Anyone who follows the teachings of something or someone wants no contradictions in their beliefs. For Christians, to find contradictions in the Bible would destroy our faith, because the Bible says Jesus—the Author of the Bible and of our faith (Hebrews 12:2; 2 Timothy 3:16)—has the words of eternal life (John 6:68). If any part of the Bible were to be found as anything but true and inerrant, that would mean God is not true.
Detractors (unbelievers) claim the Bible is full of contradictions, but because God cannot lie, neither can His Word.
When we are faced with people who claim the Bible is full of contradictions, we often see that they are unbelievers. They will say, “You can’t trust the Bible; it was written by a bunch of mistake-prone men! It’s full of mistakes and contradictions!” Such skepticism is based on hearsay and/or faulty reasoning. We aren’t, however, to denigrate others who make such claims. We Christians, however, would do well (for God’s glory and our good) to follow Peter’s admonition to, “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and fear, having a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:15-16).
Hundreds of examples of so-called contradictions/fallacies exist, and not one is a genuine issue.
Even the brightest Bible opponents haven’t been able to locate or prove a single, genuine contradiction in Scripture. Some contradictions have to do with semantics, such as when a pessimist shifts the meaning of a word within the biblical text. Therefore, as we consider these hypothetical contradictions, let’s pray about how we can answer objections (Hebrews 12:3). The following list will encapsulate ten different Bible reading fallacies and give an example for each (although many more exist within each category). We will refute each using God’s infallible Word.
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