Well, yes I think that’s being honest. I think its being honest about the method of interpretation.
I agree two things can either be factually contradictory or not. Or there are discrepancies or there are none. But, that’s a red herring, which would lead us into a philosophical tangent now about whether or not we can know the truth. Positivism, critical Realism, etc.
I’m talking about the presuppositions which determine how people come to argue for or against one or the other. At the level I’m speaking about, I wonder if some have already decided before attempting to test the textual data objectively about whether or not there are contradictions and or discrepancies or not. Which is why I asked, ‘If the bible did contradict itself or have a discrepancy, what would it look like?’
For example would it look like these…
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Paul in Thessalonians 4.17 says Jesus will take up living believers in his lifetime and unite them with those who currently asleep. Paul believed Jesus would return in his lifetime. Is that a discrepancy? I suspect some might choose to intepret it such that it is somehow true arguing its not a discrepancy, were as some might go the other way.
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What about the difference in perception regarding the afterlife in the OT and the NT? Sheol, corruption and away from the presence of God vs. Abraham is alive, the dead in Christ are with him, resurrection, the cloud of witnesses and eternity? Contradiction or not?
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Or, the existence of other gods. Compare Ex 12.12 with Isa 45.21-22. Some might say this is a contradiction. Other might seek an interpretation to say otherwise.
Are these examples of contradictions or discrepancies? You might say no, saying ‘you should interpret it this way. See there are none’. Others might say yes… I assume for evangelicals there’s a hermeneutic of faith predicated on 2 Tim 3.16… A choice that is made beforehand regardless of the objective truth. I assume this choice involves the heart as well as the mind.
I guess the more I read scripture, the more relaxed I feel about if or not there are contradictions or discrepancies in it. Just let it say what it wants.