In this short video, I want to address a rather large body of scripture.
What I mean is that I want to address all the many so-called "contradictions" that appear in the entire Bible.
As most of you know, I don't mind accepting that there really are contradictions in the Bible... outright errors.
They are virtually all inconsequential, but sometimes non-believers make a big fuss over them
and I just find it unnecessary to be defensive about them.
In some cases the contradiction may be as simple as what we would call a typo these days.
For example, whether it was 24,000 people that died from God's punishment in the wilderness, as recorded in Numbers 25:1-9
or whether it was 23,000, as stated in I Corinthians 10:8, doesn't really matter.
The point is that God punished them for their disobedience. I can accept that one is correct, and the other was a typo.
But there are other contradictions where I really think that both versions are correct
and we just need to learn how to stop being so dogmatic and legalistic in our study of the Bible when this happens.
The doctrine of the Trinity, for example, was an attempt to rectify contradictions between scriptures
that described Jesus as being divine and ones that described him as being human.
The doctrine was a way of settling the argument without having to say that either extreme was wrong.
The problem is that now both extremes are condemned as heretical, and the doctrine itself has become a legalistic extreme.
I think that is very unfortunate.
There is, however, a passage from the gospels that I want to make the focal point of this video
because I think it resolves much of the tension over apparent contradictions.
If we can get this verse right, it should settle the argument... not just about the Trinity
but about all sorts of other religious and theological debates that stem from apparently contradictory scriptures as well.
In the 7th chapter of Luke's gospel, Jesus complains about the Pharisees
and he compares them to children playing a game in the marketplace.
One child would instruct the others to laugh and sing, and then, at a signal, they would demand that they immediately cry.
The trick was to change quickly, at the drop of a hat.
If the child could not change quickly enough, they were eliminated as having shown the wrong emotion.
Jesus related this to himself and John the Baptist.
John's lifestyle was noticeably ascetic... nearly starving himself to death in the desert.
The Bible says that he actually ate grasshoppers to stay alive.
Jesus, on the other hand, attended parties with many of his irreligious friends, where they feasted and drank wine.
Jesus noted that the Pharisees condemned both positions.
He and John were going to be judged harshly, no matter what position they took.
The Pharisees condemned John because he was too fanatical in his disciplines
but they also condemned Jesus because he was too indulgent in his eating habits.
Jesus finishes this little dissertation up with a very short verse that sums up what I want to say in this video.
He said: "Wisdom is justified by all of her children."
The wording in the King James Version may be a little awkward, but basically, he is saying that there is truth on all sides.
There is wisdom in learning to fast, and there is wisdom in learning to feast.
It's like a passage from Ecclesiastes: "There is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance."
Instead of taking one position to the extreme, and using it to put down everyone who thinks or acts differently
Jesus was saying that there is truth to be gleaned from both sides.
John was right, but so was Jesus.
So let's see how this works in practice.
A classic contradiction is the one where Jesus is recorded as having said, in the sermon on the mount
"Judge not, that you will not be judged."
It is a favorite refuge for anyone who does not want to be criticised.
You just throw it back at anyone who tries to correct you, little realising that, in doing so, you too have become guilty of judging...
for you have judged that the person criticising you has done something worthy of criticism.
And yet we know that, in another place, Jesus says, "Judge fairly," which is the equivalent of saying, "DO judge... just do it fairly."
But wisdom will see the truth in both positions.
In church circles, some have done this by using good words for one application of a truth
and bad words for the opposite application.
I remember, for example, a church elder saying, "I'm not a judge; I'm just a fruit inspector."
Obviously fruit inspectors have to judge too
but it was his way of getting around the fact that we DO all need to make assessments at times
and we have to act on our best available evidence, for the good of everyone.
So if judging is bad at all, it is only when we do so unfairly, with a hurtful attitude.
But calling it inspecting, or assessing, or something like that
may make us think that we are not, in fact, judging, when of course we are.
It's just that we may be doing so legitimately, with or without the injunction to "judge not."
I could go on with a lot of other illustrations, showing truth on both sides of an apparent contradiction.
And you could probably come up with a few of your own, too.
The main thing is for us to get the spirit of what is being said in a particular context
while still remaining open to the spirit of a different approach in a different context.
It takes a lot of honesty not to create a double standard, where it's okay for me, but not okay for anyone else.
But such honesty, too, requires wisdom.
If you want division, there are hundreds of ways to find it in the Bible.
You just hunker down behind one or two proof texts and stick your fingers in your ears if someone suggests anything different.
But if you want wisdom, then you will try to find the truth on both sides.
Let's do what we can to stay away from that fundamentalist spirit of division
and seek the peaceable spirit of wisdom that Jesus encouraged for his followers.
That we all may be one in Christ Jesus. Amen, and amen.