You have brought up at least four issues. Two that you mention directly and the third and fourth ones are implied.
First: Does the Bible contradict itself?
Second: What am I to make of these contradictions?
Third: .Contradictions imply that the one who should be in control is not in control
Fourth: Should any rational person give control of their lives to any being that can’t even control the things it should control?
The questions you have asked are the types that should be asked. After all we can’t come to GOD if we have doubts that He is really there. And we can’t throw ourselves fully into our faith if we have serious doubts about GOD being trustworthy, consistent or even more important understandable.
Let’s look at all four components of this question. We will begin with does the Bible contradict itself?
I. Does the Bible contradict itself?
A. Is the Bible infallible?
The Bible claims that all of its words are true, that they are the words of GOD and that they supersede any statements that contradict it.
All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal
---Psalm 119:160
All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
---2 Timothy 3:16
For the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword,
it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
---Hebrews 4:12
B. Just because it says it is true doesn’t mean it is true
It may be you are thinking,”Just because something says it is true does not mean it is true.”
The major way that we know without any shadow of a doubt that the word of GOD is true is through predictions (Isaiah 41:23b). The Bible has made many hundreds of them. Only a few remain to be fulfilled. All the rest have been fulfilled.
tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods.
---Isaiah 41:23b
In an earlier post I showed that just a few dozen predictions fulfilled sequentially lead to numbers like one chance in one hundred million trillion. The numbers become so outrageous that you are forced to conclude that indeed GOD exists and the Bible is His word to us.
C The contradiction question
We see that GOD exists and the Bible is His word. God being who He is (All Knowing, All Wise etc) should be smart enough to not contradict Himself. So then why does it seem that He contradicts Himself?
Near and far context
Suppose a man has taught his six year old son to help people in need. One day they are at a gas station in Pinecrest. The man is pumping gas and his son is twenty feet away petting a dog.
Before the man can react he sees his son walk over to a street person sleeping in an alley and give him the five dollars he had received for his birthday. I an instant the derelict is gone.
On the way home the father has to add to what he taught about helping the needy. He now adds that you should know the person or how it is being spent because your sacrifice could end up being a bottle of Thunderbird wine or a drug.
The point of this not that the father contradicted himself (give vs. no don’t give). What he did was give a more complete picture regarding giving as well as clear up confusion about how we define worthy poor.
So when GOD says an eye for an eye and Jesus says turn the other cheek if you look closely at the surrounding context as well as near and far contexts you will see that together they make the picture more clear as to how to behave toward people who do damage to us.
II. What am I to make of these contradictions?
There really are not any contradictions. I have been studying the Bible for most of my adult life and I can tell you that whenever I took the time to study the issue I found that there were no contradictions.
If you have questions go to someone who is knowledgeable in the Bible or get a book on the subject of apparent contradictions. Your questions will be answered.
III. & IV. Contradictions imply that the one who should be in control is not in control.
Should any rational person give control of their lives to any being that can’t even control the things it should control?
For a person to come to GOD they must believe that He exists and for that person to take the next step of giving rule of their lives to GOD they must have confidence that GOD can do a better job of running their life than they do.
The Bible does not have contradictions. GOD is all wise, all powerful, and all good. Thus He is the perfect one to manage how we live.
And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists
and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him
----Hebrews 11:6
Your question was very thought provoking Patricia.
Don
Psalm 119:103, 130
