“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
A friend wrote something about the Bible’s authenticity on her Facebook page, causing someone else to leave a caustic reply..
After each statements the fellow left, all of them shallow and several insulting, my friend patiently responded with kindness and reason.
But nothing worked. Her “commenter” was determined to nail her to the wall.
He had found a contradiction in Scripture and knew this was the (ahem) unholy grail, the proof, the nail in the coffin of Jehovah God.
What was his “contradiction”?
“In one place the Bible says an eye for an eye and another place it says turn the other cheek. What do you say about such a contradiction?”
I wondered if this guy was serious. Any teenager in church could answer that.
Just so easily does this guy dismiss the living God, the Creator of the Universe.
Even if the Lord had such a fellow as that on His team, He wouldn’t have much. HIs ignorance is shallow and doubtless his faith would be just as worthless.
Before commenting on the subject of contradictions in the Word, let me respond to that guy, just in case any reader needs to know how those two scriptures line up.
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” was given to Israel as a principle for assessing punishment for crimes (Leviticus 24:20). This formula was light-years more lenient and merciful than the standard used in pagan countries–and to this day, in some backward nations–that dictated a life for an eye; a limb for a tooth.