Throughout the time this blog has been up on wordpress, people have always been asking me, “What in the world is the Law of Contradiction?! Why did you put it as your blog URL?” Well my friends, the law of contradiction is something which has taught me a lot of things, and was and still is an essential part of my journey of faith with the Lord. You see, people like to say that Christianity (and the Bible mainly) is full of contradictions, and this is why they choose not to believe in Jesus, or are extremely skeptical when it comes to things relating to Christian doctrine. Well, in this post I hope to explain a little about what the law of contradiction is and why the Bible is never wrong, never contradicts itself, or science.
When I was a young boy growing up in church, I was always taught that the Bible is the true, infallible word of God. And I believed this in my heart. However, in school, and in the scientific journals which I enjoyed reading (yes, I am a bit of a nerd) It always seemed that the Bible was wrong. It seemed to contradict science. And science has to be right, right? This was when my faith started to waver. Even history books seemed to say that the Bible was very erroneous, and sometimes when I read the Bible itself, it seemed to contradict itself! Like something which happened in Matthew seemed to contradict what happened in Luke! Man, this shook my faith so much that I began to trust science and human logic and intellect more than Jesus, the Saviour I grew up with! I forgot all the wonderful moments I shared in the presence of the Lord, the happiness He brought me. Now, I thought maybe science would bring me happiness, the quest for “truth”. How wrong I was, it only brought me misery and fear. Well, this was a trying time for me, but it was ALL good. Let me just say this. It might offend some, but I really dont care. If anyone has blind faith in Jesus, not once using their intellect to reason out objectively what the Bible says, his/her faith is bound to be shaken up, just like mine was. Faith is good, don’t get me wrong, but BLIND faith, is very very dangerous. Cos when the world comes along and starts questioning your beliefs, you don’t know how to stand up for your faith, stand up for the gospel of Christ.
Okay, now for the Law of Contradiction. Basically, the law is a logical law. If something says A is B then says A is NOT B, it contradicts itself. However, if something says A is B and then says A is C, it doesn’t necessarily contradict. Let me give you an easy to understand example. If I say John (supposedly there is only one John) is a boy, then I turn around and say John is NOT a boy, I have just contradicted myself. But if I say John likes football, and then I turn around and say John likes basketball, I haven’t contradicted myself. He could like both! Now many “scholars” like to say that the Bible, especially the 4 gospels is full of contradictions. Let me give you a biblical example (I took this from www.carm.org a christian site which argues for the faith) This scene is the tomb in which they buried Jesus whom they crucified 3 days back. In Matt 28: 1-2 it says that AN angel descended from heaven and rolled away the stone enclosing the tomb. In Mark 16:5 it says that in the tomb it says that they saw a young MAN sitting at the RIGHT. In Luke 24:4 it says that there were TWO MEN in the tomb. And finally in John 20:1-2,12 it says that there were TWO ANGELS in the tomb! Now a lot of these facts seem to contradict, but the Bible never contradicts itself! Most of the time, it’s just that we don’t understand the situation clearly enough. I quote this from the site:
There is no discrepancy at all. An angel of the Lord moved the stone and was sitting upon it outside (Matthew 28:2). The two men (Luke 24:4) were angels (John 20:12). Mark 16:5 presents the only potential issue and it isn’t one at all. If there were two angels in the tomb, then there was at least one. This one was on the right. Therefore, we see that there was one angel outside and two on the inside of the tomb.
See?! It’s actually pretty simple. What seems to contradict, most of the time just needs a little more reading into and objective thinking. God gave us a brain! We should learn to ask questions, and this will help to build our faith! This is just one very simple example. There are tons more at www.carm.org if you have any questions about the Bible. Just remember that the Bible is never wrong, and never contradicts itself or science. It’s just our understanding that needs to be worked on.
Now for the Bible contradicting science. Let me just say this first and foremost. Science is based on human understanding and perception of the world around us. We try to formulate theories to explain what we can see, or experience. That is essentially what science is about. God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, created science. The Bible is God’s word. So how can the Bible contradict science? It’s simply that science is not advanced enough to explain God, or his work. In Isaiah 55:8-9, God says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” I love this verse! It’s quite sad when humans keep trying to unexplain God, and disprove him when the basic human intellect is incapable of even scraping the surface of what He has created! Let me tell you, if you put your faith in something as shakey as science, you’re gonna be like a grass swaying in the wind, or like the man who built his house upon the sand, when the tides come, you’re going to be swept away! Why not put your faith in God, who never wavers, build your house upon the Rock! For example, in secondary school, science teaches you that electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom in a planetary like structure. Did you know that this is wrong? And has been for ages! Then you go up higher and you learn about orbitals and spdf shells. But did you know that now people are believing in other models of physics! Now there’s quantum physics and relativity, constantly battling it out to find out which one is right. Honestly, sad to tell you this but, SCIENCE DOESN’T KNOW! It’s so scary to base your faith in something which keeps changing with the times, isn’t it?
Well, I’m not saying that science is bad. No, no, science is good to learn and understand our world around us to help ourselves and others. Technology is not evil, science is not evil, it’s just that when you put your faith in it entirely, it’s very dangerous. Sometimes it will seem to contradict God’s word. But most of the time, it’s not advanced enough to explain God and His works.
Just a little fact, did you know that many famous scientists were men of great faith in the Lord? And a lot of their discovery helped the world immensely! Oh, and the theory of the Big Bang, isn’t all evil. Now, most of you probably just got a big shock that I said that. Hey, the Big Bang theory does help explain creation! It’s just that the majority of the population has no idea what in the world it actually is about. The Big Bang is essentially just the creation of matter from energy. Basically, something from nothing. In Gen 1:1 it says that God created the heavens and the earth. Heavens being our universe, and earth being, earth, lah! Well, so doesn’t the big bang explain this? creation? What’s wrong with that?! It’s both scientific and Biblical. That’s one thoery of science I really like… I even believe there might be the Big Crunch! But probably sooner than predicted, this is probably when Jesus will return!
It’s so much more comforting to base your faith in God, and his word. And use science as a tool to help understand our world, but only as a tool. Don’t base your faith in it. I hope I made that clear in this super long post. I hope it blessed you!
It’s in B flat BTW, but I cheated and capoed the third fret on the guitar and just played in G… heheh.
Anyway, it was great catching up with her, hearing stories of how she drove her car on the road median in North Carolina. Oops, I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody…
