CONTRADICTIONS IN THE BIBLE

This picture has nothing to do with this blog. It is a picture of two groovy grandkids and one friend. You figure out which is which.




We are doing a series of silly contradictions I garnered from an “erudite” secular website. Some are silly, some are serious but I will try to give a sentient answer for each one.

Our basic pre-supposition is following:

• The Bible is God’s Word
• God’s Word is perfect
• Therefore, the Bible is perfect.
  

If your Bible has errors in it you have my sympathy. Mine does not.

I think I need to add an explanation of why these obvious simple statements are taken for contradictions. - The unbelievers are looking for anything they can use for ammunition. But the largest is they are simply unable to understand anything spiritual.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Previous posts:
1. The Sun was not created until the fourth day therefore light could not have been created on the first day.
2. The creation of trees and men do not match.
3. The creation of birds and men do not match.
4. The creation of animals and men do not match
5. The creation of woman and men do not match
6. God says to have children then says not to have children.

In quotations is the actual clip and pasted contradiction from this site. The people who did this site actually believe their inconsistency listing will disprove Christianity.

And today's Supposed contradiction #7
7. The Bible says God was pleased with His creation and He was not pleased with His creation

• “GE 1:31 God was pleased with his creation.”
• “GE 6:5-6 God was not pleased with his creation. (Note: That God should be displeased is inconsistent with the concept of omniscience.)”
  

Genesis
1:31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

It is a truth that God created everything perfect. The Genesis 1:31 passage accurately says that God was/is pleased with His wonderful creation. One of the things that God created in mankind was the privilege to choose. We call this a free will. God gave man a free will. Man can choose to love and serve God. This is the best thing for man to do. God could have created men without the ability to choose. I have a toaster much like this. The toaster does not have the ability to choose to cook my bread or not cook my bread. If it burns my bread, it does not mean it is angry with me. I push the lever down and the toaster performs, not because it loves me but because it has no choice.

The later passage is the one in question. The question comes because of a misunderstanding of the nature of God. That there is a personal God causes great fear among unbelievers. If there is a personal God, then the sinful actions that have been taken will have to be answered for. A personal God has emotion. The Bible speaks of God being grieved, angry, happy, and sad; it also shows God to have hatred and love. He does all these things but without sin being involved. There are some emotions God understands but has never experienced; surprise, confusion, lust, and despair. So what does the Bible mean when it says “it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”?

For man repenting means sorrow of a sinful action. The man who Scripturally repents changes his heart and mind and actions. God is not man. He has no sin to repent. Therefore when God repents it speaks of it expressed a change of his way. His actions toward man has changed. God saw what He knew would happen has indeed happened. Man had fallen into sin.

There are 31 times in the Bible it speaks of repentance in connection with God. I am going to use David Cloud’s words here because Brother Cloud has covered the topic better than I can.

1Such statements present at least three problems to the Bible believer:
1. How could God repent if He is unchangeable, as Mal. 3:6 teaches?
2. There would be apparent contradictions between the aforementioned Scriptures and others, which teach that God does not repent - Nu. 23:19.
3. God’s repentance would have to be different from man’s, which involves sorrow for sin.

In Strong’s Systematic Theology, “God’s unchanging holiness requires Him to treat the wicked differently from the righteous. When the righteous become wicked, his treatment of them must change.”

One of God’s attributes is immutability or He is unchangeable. The repentance of God does not speak of his changing His personality but changing His actions based upon the actions of man. The answer to the question in Numbers 23:19 is simply that God does not repent like a man does.

About the parenthetical statement of God’s being displeased proves his lack of omniscience. Omniscience speaks of God having all knowledge. To say He can never be displeased is without logic. God does not approve of sin. An equally logical statement would be, Since cows are used for milk for human consumption then eating beef proves milk does not come from cows.

God was/is pleased with the original creation but man’s fall has caused God to change/repent in how he treats mankind.

and I hope,
HTOITA

1Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity, David W. Cloud, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, pg. 387, 1997