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HARMONIZING APPARENT CONFLICTS AND ERRORS IN THE BIBLE

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Harmonizing apparent biblical conflicts:

Skeptics often point to conflicts within the Bible as proof of biblical errancy.

Some of these occur where two passages disagree in their description of the same event or belief. For example:

	There are passages in the Bible that state that God punishes people for the sins of their parents, grand parents, etc. Yet there are others that state that people are punished only for their own sins.
	Stories in various gospels about the trial(s) of Jesus and the visit of his female followers to the tomb appear to conflict with each other.

Other conflicts are related to an apparent conflict between science and a story in the Bible:

	The Bible implies in Genesis 9:13 that no rainbows appeared in the sky before the flood of Noah. Yet rainbows occur because of the refractive index of water -- a factor that has not changed over time.
	The Bible states in Joshua 10:13 that the sun stood still in the sky during a battle. But for this to happen, the earth would have had to stop rotating. The deceleration forces would have torn the earth to pieces.

There are conflicts between parts of the Bible and modern-day secular and religious standards of morality:

	Sections of the Mosaic law would seem to violate the will of God. Examples are the rape of female prisoners of war, executing non-virgin brides, torturing prisoners, etc.
	The Bible justifies, condones and regulates human slavery.
	The Bible includes instructions by God to commit genocide, actions by God to kill Jewish leaders who sought a more democratic society, etc.

If one starts with the foundational belief that the Bible is inerrant and that it is the will of God, with some creative ingenuity these conflicts can almost always be harmonized.

When passages stubbornly resist resolution, the believer in biblical inerrancy can still claim:

	A solution exists whereby the Bible passage(s) can be harmonized. However, we lack sufficient knowledge.
	Passage(s) were incorrectly copied by a scribe at some time in the past. Recall that the conservative Christian concept of inerrancy applies only to the original hand-written autograph copies of the books of the Bible, and not to second, third and later generations of copies.

If you know of an irresolvable biblical conflict not covered here, please E-mail us. We enjoy challenges!

Topics covered in this section:

Responses by conservative and liberal Christians to such conflicts

Harmonizing internal conflicts in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)

Harmonizing internal conflicts in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament)

Differences between the Gospel of John and the synoptic gospels

Conflicts between science and religion

Conflicts about origins of species and the rest of the universe

Bible passages which appear immoral by today's secular & religious standards

Removing passages from holy books that promote hatred, violence, etc.

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HARMONIZING APPARENT CONFLICTS AND ERRORS IN THE BIBLE

Harmonizing apparent biblical conflicts:

Topics covered in this section:

Go to the previous page, or to the "Biblical inerrancy" menu, or "About the Bible" menu, or choose: