“The Bible is full of contradictions!” people often say when you bring up the Bible. And many of them have heard that claim and are simply repeating it. Others have watched a video or read a brief article and think they've destroyed two thousand years of Christian belief (even more years for Judaism!) by their examples.
Pastor Greg has talked about some of these obvious examples which have obvious answers in his current Sunday School class on the biblical canon. For some of these so-called examples, it only takes about twenty seconds to show someone a clear reason or maybe even a plausible explanation for why there is no contradiction. Often these apparent problems come about simply because people do not know how to read the Bible.
One of the most famous—better, infamous—examples makes the rounds online every few years. It's a scene from the television series, The West Wing. To be fair, Aaron Sorkin writes wonderful dialogue. He’s a wordsmith. There's no doubt why he gets hired to write shows or even polish off the scripts of other people. And he often advances his ideas through the words of his characters. My guess is that this is happening in one scene which presumes to put conservative Christians in their place, showing them to be hypocrites, encouraging them to shut-up in the course of public discourse on national and political issues.
In the scene, President Bartlet joins a gathering of media personalities and observes a conservative radio host whom he doesn't like and who fails to stand for him. In the midst of a speech, he points her out, asking questions about her credentials and whether or not her audience knows she her background, which he presumes is lacking. He then goes in on her religious beliefs by getting her to quote from Leviticus 18 which says homosexuality is an abomination. To this he responds:
“I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore speaks, fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn; what would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My chief of staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath? Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important cuz we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean (Leviticus 11:7). If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together the stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?”
Before we even get to the rightness or wrongness of homosexuality, the death penalty, etc., Sorkin (through the words of the character) shows that he doesn’t understand how the Bible works. He doesn’t understand the relationship of the covenants revealed in the Old and New Testaments. Doesn’t understand what is unique to Israel versus what is transcultural, especially in light of the Christian gospel. He doesn’t even understand why God would give such rules about crops, clothing, and cleanness. In other words, he doesn't know how to read the Bible.
Thus, for the Christian, scenes like this should be irritating or laughable, not faith-shaking. For we know how to read the Scriptures. We understand the nature of promise and fulfillment in God's plan and his covenants. We understand the unique setting of Israel as a theocracy and the church as a people on mission in exile across all nations. We understand that all of God's promises are fulfilled in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). So, while expressions of God's moral will and character change across covenants, the essence does not.
We understand that across the Bible's incredibly diverse literary genres, human authors, languages, and chronological settings, there is an amazing harmony across all of it—one central message, one coherent story. Why? Because there is one God who stands behind it all (2 Tim 3:16). He is writing history, shaping it according to his design, through the gospel "making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him" (Eph 1:7–10).
There may be issues that come up as you read the Bible which you need help understanding. That's okay. Your pastors are very willing to help; you don't need to shy away from them! More than that, as you read, you should take great encouragement, not just in the reliability of the biblical texts but its coherence. It's not a random collection of writings. It's a wonderful, unified narrative of God's work in the world, culminating in Christ. Read, remembering these things, and your faith will grow.
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