Love Truth Blog

Pick up a King James Bible, flip over to 2 Samuel 6:23 and the passage reads: “Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.” That is simple to understand. Flip over to 2 Samuel 21:8, however, and one finds it mentions “the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.” Did Michal the daughter of Saul have children? Or did the biblical writer simply make a mistake? Did he get confused about who’s who in the family of Saul? It might be suggested that the “five sons of Michal” were not really biological children, since 2 Samuel 6:23 states that “she brought up for Adriel,” that is Michal “adopted and brought up the boys under her care.” 1 However, there may be another way of resolving this apparent contradiction. Modern translations, for the most part, offer a different reading of the verse. For example, 2 Samuel 21:8 in the New American Standard reads: “the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul...

God appeared to Solomon in a dream at night and granted him a wish. Solomon then prayed for the wisdom to discern between good and evil so that he could rule as the king over God’s people. Solomon’s prayer pleased God, and the Lord responded in granting the monarch wisdom along with riches and honor (1 Kings 3:5-15). Today King Solomon is known for his great wisdom. Understanding Solomon’s wisdom, on the other hand, can at times be mind boggling. For instance, one proverb of Solomon goes, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him,” but in the very next line reads, “Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes (Prov. 26:4-5, NASB). Does one answer a fool? Is this a contradiction in the Bible? There is no contradiction. The answer to the question of whether or not to answer a fool is both “yes” and “no” depending upon the circumstances. Solomon is not offering two universal rules that apply to every situation; rather he pai...

1 Corinthians is rich with spiritual truths that have implications for Christians of every generation. Some skeptics, however, raise objections to the reliability of 1 Corinthians on the basis of an apparent contradiction made by Paul. They point out that 1 Corinthians 2:15 reads, “But he who is spiritual appraises [or judges] all things, yet he himself is appraised [or judged] by no one,” 1 but that 1 Corinthians 4:5 reads, “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God,” and assert that biblical writer commands readers to do two completely opposite things. 2 Are Christians to judge or not to judge? Paul is not contradicting himself. 1 Corinthians 2:15 concerns the source of the believer’s ability to make sound judgments about truth and error, right and wrong, good and evil, where...

Is the Bible filled with contradictions? Some might answer the question in the affirmative. They may even provide a long list of examples illustrating these apparent contradictions. For instance, they will point out that Paul writes, “Bear one another’s burdens,” (Gal. 6:2), 1 but then a few lines later states, “For each one will bear his own load” (Gal. 6:5), and then ask, "Do we bear one another’s burden or do we bear our own burden?" The solution to the problem is this: Context; Context; Context ! The problem is in fixating upon the bits and pieces of the text, like a verse, phrase, or word, and ignoring the surrounding context. It is unlikely that Paul in Galatians 6:1-5 would say one thing then completely contradict himself in the same paragraph. Paul’s point is that a person should be mindful in caring for the spiritual well-being of both another person and himself. Verse 1 is an exhortation to help restore a fellow brother who has fallen in sin with gentleness, wh...

Worshipping God makes a difference. Not just singing inspirational songs, but when life imitates art, and one’s makes it “all about You, Lord,” universal change becomes reality. All the people will see God’s glory shine in the place of worship and they will sing “He is good, and His love endures forever!” 2 Chronicles 7 illustrates for us why worship matters. Here we find that Solomon’s newly built temple is filled with the glory of the Lord, fire from heaven consumes the burnt offering, the people outside the temple witness the divine manifestation of fire, and they fall down, declaring, “Truly He is good, truly His loving kindness is everlasting” (vv. 1-3). The king and the priest offered animal sacrifices and songs of praise to God, places were consecrated (i.e. set apart solely for use in worship), and sacred meals were eaten (vv. 4-10). Once all ceremonies were completed, God speaks to Solomon. He says, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a hous...

One interesting question that came my way was this: Did Jesus have to pray to God? I do not believe Jesus prayed to God in the sense of confession for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus did not have to pray in this sense. The truth is Jesus does pray. Something that the Gospel writer's sought to communicate was that prayer to be one of the essential components of Christ’s ministry. Mark points out that on one occasion, during a time the Lord ministered miraculous healings to crowds, that “in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house , and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there” (Mark 1:35). Luke tells us that Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray” (Luke 5:16). Elsewhere Luke notes that on occasion Jesus went off to a mountain and spent the night in prayer (Luke 6:12). Jesus taught the disciples how to pray to their Heavenly Father (Luke 11:1-4; cf. Matt. 6:5-13). He even prayed in anticipation of the cros...

Some have trouble figuring out how King Saul died because the telling of the event in 1 Samuel 31 differs the telling of the same incident in 2 Samuel 1. Yet, there is really no conflict here, and the obvious differences serve a larger literary purpose. 1 Samuel 31 records that Saul was critically wounded in battle from archer fire, so he called upon his armor bearer to strike him down for he did not want fall injured into the hands of the Philistines, but the armor bearer refused , so Saul took his own life (v. 2-6). However, in 2 Samuel 1 there is an unnamed Amalekite man who came with “dust on his head” to David, and gave the following report: I have escaped from the camp of Israel…The people have fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also…by chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and behold Saul was leaning on his spear. And behold the chariots and the horsemen pursued him closely. When he looked beh...