Bible Contradictions Quick Reference Guide

A Contradictions Cheat Sheet

Quick Diagnostic Questions

When two passages seem to clash, ask:

1. Am I starting with the hard verse or avoiding it?
   Hard verses are often the clue, not the problem.

2. Is the same word being used the same way in both places?
   Words can have broader or narrower meanings depending on context.

3. What kind of statement am I reading?
   Summary, close-up detail, sequence, theme, emphasis, legal wording, ordinary speech?

4. Have I flattened categories that the text keeps distinct?
   Days, Sabbaths, feast names, numbers, genealogies, titles, locations, audiences.

5. Am I forcing modern precision onto ancient writing?
   Biblical writers do not always narrate the way modern readers expect.

6. Am I mistaking omission or selectivity for contradiction?
   Omission is not denial. Emphasis is not an error.

7. Am I weakening explicit wording to protect a familiar view?
   The clearest text should govern the system, not be softened by it.

8. Does my solution solve the problem or just move it?
   A bad harmonization protects one verse by gutting another.

Core Principles

• Overview and detail are not in contradiction.
• Different emphasis is not a contradiction.
• Broader and narrower word usage are not in contradiction.
• Ancient categories are not modern categories.
• Explicit text should govern inherited assumptions, not the other way around.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Adding only, exactly, or at that very moment where the text does not.
• Assuming one meaning for a term in every passage.
• Treating omission as contradiction.
• Softening a verse to protect a preferred interpretation.
• Calling the text inconsistent before checking your assumptions.

Right Posture

False humility:
"Maybe the Bible is just inconsistent here."

Real humility:
"I may be missing something. Keep digging."

One-Line Method

Let the text speak at full strength, keep its categories distinct, and follow the evidence where it actually leads.

"Let God be true and every man a liar." — Romans 3:4