BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS : HOW TO UNLOCK THEM
by Robert brow (www.brow.on.ca) Aurora,
Ontario April 2008
When we are convinced that the whole Bible is the Word of
God, we look
for unity rather than contradiction. Some apparent contradictions are
metaphorical, as in the names of the eternal Son of God. He is both
Shepherd and sacrificial Lamb, Rock and tender shoot, lion and little
child, Lord and Servant.
In some cases there are paradoxes where the truth is discovered by
holding the two truths together. Scientists know that light is both
waves and particles, and these cannot be reconciled in logic. In our
model of the Trinity God is both one triune. The three Persons are
eternally held together in perfect oneness by the love of God.
In a traumatic event true witnesses will see different aspects of what
happened.
Rather than throw out one side of an apparent contradiction in the
Bible, wisdom lies in bringing it before God, and having the patience
to see how it is reconciled by the Holy Spirit.
When I attended a course on the Old Testament, the professor delighted
in picking out what seemed to him to be glaring inconsistencies.
Happily the Holy Spirit guided me to write these down and wait till I
could see the reconciliation. Most of the problems were easy to solve.
It took three years till a rereading of the Bible showed me the answer
to the last of the professor's list of inconsistencies. From that time
for the past fifty years I have again and again waited to see how the
Holy Spirit would resolve the problem of an apparent contradiction.
Robert Brow
browr@sympatico.ca
www.brow.on.ca