From: Chris Ho-Stuart <>
Newsgroups: nz.soc.religion,aus.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Tigger gave it a try
Date: 24 Mar 1999 08:33:09 GMT

Able <> wrote:

>  Yes, I thought that this is how you thought,  it is very common among
> atheists to be convinced that there is no God because of Bible
> Contradictions. It is a clear observation that I have through
> communicating and lurking on alt.atheism.It is also a reason why
> Christians have become atheists..there are a lot of the in this
> category on alt.atheism. They are hailed as heros and a light to
> others..Such men as the one that has written the book that Andy is
> getting for you. I am interested in apparent contradictions and would
> be pleased to discuss any with you.

In my experience, the people who BECOME atheists based on the
existence of contradictions in the bible are people who previously
held an inerrant view and on discovering to be nonsense, dropped
their faith.

People who are atheists because they never were believers sometimes
put considerable weight on bible contradictions. In this case it
is usually because Christians with an inerrant view are trying
to persuade them to change their mind, and it is very easy to
show that this faith in inerrancy is nonsense, by appeal to
contradictions.

On the other hand, there are a substantial number of atheists,
like myself, who do not find contradictions or inerrancy to be
of any great significance; usually because of awareness that
Christian belief does not imply belief in inerrancy.

For my own part, I was long aware of the problems with inerrancy
as a Christian. My theology was fairly liberal -- not as well
thought out as Nigel's, but having much in common nevertheless.
For me, then, inerrancy and contradictions are trivial issues,
having nothing at all to do with the real reasons for my eventual
rejection of faith.

Contradictions are of interest because some Christians happen to
believe in inerrancy, and it thus in discussions on religion
it is relevant to consider that aspect of belief. I have NEVER
considered pointing out the foolishness of inerrancy to be
pointing out a defect in Christianity itself.

Another reason that contradictions are of interest in their
own right is that they can be a useful aid to understanding the
many distinct perspectives which are available within the bible.
Such study, of course, is considered vaccuous by those who
believe in inerrancy; but it is widely used nevertheless by
a great many believing and nonbelieving scholars to help gain
insight into the bible.

An atheist -- or a Christian, for that matter -- who is not well
immersed in the possibilities of a sincere belief that happens
not to require inerrancy sometimes appears to be rather confused;
and unable to even achieve meaningful discussions with liberal
believers; because they cannot shake the notion that a Christian
somehow *has* to explain why God wrote contradictions. No matter
how often it is stated that the bible is not dictated by God, the
same question crops up. I've also seen some comical examples of
this in alt.atheism, where the atheist "refutations" do not even
engage the faith they purport to refute.

>   As I have said , they can all be explained and men of God have being
> doing this for 2000 years, not everybody is listening or wants to
> listen.That includes atheists and Christians alike.There are no
> contradictions that have been handed down that actually impact on the
> Christian Faith. In this way the Bible has a remarkable history of
> self preservation.

Whether contradictions impact on faith depends on the faith. They
certain impact on a belief that divine inspiration implies
inerrancy. If you have that belief, then the existance of
contradictions would imply no divine inspiration!

On the other hand, if Christian faith does not require inerrancy,
then you are quite right. Such contradictions as exist have a
fairly trivial impact.

Best wishes -- Chris Ho-Stuart