Thousands of Errors?
Well-meaning skeptics don't fall for simplistic claims.
August, 2019
Occasionally, someone will ask how, if the Bible is true, can "well-meaning people" find "thousands of contradictions" in it. The short answer is that "well-meaning people" don't find actual contradictions. They certainly don't find hundreds or thousands of apparent contradictions. People who claim the Bible has that many errors are either parroting information from someone else, or inanely comparing quotes attempting to find something to complain about. A person who actually reads the Bible, and makes a good-faith effort to understand it, will not make such claims. It's not that one can't find Scriptures that require understanding—it's that "well-meaning people" would presume there are resolutions and easily find them.
Critics who claim the Bible has "so, so many contradictions" aren't well-meaning. Even if they think they are, they're not being careful, or thorough, or fair. Saying the Bible is riddled with overt contradictions is to suggest that some of history's most brilliant minds are too dim-witted to notice something the critic can recognize in seconds. That's not just false, it's embarrassingly arrogant. And, frankly, it's stupid. As in, "lacking in intellect or reason."
To be clear: it's lazy and bigoted to claim the most intensely-studied and thoroughly-criticized text in human history has "thousands" of irreconcilable errors that somehow, some way, Christians have not seen or answered yet.
There are places in Scripture that Bible-believing Christians acknowledge are difficult. Some instances where verses contradict are known to be copyist errors or things on that level. No doubt, there are places in Scripture that might seem to be contradictory when you read casually, or without understanding. The vast majority of those are cleared up easily. Some require more background information. Some, even believers debate exactly how they should best be interpreted.
What there are not are "hundreds or thousands of errors or contradictions," and for every supposed mistake or problem in the Bible, there are ample resources explaining it. A reasonable or "well meaning" critic would make the common sense assumption that at least one Christian over the last 2,000 years has noticed each of these and made some kind of effort to untangle it. That same "well meaning" approach would lead to the resolution of virtually every single one, and even in the worst cases, would demonstrate that no contradictions can be formally established.
So, when a person claims there are hundreds or thousands of errors in the Bible, all they're doing is saying "I have applied little effort and even less honesty to my assessment." That's not "well-meaning," at all.
-- Editor
