No 14

(Does It Contradict itself?)

Christians who have read the Bible in its entirety, know that it contains no contradictory statements. But, we have all probably had someone, somewhere ask us about certain passages that seem to contradict themselves; maybe we have even experienced this ourselves. Well, here’s some good news – there are no contradictions in the Bible; there are however, contrasts in the Bible. In the book of Ecclesiastes (one of my favorites), Solomon came to realize that “God has made everything beautiful in its time” (ch 3:11), but he had just written a bunch of contrasts and he concluded that it is possible that opposites can be harmonized in the design and plan of God - “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” (Eccl 3 :2-8) These are contrasts, not contradictions; the book of Proverbs has some also.