For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Is it OK to test (or tempt) God?
Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:
Yes, certain kinds of tests are okay.
“Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel through me, as You have spoken, 37 behold, I am putting a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel through me, as You have spoken.” 38 And it was so. When he got up early the next morning and wrung out the fleece, he wrung the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me, so that I may speak only one more time; please let me put You to the test only one more time with the fleece: let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” 40 And God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.” (Judges 6:36-40)
“Then at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that You, Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench.” (1 Kings 18:36-38)
“Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I will go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” 9 Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will perform the word that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” 10 So Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but have the shadow turn backward ten steps.” 11 Then Isaiah the prophet called out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the [a]stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.” (2 Kings 20:8-11)
No, God doesn’t like to be tested or tempted.
“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.” (Deuteronomy 6:16)
“Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”” (Matthew 4:7)
“And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been stated, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”” (Luke 4:12)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- 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. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
- One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the website’s track record of inaccurate handling of biblical passages. See the many examples of their error we have responded to here in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this post, which is what the remainder of the post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages the Skeptic Annotated Bible cited and see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
- The skeptic tries to pit three passages (Judges 6:36-40, 1 Kings 18:36-38, 2 Kings 20:8-11) which the skeptics interpret as claiming “It is permissible to test (or tempt) God” against three passages ( Deuteronomy 6:16, Matthew 4:7, Luke 4:12) which the skeptics interpret as claiming “It is not permissible to test (or tempt) God.”
- The three passages ( Deuteronomy 6:16, Matthew 4:7, Luke 4:12) which the skeptics interpret as claiming “It is not permissible to test (or tempt) God” were interpreted properly.
- Deuteronomy 6:16 says it clearly and directly “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” It is a prohibition so there is an imperatival force with this verse.
- Both Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:12 is the record of Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16.
- The three passages (Judges 6:36-40, 1 Kings 18:36-38, 2 Kings 20:8-11) which the skeptics interpret as claiming “It is permissible to test (or tempt) God” was improperly interpreted by the skeptic.
- Note these three passages are narrative genre. They are descriptive and we must be careful of assuming the passage must be prescriptive.
- None of these verses says we should follow in the examples of the characters. That is another caution with interpreting the passage as commands or examples to follow.
- 1 Kings 18:36-38 does not seem like testing God. Elijah here does a miracle to show Israel who is the living God, in contrast to Baal that they follow. Here Elijah was not testing God Himself; also Elijah as a prophet of God was performing these miracles. It is the will of God so it is not testing God. Also the people themselves were not asking for a test of God to show He is real; there’s no tempting of God here, though God is setting things up to show He is real.
- In Judges 6:36-40 Gideon did test God. God has already spoken clearly in the chapter that God will use him to deliver Israel from the Midianites. But Gideon had issues with trusting with what God says (see verse 36). Gideon actually tested God twice and notice the first test is dew on the ground while the fleece is wet (see verse 38). This is rather silly since the ground would naturally evaporate the dew and fleece would have water; because of this Gideon ask God for a second test. This foolishness doesn’t inspire confidence with Gideon nor with his method. So this is not a passage that should be cited to support testing God.
- 2 Kings 20:8-11 seems like Hezekiah did test the Lord; but its not something approved though God did give a sign.
- There is no contradiction here. Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
- 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.”
Descriptive not prescriptive!
Indeed the distinction is important!
Good point in 5.2: “None of these verses says we should follow in the examples of the characters.”
Indeed! Thank you for reading that. I appreciate you coming on this post. Hope you have a blessed day!
Thanks for the great insight! Shalom.
Thanks for this thorough rebuttal! Yes the Bible describes MANY faith “heroes” who didn’t always act faithfully. As you mention, the narratives are descriptive not prescriptive. One of the things I love about the Bible is it’s not a hagiography.
Indeed! The Word of God describes people as they are, warts and all! That to me is one of the amazing thing about the Bible, how it tells us the truth about the sinfulness of our many heroes in the faith, it reads so different than other religious scriptures, and of course different than even RC literature, doesn’t it???
Its raining here today and is colder; how’s the weather at your neck of the wood?
Ach, RC literature is such blatant hagiography! I was stunned when I first began reading the Bible as a Catholic, reality instead of a candy coating.
Yup, we have rain/drizzle also. Looks like I should be able to corral another tarpful of leaves tomorrow.
with skeptics I find that the invention of pseudo logic excuses are nothing more than testing of God;s patience… of which makes the chains of slavery to sin even more heavier
“Pseudo logic…” I like that, that is what it boils down to. hey Ray, thanks for reading this, grateful for you being a reader on here…seriously I am grateful. If you read this let me know
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Thanks!!! Just rescued your comment from spam
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Well done. There’s a spirit of immaturity with the guys that use the skeptic annotated Bible. Some pimple face troll simping on Tiktok who pay for sex and have a guilty conscience first quoting me things from it and I google and found he cut and paste things to me on Twitter. I also found you from the same googling search result
Wow glad you found this page. How old is this dude?? Lol
Early twenties and a know it all lol
Praise the Lord for His providence!!
[…] Is it OK to test (or tempt) God? […]
Good work here. Another home run that you delivered
Your Insight from Gideon is something I never knew before
Thanks for reading this
[…] 2.) Bible Contradiction? Is it OK to test (or tempt) God? […]
“Note these three passages are narrative genre. They are descriptive and we must be careful of assuming the passage must be prescriptive.” Perfect rebuttal in a nutshell.
Thanks!! How are you with this beautiful Autumn?? It’s so different here nearby to you than California!!!
Loving this sunshiny day! 🧡
This is the third article I read on your blog. This isn’t a contradiction either. It seems the skeptics are desperate to advance arguments like the three that you responded to
Appreciate you commenting and read the other post. What was your first article you read, just curious?
I was looking up how long did the flood last in an apologetics group on Facebook
Trusted biblical teaching is always within reach With the internet. Your article was helpful in answering the atheists, good job!!
Thanks for checking this out my friend! There’s other posts on alleged contradictions here too!
I saw your list of 200. Thanks!
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