Contradictions in the Bible?

“How can you believe a book that’s full of contradictions?” If you actively witness for Christ, it won’t take long before you hear these words. Are you prepared to give an answer?

Many scoffers reject the Bible’s authority because they say it contradicts itself.

Perhaps you’ve heard one of their pat claims: “The Bible says the sun moves around the earth,” “The Bible calls a bat a bird,” and so on.

You know the Bible is true in every detail based on Christ’s own words (John 17:17), but are you prepared to give answers when someone hammers you with alleged contradictions? Now a new book written by Answers in Genesis speakers and researchers offers Christians help. Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions gives brief, easy-to-understand answers to more than 40 supposed contradictions that skeptics commonly claim in their attacks.

Many alleged contradictions take verses out of context. For example, the Bible refers to sunrise and sunset, so some critics claim that it teaches that the sun goes around the earth. But clearly the Bible is using the language of appearance—describing a phenomenon as it appears from a human perspective. We do the same thing almost every day. After all, even scientists refer to “sunrise” and “sunset,” although they know that the sun is not actually moving around the earth.

Skeptics also frequently quote a flawed translation when claiming a contradiction. For example, in Leviticus 11:13–19, we find words like these in our English translations: “And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle . . . and the bat.” The translation process is not infallible, so we must consider what the original Hebrew author intended. The Hebrew word translated bird—owph—actually means “fowl or a winged creature.” Of course bats are winged creatures.

God’s Word is perfect and cannot contradict itself. But our enemy the devil wants people to doubt or dismiss God’s Word on any flimsy basis, so he constantly attacks its validity. The new 148-page book Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions will equip you to stand firm and help others see the emptiness of these challenges to the Bible’s authority.