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Question #60 -
QUESTION:
What about a contradiction that can't be successfully explained?
ANSWER: You will have to accept the
perfection of the Authorized Version by faith.
EXPLANATION:
Many years ago the phone in my kitchen rang. On the line
was a young man who was a student in a class I was teaching in a
nearby Bible College.
He said that his pastor had showed him a
contradiction in the King James Bible. (Great "man of
faith.") He asked if I could explain it. As he began to tell
me the contradiction, I , being familiar with the argument,
finished quoting it.
"Oh, you know about it then?" he
asked.
"Sure," I replied.
"What's the answer?" he urged
expectantly.
"I don't know," I answered, knowing
what I had just done to his faith in me. (In me, that is.)
I explained my reply to him as I will now
explain it to you.
NO ONE can have ALL
of the answers. There are two reasons for this.
First, if I or any other defender of the
Authorized Version had ALL of the answers, we
would be GOD. But there are innumerable differences between our
infinite GOD and His finite creatures. Thus, although some can
have many answers, and a few can have a great many answers, no
one can have ALL of the answers.
Second, and most importantly, if we could get
ALL of our questions answered then concerning the Bible issue, we
would be walking by sight not by faith.
(Hebrews 11:6, II Corinthians 5:7)
I believe there will always
have to be some questions which remain
unexplainable by our human reason. This would make our FINAL
judgment on the infallibility of the Bible contingent on the
reliability of God's statements such as Psalm 12:6,7 and Matthew
24:35 instead of the education and intellect of our favorite
"defenders of the faith."
Of course, the proponent of the Authorized
Version feels a little vulnerable with this conclusion. Knowing
that our antagonists will be quick to exploit what they perceive
as a hole in our armor. BUT a resort to
"faith" as our final and "last ditch" defense
is not as inconsistent or precarious as it first
might seem.
Not inconsistent, because, as previously
stated, God would rather we have faith in Him in the face of the
unexplainable, as so many of the Old and New Testament saints have
exhibited, than to have faith in our own human
ability to "find an answer" concerning difficult
passages.
It is certainly not precarious in that it does
not leave us at the mercy of our vindictive opponents.
For believing in the perfection of a Book which we can
hold in our hands is surely not as vulnerable as a professed
faith in the perfection of some lost originals.
The reason most critics are so vehement about
the infallibility of the originals is because they know that the
originals can NEVER be produced, so their faith
can never be tried or upended.
We are willing, on the other hand, to take the
abuse from our "self conceited brethren" and give
answers for our reasonable faith in a tangible
Book rather than in an idealistic original. We
need not apologize.
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