analogies is being employed here we must keep in mind the phrase that “all analogy breaks down.”  What we mean by this is that while an analogy has some points of comparison between the object of the analogy with the subject at hand, that doesn’t mean that the object used as an analogy is comparable to the subject in every possible way.
4. In light of the fact that analogies break down, here we see that there is a logical possibility that there’s not a contradiction going on here if the skeptics and the readers understand that there’s virtues of children that the Bible finds commendable while at the same time there are characteristics of children that are not commendable.  If the Bible points out the attributes that are commendable while also pointing out attributes that are not, we don’t have a contradiction going on here.
5. If someone think point 4 is a cop-out made up by Christian apologists, there are other examples of this linguistic phenomenon involving figures of speech and analogies that are not really contradictory even though at a surface level one might at first think so if one interpret words atomically without an understanding of words as part of literary functions, etc.  See for instance our post on the illustration of Idioms of Love.
6. Again in order to show that there’s not a Bible contradiction we must figure out in what sense the Bible say it is good to be like a child.  We examine the four verses cited by the skeptic as examples of “yes, it is good to be childish” below:
   1. Matthew 18:3
      1. In the context this is Jesus Christ speaking.
      2. Immediately on the following verse Jesus goes on to say “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (v.4).
      3. Thus here the Bible is teaching that it is good to be child-like in the sense of being humble.
   2. Matthew 19:14
      1. In the context this is Jesus Christ speaking.
      2. Besides the fact that in verse 14 Jesus said “the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” in reference to children we also see that He said “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me.“
      3. Why did he said to let the children alone and the kingdom of heaven belongs to those these kids (and by application those who are like them)?  In verse 13, which is the previous verse, we see the reason: It turned out that “the disciples rebuked” children who were “brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray.“
      4. Thus here the Bible is teaching that it is good to be child-like in the sense of coming to Jesus.
   3. Mark 10:15
      1. This is Mark’s parallel of the exact events in Matthew 18:3.
      2. Thus here the Bible is teaching that it is good to be child-like in the sense of coming to Jesus.
   4. Luke 18:17
      1. Similar to Mark 10:15, this is Luke’s parallel of the exact events in Matthew 18:3.
      2. Thus here the Bible is teaching that it is good to be child-like in the sense of coming to Jesus.
7. In summary: When Jesus taught that it is good to be child-like, we see that Jesus meant it in two sense; It is good to be child-like in the sense of going to Jesus and it is good to be child-like in the sense of being humble.
8. We also should examine the three verses cited by the skeptic to see in what sense the Bible meant when it assert “No, it is not good to be childish:”
   1. 1 Corinthians 13:11
      1. Here the Apostle Paul is speaking.
      2. The verse talks about becoming “a man” and doing “away with childish things.“
      3. But what are the childish thing Paul had in mind?  The verse states three things: It involves things associated with speaking like a child, thinking like a child and reasoning like a child.
      4. We all know that childish reasoning can be at times immature.
      5. Thus here the Bible is teaching that it is not good to be child-like in the sense of speaking, thinking and reasoning immaturely.
   2. 1 Corinthians 14:20
      1. Here the Apostle Paul is speaking.
      2. Paul in this verse plainly said “do not be children in your thinking.”
      3. Thus here the Bible is teaching that it is not good to be child-like in the sense of thinking immaturely.
      4. Interestingly enough this verse teaches that concerning evil we are to be like infants in the sense of innocence.  There is not a contradictions here since different sense of being like a child is meant.
   3. Ephesians 4:14
      1. Here the Apostle Paul is speaking.
      2. Paul in this verse want it that “we are no longer to be children.”
      3. In what sense?  He explains with the follow up clause “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming”
      4. Thus here the Bible is teaching that it is not good to be child-like in the sense of being gullible.
9. In summary: When Jesus taught that it is not good to be child-like, we see that Jesus meant it in the sense that it is not good to be speaking, thinking and reasoning immaturely and also in the sense of being gullible.
10. We don’t have a contradiction here at all.  When Jesus taught that it is good to be child-like, He meant it in the sense that it is good to be go to Jesus and being humble.  But when the rest of the Bible taught that is not good to be child-like, the Bible meant in the in the sense that is not good to be speaking, thinking and reasoning immaturely and also in the sense of being gullible.
11. Don’t we in the English also have terms that capture different senses of being like a child, one which is positive and one which is negative?  We often use the term “childish” negatively, whereas “child-like” can be neutral or spoken positively.  It is a shame that our skeptic who probably speaks and write better English than me probably have these two words in his vocabulary.  it is a shame, the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible should have known better.

In conclusion there is no contradictions here.  What we have here is just a childish accusation of a skeptic with no exegetical basis, that is all.