Skeptics Annotated Bible

A Response

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11/22/2004

Skeptics Annotated Bible - A Response

Often in this day and age, it is claimed that the Bible contains contradictions. Many times a website is used in the attempt to prove that the critic is correct in the assertion that the Bible contains contradictions. Is this true? Does the Bible contain any contradictions? The answer is; absolutely not!

2Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness

I thought it would be a good learning exercise to go through the alledged contradictions offered by the critic, and demonstrate exactly how they have misunderstood the Bible, either intentionally or mistakenly, thereby explaining clearly what the Bible actually claims, in it's own words! I feel this would prove to be an excellent learning exercise for the professing Christian, and will also help to familiarize them with the most common claims being made against the Bible today. This will also help any person who may not know what the answers actually are, but are seeking truth, and thus, provide a good witnessing tool whenever the claims are made.

The following link will be useful in helping to know what claims are being made by the critic. Anyone who wants to make a claim against the Bible as presenting contradictions, or dispute our responses here, feel free to add your comments to our Discussion Board. The link can be found at the top of every page.

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible website offers 360+ alleged contradictions from the Bible. Are they right in their claims against the Bible? The answer of course is absolutely not! This website, among many others linked here, prove that our claim stands as true as God's sure word. In fact, by offering these "alleged" contradictions, this actually becomes a useful tool for any person who may not know what the true answers actually are, thus, providing a reason to study the Bible so that it may in fact reveal God's truths. This website appreciates such effort, and once again, to us, only proves that God's word is as certain as the morning sun or the full moon.

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

The SAB website has been known to be reasonable and objective when discussing these alleged contradictions, and they have also been known to remove any alleged contradiction that has been shown not to be a contradiction at all. If you want to discuss any such matters with them, please feel free to visit their Discussion Board and join in the discussions.

INDEX OF "ALLEGED" CONTRADICTIONS

Index of Contradictions
Front Page Commentary
Links

Bible Contradictions Resolved rationalchristianity.net

Dan of Israel

Are There Any Copyists' Errors in the Holy Bible?
The King James Bible Page

Answering a List of Biblical Contradictions
James Patrick Holding
Tekton Apologetics Ministry

101 Cleared Up Contradictions
Jay Smith, Alex Chowdhry, Toby Jepson, James Schaeffer

What is the Skeptic's Annotated Bible?
Got Questions Ministries

Bible Contradictions
Apologetics Index

The Skepticâ€™s Faulty Assumption
Apologetics Press

Countering the Critics Question and Answers
Answers in genesis.org

Resolved Bible Contradictions
Rational Christianity.net

True Contradictions
Which One Does The ACLU Consider a Threat?

Commentary on the
Skeptics' Annotated Bible
by James Patrick Holding
Tekton Apologetics Ministry

Do you know a person who writes in their Bible? Some Bibles today even come with space for such scribblers. I do write in my books, though not in my Bible, since that's a little hard with one on CD-ROM. But after numerous requests we have decided to offer some comments on one of the leading skeptical scribble-sites on the Net, the Skeptics' Annotated Bible.

By appearance this site is about the same as Ken's Guide to the Bible and even uses some of the same categories. But Ken offers even more details than these guys. As most will know, SAB is an online version of the Bible with little pictures placed by verses editorializing on the comment: stuff like sex, blood and guts, injustice, etc.

Why have we not bothered with these guys before? Because they aren't actually arguing anything. Editorial commentary in the form of pictures and one-sentence comments are not arguments. SAB is the Internet equivalent to a brick wall scribbled with graffiti, or arguing by saying, "nanny nanny boo boo." It performs (of course!) no analysis of the social background, the literary data, or context. It is merely "instant reaction" from angry Skeptics. And that sort of arguing isn't arguing at all. We feel no more obliged to offer a response than they would feel obliged to respond to a preacher whose only argument was, "You're a sinner bound for hell!"

That said, such implied arguments as SAB uses are indeed thoroughly answered on this site and others we link to, but as our time has opened up a bit it is time to get more specific. We have now run through the single-sentence commentaries in SAB and added such response as we deemed necessary. By estimate perhaps 40-50% of SAB's comments are either "argument by outrage" or places where SAB takes moral offense, usually against a cultural norm. Most of the rest are easily answered by links. Overall almost none of SAB deserves detailed response and many cases require no more than a "So, what's the big deal?" as a response. We now consider our dealings with SAB otherwise closed. Though SAB updates nearly every day (1-2 verses) we see no need to address each new objection as they have in principles been almost all the same.