Ken Ham - Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions Volume 2: Exploring Forty Alleged Contradictions

First printing: February 2012
Fourth printing: April 2021

Copyright 2011 by Answers in GenesisUSA. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. For information write:

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the New King James Version of the Bible, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the editors and reviewers who graciously gave of their time to help review chapters in this book:

Dr. Terry Mortenson, Ken Ham, Pastor David Chakranarayan, Dr. Tommy Mitchell, Ron Uebel, Tim Chaffey, Bodie Hodge, Frost Smith, Chuck McKnight, Erik Lutz, David Wright, Karin Viet, Roger Patterson, Troy Lacey, Steve Fazekas, and Jeremy Ham.

Contents

Each alleged contradiction could often be listed in multiple places, so we merely selected one of the relevant verses and put it under that section.

Introduction

A Good Defense Is a Good Offense

Bodie Hodge and David Wright

We often hear skeptics attack Christians with pointed questions in an attempt to poke holes in the Christian worldview. In many cases, they directly attack the Bible or the character of God. The debate usually goes something like the following:

1. The skeptic attacks with the first question.
2. The Christian responds to the first question.
3. The skeptic attacks with a second question.
4. The Christian responds to the second question.
5. The skeptic attacks with a third question.
6. The Christian responds to the third question.
7. It continues like this until they part ways.

Many times these debates can be heated, and weve even found numerous instances where the skeptic asks a question and gives no time for a response before he or she fires off another question. Other times, weve seen skeptics ask multiple unrelated questions all at once trying to overwhelm the Christian. But notice the tactic attack and make the Christian defend his viewpoint until the battle is over. They are trying to make the Christian give up ground with all these attacks.

But in the battle over these humanistic religions and the Bible, should Christians simply be on the defensive? Sooner or later, the Christian needs to have a Normandy. Normandy was the largest-ever-in-history amphibious offensive to the Nazi invasion of Europe. In other words, the Christian needs to take an offensive in the debate, rather than always staying on the defensive.

Turning the Tide

In fact, we are called to demolish arguments, but unlike the unbeliever (2 Corinthians 10:45; Romans 14:6), we need to do this with gentleness, respect, and graciousness (1 Peter 3:15; Colossians 4:6). We can respect a person and be gentle to the person with the same grace the Lord showed to us, while being fierce toward the false philosophy that has taken him or her captive (Ephesians 6:12).

The atheists, agnostics, humanists, and so on are not the enemy for they are made in the image of God, just as we are, whether they acknowledge it or not. The false ideas of atheism, agnosticism, and humanism are enemies of the truth, and these enemies need to be attacked so the person deceived by them can realize their errors and see the truth. Sadly, many unbelievers do not realize they are merely being used as pawns in a chess match a spiritual battle between good and evil.

We need to get these unbelievers to realize they have been duped. This is where an attack on their false philosophies becomes important. We need to show them the weakness of their religion. Otherwise, they will continue to think they are standing on a solid foundation, when they arent. Our battle tactic should change to be as follows:

1. The skeptic attacks with the first question.
2. The Christian responds to the first question and attacks the false philosophy. He should be gentle and respectful to the person but not hold back on the truth or neglect to use Scripture as foundational truth.
3. The skeptic defends his philosophy. He will be forced to evaluate his religion to see if it really stands firm. This will be a first for many skeptics.
4. The Christian attacks the false philosophy again.
5. The skeptic defends his philosophy.
6. It continues like this until they part ways. Before this happens, the Christian should look for an opportunity to share the gospel message.

Notice this is not attacking the person but his or her philosophy. You may need to point this out to the person.

Practical Example (Bodie Hodge)

One day I was called to deal with a hostile professing evolutionary atheist who was questioning a young Christian lady. As I approached, the skeptic fired off question after question to the lady and did not even permit her to respond. Every time the Christian tried to respond, the skeptic would ask another question in a rather aggressive tone.

When I cut into the conversation the skeptic turned to me and asked who I was. I kindly told him who I was and gave my credentials. He said something sarcastically to the effect of finally someone with an education. Then, he launched into a tirade, one question after another attacking Christianity. Every time I tried to respond, he cut me off with another question.

So I changed my tactic. While he took a breath, I slipped in a question that almost silenced him. I asked him, Why are you wearing clothes? He was taken back and became speechless. So I asked again and then said something to the effect that animals dont get up in the morning and put clothes on. You are an atheist, right? You believe people are just animals, so why are you wearing clothes?

Then he paused and thought for a moment and said, Because its cold. So I instantly came back and said, So when it warms up you dont wear clothes? He was speechless. Obviously, he had not considered, in his professed worldview, why he wore clothes. Yet there he was with shirt and pants on. (Thankfully!)

I explained that he wears clothes because in a literal Genesis, a literal Adam and a literal Eve ate a literal fruit and literally disobeyed God, and that caused us to be literally shameful. So we wear clothes as a result. And in your heart of hearts, you know God exists, and your actions reveal that you know you are shameful (Romans 1).

Then I noticed he was wearing a wedding band. So I asked, Why did you get married? He said that it was because he loved his wife. I pointed out that love, in an atheistic worldview, is no different from sadness both being chemical reactions in the brain that are essentially meaningless. Love exists in a Christian worldview where we are made in the image of a loving God.

I also pointed out that getting married is contrary to what adherents of an evolutionary worldview teach. You have one basic goal in evolution to pass your genes on to as many people as you can. Getting married and being faithful to one woman [which he said he was and I do want to encourage that by the way] goes against what a professed evolutionary atheist should be doing.