Point: I had to write down this analogy that I discussed in a podcast at Biblical Beginnings that is going to come out next week. Sometimes when one engage in evangelism and apologetics the issue of alleged Bible contradiction comes up and the example given of a Bible contradiction really isn’t a Bible contradiction. What I found helpful is to ask the skeptic to define what is a contradiction as the foundation for the direction of any further discussion of whether or not there’s a Bible contradiction. Here’s the definition I give for “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.
Are there illustrations to help us think more critically and accurately of when there’s a contradiction and when there’s an apparent contradiction (that is, they really are not a contradiction)?
