"Are There Contradictions in the Bible?"

I wanted to share an excerpt from "The Apologetics Study Bible for Students" (Holman Bible Publishers 2009) because I feel it may be helpful for some out there who may have some questions. "Are There Contradictions in the Bible?"- Lenny Esposito (pg. 193) "Skeptics say the Bible contains contradictions. If true, this would suggest it is not inspired by God, since God is all-knowing. However, close examination reveals that the Bible doesn't contain actual contradictions. A writer is guilty of contradiction when he or she affirms two facts both of which can't possibly be true at the same time and in the same manner. It is not so easy to establish that a writer is guilty of this. For example, it would seemingly be a contradiction to say "The apple is red and the apple is not red." But what if the author was referring to two different apples and didn't bother spelling out that fact? Or, perhaps he was referring to the skin first and then the pulp. Or, maybe he described the apple over a span of time, from when it was ripe and red to when it was rotted and brown. You see that we must have a lot of information before we can conclude that an actual contradiction is present, and writers often don't supply more than bare details. We should presume innocence until guilt is proven. Those who claim the Bible contains contradictions must prove the statements in question could not be resolved by additional information. Here's a list of common Bible phenomena that are not contradictions or errors: 1. Different individuals reported at a location Matthew reports only one angel at Jesus' tomb (Mt 28:2-3) while Luke reports two angels (Lk 24:4), but this is no more a contradiction than telling one friend, "I saw a movie last night," giving the impression that you went alone, while telling another, "My family and I went to the movies together," which indicates that you were not alone. 2. Applying modern definitions to ancient texts

Critics highlight apparent science mistakes in Scripture as a way of showing that the Bible has errors (e.g., a hare chewing cud in Dt 14:7), but it is only natural that ancient writers used terms and descriptions that were accepted in their era. 3. Misunderstanding popular idioms Idioms shouldn't be taken literally. For example, Jesus foretold that He'd be in the tomb three days (Mk 8:31). Technically, Friday at sundown to Sunday morning is not three whole days. Jesus did not mean three days in the literal sense. Rather, He used a Hebrew idiom that counts any part of a day as the whole. 4. Differences in perspective The creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 are markedly different. Rather than indicating a contradiction, scholars note that Genesis 1 gives a broad overview of creation, while Genesis 2 focuses on the creation of humans on the sixth day. 5. Copying mistakes by a scribe Second Chronicles 9:25 reports that Solomon had 4,000 horses while First Kings 4:26 reports 40,000. This is merely a copyist's error, not an original contradiction. 6. Different vantage points or details of the same event The accounts of Jesus' resurrection vary in theme and detail. Far from counting as contradictions that which undermine confidence in Scripture, the differences indicate that the accounts are drawn from eyewitnesses who described the events they experienced." One great example of an "error" is the feminine gender of the Holy Spirit, which occured under Roman influence.

The message I am trying to convey is this: the reliability of the gospel message should not be questioned just because someone spilled barbecue sauce on a manuscript or had a political axe to grind that they tried to push into the church. The gospel message, as a whole, is reliable and can be trusted.