DO EVANGELICALS CLOSE THEIR EYES TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE BIBLE?

Evangelicals are being accused with every possible wrongdoing today, as Jesus had warned:

·       “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15:18-20 ESV)

One charge that is oddly brought against evangelicals is, “You evangelicals don’t take the Bible contradictions seriously. Instead, you ignore them.”

While this charge might be true of some evangelicals, it is not true of those who take the Bible seriously. Admittedly, we do regard the original writings of the book of the Bible as completely without error (inerrant) and “breathed out by God,” as the Scriptures claim:

·       All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

If the Bible does contain errors in its originals, then we cannot claim that the Bible is able to make us “complete, equipped for every good work.” Instead, the “errors” of the Scriptures would make us incomplete and would mislead. Consequently, we would have to stand in judgment using our own “wisdom” to choose which verses are truly of God and which aren’t, instead of allowing Scripture to judge us, as it should.

We have to ask, “How do we Scripturally derive our beliefs and doctrines?” We derive them from those verses that are clear and explicit, rather than from those verses that are unclear. Let’s take the doctrine of the Love of God. The Bible clearly and explicitly claims that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and all those who call themselves “Christian” would agree. However, there are many problem-verses, like God hating those who live to do evil or that God brings evil. Besides, because of the broad assortment of problem-verses, we too often feel that God is not love. We pray for sick spouses and parents, and yet they die. We, therefore, are tempted to ask, “Where is God’s love in this?”

Nevertheless, those of us who continue in the Faith do so for good reason. We might be perplexed by our experiences and the difficult verses pertaining to God’s love, yet we find that the clear and explicit verses strongly affirm that God is love.

Let’s now apply this to the question of the Bible’s “contradictions.” Admittedly, there are many verses that seem to contradict others. However, do these invalidate the many clear Scriptural assertions that the Bible is without error. In fact, there is not a single verse that even hints that the Bible contains errors, inaccuracies, or contradictions. Instead, they consistently affirm that the totality of the Bible is God-given, as Jesus had affirmed quoting Deuteronomy 8:3:

·       But he answered [Satan], “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

As unshakeable as the doctrine of God’s love is, the doctrine of the Inerrancy of the Scriptures is even more unshakeable. Therefore, if we are to reject this doctrine, to be consistent, we also have to reject the doctrine of God’s love.

However, this doesn’t mean that we sweep the “contradictions” under the rug. Instead, a real faith tries to reconcile those verses that seem to contradict. Sometimes, we can do this easily, but at other times, we might simply be taking an educated guess or just offering possibilities. Let me use an example of two verses regarding the suicide of Judas, which seem to contradict each other:

·       And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. (Matthew 27:5)

·       Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. (Acts 1:18)

The first account claims that Judas died by hanging, the other by “falling headlong,” perhaps jumping from a cliff. Is this a contradiction? Not necessarily! Do I have the ultimate answer? I don’t think so, but I’m not troubled by this. There are numerous theories about how to reconcile these two verses. Some suggest that Judas hanged himself over a cliff, but the rope broke, and he fell headlong. Others suggest that “falling headlong” can also be translated “swelling up.” In this case, Judas’ bowels gushed out because his gases exploded because he had been hanging for a while.

Perhaps a scribe had made a mistake as he was copying a manuscript. No matter! We do not need the perfect solution. This uncertainty doesn’t affect the doctrine of Inerrancy.

Instead, what does affect us is the rejection of this doctrine, merely because of the uncertainties. These should never rise up against what is certain in Scripture. However, once the doctrine of Inerrancy is rejected, anything is possible. In Thomas Jefferson’s day, it was politically incorrect to believe in miracles. Therefore, Jefferson deleted the references to miracles in his Jefferson Bible.

Today, we already have a taste of what would be eliminated – God as male, sexual sin, hell, and many others that have become distasteful today, like Jesus’ Words:

·       “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:33)

It is only when we are convinced that the Bible is fully the Words of God that we can confidently submit to it.