Foreword
O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge — by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen (1 Timothy 6:20–21).
In more than 30 years of defending the authority of the Bible from its very first verse, I can't recall the number of times that someone has told me there are contradictions in the Bible. I ask them to name one. This is usually followed by silence, or perhaps a few vain attempts to name one.
Many people today buy into the assertion that the Bible is "full of contradictions," but they haven't bothered to look into the claim for themselves. Since God's Word is perfect, any alleged contradiction in the Bible is going to be due to fallible, imperfect people having misconceptions. I have found time and time again that when an alleged Bible contradiction is brought up, it only takes a little research to refute it.
Most Christians, however, fail to give a good answer when they are presented with an alleged contradiction. This is especially true regarding the Book of Genesis and the charge that evolution/millions of years contradicts the Bible. The inability to have answers to such claims has had a particular effect on the youth in our churches. In my co-authored book Already Gone, which presents statistics about young adults (in their 20s) who have walked away from their conservative churches, 44 percent said they did not view the Bible as true and accurate. These 44 percent were asked "why?" Some of the top responses were:
24 percent — the Bible was written by men (which means the Bible would be in contradiction, for it calls itself the Word of God)
15 percent — the Bible contradicts itself
14 percent — science shows the world is old (which signifies that the Bible in Genesis is in contradiction)
11 percent — the Bible has errors (which means again that it is in contradiction)
4 percent — evolution proves the Bible is wrong (another alleged Bible contradiction)[1]
At least 68 percent of these young adults gave an answer that indicated that the Bible had contradictions. It should make you wonder: would they have walked away from the faith if they had answers for these many alleged contradictions when growing up?
These sad statistics show why it is so important for Christians to answer the alleged Bible contradictions. These young people would have discovered how easy it is to answer the challenges. This book is a great starting point in answering these alleged difficulties, and to teach you how to think and then respond to such claims. Otherwise, just as the Apostle Paul said to Timothy, they could stray from the faith. When Paul wrote these words about 2,000 years ago, he was warning Timothy to avoid a number of things, including contradictions that lead to false knowledge. We should heed this advice as well, and not buy into false claims, as some Christians have (including many seminary and Bible college professors). When even some professing Christians bring up alleged contradictions in Scripture, they have a contradiction of their own to tackle: how can they call the Bible the Word of God and say God got some things wrong?
I hope this book will be an encouragement as it equips you to stand on the authority of God's Word with all boldness and without compromise.
— Ken Ham
President and CEO,
Answers in Genesis