Yesterday’s post “What was Solomon’s payment to Hiram?” got me thinking about how ridiculous the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s claim was that there was a Bible contradiction with the two verses the website cited. Two passages with overlapping truths in which one verse happen to mention additional details than the other verse is a far stretch from it being a Bible contradiction.
This isn’t the first time the listing from the Skeptic Annotated Bible pull off a similar mistake. When I surveyed my Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions) I noticed the skeptic did the same thing with “What did the sign over Jesus’s head say?”
There’s a whole bunch of alleged Bible contradictions the Skeptic Annotated Bible claimed based upon various account stating how many individuals there were for several events; see as examples the following (though not exhaustive): How many women came to the sepulchre?, How many men were possessed with demons at the country of the Gadarenes?, How many were from the tribe of Simeon?
Perhaps the most ridiculous is What is God’s name? Here the skeptics even think that a shortened form of God’s name means its a contradiction with the longer form of God’s name and other titles of God!
It seems the method of interpretation (what is called hermeneutics) that the skeptic uses to say there’s a contradiction is based upon the observation that there are slightly different wordings and additional details in one of the verses and then extrapolating that there then is a Bible contradictions.
Sometimes the best way to refute bad hermeneutics is to apply the same hermeneutics back to its advocate and demonstrate how it is self-refuting. We are not saying we agree with the skeptics that there’s actually a contradiction but the chief focus in this post is show if the skeptics are consistent then they are forced to being reduced to absurdity.
So using the skeptics hermeneutics does that mean the skeptics’ own wordings are also contradicting?
On the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s listing (archived just in case here) we see that the wordings are sometimes different than the wordings found in the actual specific Bible contradiction page. Other times we also see additional information either on the listing or on the specific Bible contradiction page.
- The lists asks “Did God kill all the Egyptian cattle in the sixth plague?” but the actual page itself says “Did God kill all the Egyptian cattle in the fifth plague?” Note the disagreement with the numbering.
- The lists ask “To whom were the cities of Exhtaol and Zoreah given?” but the actual page itself says “To whom were the cities of Eshtaol and Zoreah given?” Note the different name of “Exhtaol” and “Eshtaol.”
- The lists asks “How many animals of each kind did Noah take into the ark?” but the actual page itself says “How many of each clean animal did Noah take into the ark?” Note the extra addition of “clean” animal in the actual page while the listing just said animal.
- The lists asks “Did God give Gehazi leprosy?” but the actual page itself says “Did God give Gehazi (Elisha’s servant) leprosy?” Note the extra addition of “(Elisha’s servant)” in the actual page.
- The lists asks “Did Paul go to Jerusalem from Damascus immediately after his conversion?” but the actual page itself says “Did Paul go to Jerusalem immediately after his conversion?” Note the extra addition of “Damascus” in the listing.
The following are even more ridiculous differences, similar to how the skeptic thinks short form and long form of the name of God is a contradiction (its ridiculous):
- The lists asks “Were the disciples frightened or gladdened when they saw Jesus?” but the actual page itself says “Were the disciples frightened or glad when they saw Jesus?” The list used the verb “gladdened” but the actual page says “glad.”
- The lists asks “Should believers discuss their faith with non-believers?” but the actual page itself says “Should believers discuss their faith with nonbelievers?” Note the skeptic calls nonbelievers differently whether with a hyphen or not.
- The lists asks “Were the disciples frightened or gladdened when they saw Jesus?” but the actual page itself says “Were the disciples frightened or glad when they saw Jesus?”
- The lists asks “Should we love or hate others?” but the actual page itself says “Should we hate other people?” The list add the phrase “love.”
I know there’s more differences and discrepancies I’ve noticed over the years on the Skeptic Annotated Bible; when I see more I’ll add them here to the list.
Again note that I’m not saying all of these are necessarily actual difficulties. I’m making the point that if the skeptics want to argue in this fashion this also applies to the list, yet some of these aren’t actually any problems in the first place with sound hermeneutics and logical reasoning.
[…] If the Skeptic Annotated Bible think these are Bible contradictions then the Bible Contradiction lis… […]
Awesome! Great observation.
Thank you sir! You have a blessed Friday brother!!!
Fact, absolutely true! 🎯🎯🎯💯
Aww thanks! As I was thinking this morning when I woke up about this post I realized communication with others is so important to hear and read accurately and it’s not just with skeptics and their silly interpretation. Hermeneutics matters! I was also thinking of what would be a good recommendation for hermeneutics; what is your recommendation for beginners?
I like Fee and Stuart’s How to read the Bible for all its worth. I also like Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by Blomberg, Hubbard and Klein. Which do you recommend? I am always interested in hearing book recommendations on hermeneutics!
Funny you used a picture of Joe Rogan in this post. He is actually a pretty smart guy. But, when it comes to Christianity, he gets everything wrong.
That’s true I didn’t even think of that about Joe Rohan, I just saw that this meme was funny and didn’t think more deeply about Joe Rogan. I think he really needs a good Christian evangelist and apologist on his show, I think the topic can make that interview his number one listened episode. How is DMin going???
Not sure if he’d want a good apologist on his show. He seems to be a pretty reasonable guy although I don’t always agree with him. But I think he is anti-religious almost at the level of internet troll so I’m not sure how a conversation with an apologist would go.
DMin is going well. Keeping me pretty busy but it’s all good.
Reblogged this on ApoloJedi and commented:
When applied against its own standard, the Skeptic Annotated Bible shows itself to be hypocritical. It cannot support the weight of its own claims
I don’t think the skeptics are trying to be rational or even truthful when they create these lists of “contradictions”. It is good to respond to them rationally and truthfully nonetheless.
I agree after a couple of hundreds of these I’m convinced they are trying to general amount listed rather than care about it being accurate, true or rational. Thanks brother for your love and support with these!
[…] If the Skeptic Annotated Bible think these are Bible contradictions then the Bible Contradiction lis… […]
Exactly!
🙂
Oh, man! Steve/Stephen Wells’ got slam dunked by his own careless methodology! Good job!
I think he got slammed by his own method! Self refuting hurts! How is your shift today?
RE: shift
Thanks! Very heavy schedule this weekend. I’ll be super busy today and tomorrow with no slack time.
How does your Saturday look?
A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it,
But knowledge is easy to him who understands.
Proverbs 14:6 NKJV
A fool has no delight in understanding,
But in expressing his own heart.
Proverbs 18:2 NKJV
I wish I could figure out why sometimes my comments lose their formatting…
Great passages! WordPress with increasing new features seem to have more and more quirks…there’s a saying in the military “don’t fix what’s not broken” and sometimes the big tech guys need to apply that. How is your day brother?
Oh, don’t me started! 😉 Does a software company have customers or victims? :-O Of course, I used to write software and have often been part of the problem. My day is fine, yours? I just ‘recycled’ a post and think you might be interested: https://markjerde.wordpress.com/2021/11/19/this-holiday-season-be-ready-to-reach-out-to-someone/
Great meme! 🙂
Thanks for the great insight. I am guessing the skeptic knows what he is doing. Is it bad hermeneutics or intentional deception and lies?
Blessings.
It might not be *intentional* deception.
But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
2 Timothy 3:13
An exercise in futility for them, logically and spiritually. May God have mercy on SAB writer.
Indeed may God have mercy as the author is getting older I have been praying for him to repent as I can’t imagine the amount of heat he will face with God’s wrath for stumbling so many. Let’s pray for Steve Wells!!!
Praying now. 🙏
The skeptic getting a taste of their own poison
Thank you for this great post SlimJim! Have a blessed weekend ☺️
[…] 5.) If the Skeptic Annotated Bible think these are Bible contradictions then the Bible Contradiction lis… […]
[…] https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2021/11/19/if-the-skeptic-annotated-bible-think-these-are-bible-… […]
Thank you for this post SlimJim; if one is going to criticize they need to be exacting and show clarity. Happy December!
Couldn’t agree more!