34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold,
this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and for a sign to be opposed—
35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that
thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2:34-35 (NASB)
Simeon was a true prophet, for Christ has been from the beginning "a
sign to be opposed."
Atheists, people of Islam, and Liberal Protestant theologians all accuse
the Bible that contains the accounts of his birth, life, teachings,
death, resurrection and ascension as having contradictions and being
untrue and unreliable. All three groups want to
weaken the Bible so that it ceases to represent the truth about Christ
and His church and ceases to have any moral or religious
authority. By constantly making accusations against the Bible,
they feel that something will stick eventually, and when it does, then the
the Christ and His Bible are defeated. Gone would be the idea of inspiration, unless
you have a Liberal Protestant theologian redefine it for you. Of
course, his/her definition also will deny the Bible of any historicity
of Christ or authority in
moral or religious matters.
The nature of a real Bible contradiction is defined on one online site,
1
and this same site answers some alleged contradictions.
2
On this webpage, I have answered a number of contradictions on the
following two pages:
Alleged Bible Contradictions by Liberals
Field's Alleged Bible Contradictions
In addition, there are three books that are helpful in considering
alleged Bible contradictions:
Dehoff, GW.
Alleged Bible Contradictions Explained. Dehoff
Christian Bookstore, Murfreesboro, TN,
© 1996.
Haley, JW. An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible.
WG Holmes Publisher. © 1875.
Both of these books can be purchased at
www.amazon.com as they are still being printed, or they may be
available at your library.
The reference by Ted Stewart is very helpful also:
Stewart, Ted.
Apologetics II: New Discoveries That Confirm The Bible.
Sunset International Bible Institute, Lubbock TX,
©
2001. Chapters 9 & 10 are most helpful in this regard. You
can order a copy online at their bookstore
3 by simply
entering the author's name in their search window and then selecting
the product. Or you can call
them at 1-800-687-2121 to order.
Lastly, there are a number of commentaries that can be helpful.
Obviously, a commentary written by Liberal Protestant theologians will
not help answer alleged Bible contradictions, so you should choose
commentaries carefully.
