I recently received the following question that I would like to address.  “I definitely believe in God. I am certain I believe in the same God of the Christian bible, my struggle is with the bible itself. I find so many contradictions that nobody can explain for me; faith shakers. I want to know my creator, but it is hard when my bible is so tainted by interpretation of man.  God never held the pen, nor did he hand pick the books of the bible. This was done by a committee of men.  I am not an atheist, nor do i try to play devil’s advocate. I am just a person searching for answers. In the exodus for example, it says that the pharaoh would begin to want to comply, but then God hardened the Pharaoh’s heart and made him defiant.  How could the God of love and all living things harden the Pharaoh’s heart, thereby sealing his fate? And what of Judas? Did the God of love and infallibility take free will from these men and damn them?  So even though I believe very much in a loving God, the inconsistencies in the bible cause me to doubt the whole dynamic of salvation through Christ.  I have no choice but to think that there is a possibility that Christ’s role in the bible could have been misrepresented.   I just want the information given to us to be consistent. I apologize for the length of the question as well as punctuation and grammar, but what i want to know is, where can i find a god that makes sense? (content modified for grammar and length).”

First, let me say, while you are looking for a God that makes sense, rest assured He has already found you.  And while that may sound trite it lies at the heart of the answer to the concern mentioned above.  If there is a God (and other posts on this site have already begun addressing that point, as will more to come) who is the Supreme Creator it stands to reason that He would desire to communicate with His creation.  What would prohibit Him from doing so if He desires?  As Paul describes for us, the law is written on our hearts and our conscience also bears witness (Romans 2:15).  The witness of God is upon our hearts from birth.  God begins His communication with us at the very beginning of our existence.

It is more difficult to believe that God would not communicate with us than it is to believe He would.  He certainly has the ability to communicate with us.   God has communicated with us in three primary ways first , the Son, Christ.  He is the fullness of revelation.  Secondly is the Bible, which entirely compliments the revelation of the Son.  The third means is through prayer.

I cannot answer the question of why God has chosen the Bible as one of the three primary means of communicating with us rather than choosing some other means.  But on the other hand, why not the Bible?  Written communication is a common and accepted form of communication (I’m communicating with you right now through written form).   Written communication is the recording of ideas that exist in someone’s mind, whether it be your own with you being the true author, or someone else’s, like a reporter or journalist would.   Is it so inconceivable that an all powerful Creator could communicate the ideas in His mind and heart to those He chose?  Wouldn’t a good author seek to insure that what He has communicated is published accurately and correctly, especially an author with unlimited power?  Why do we make the assumption that the Bible is tainted with the interpretation of man.  Has God shown Himself to be such a hands-off creator and subsequently communicator\author?

One of the test of any published work is how does it stand the test of time?  What other book has withstood such great investigation, scrutiny, cynicism and even attack and remained a timeless message?

 Now in regard to contradictions in the Bible lets really consider that.  I have heard my entire life about contradictions in the Bible.  As I mentioned, no writing in history has been more scrutinized than the Bible.  People have gone to great efforts to identify contradictions and inaccuracies in the Bible.  Where are they, really?  This blog does not have the space to address the many supposed contradictions specifically.  My book will address some of them as examples.  For now, lets consider the attitude that leads to tghe argument of contradictions in the Bible.  If one approaches any writing with the mindset that it must contain contradictions and fallacies, they are guaranteed to find them.  They will produce them.  It is assumed the Bible has contradictions becasue of what it claims to be.  It claims to be the Word of God.  Such an outrageous claim immediately awakens the cynic within us.  If we approach the Bible with the mindset that it is true and accurate we are able to see that the contradictions we thought existed really aren’t there.  I’m not promoting blind acceptance, but rather a different approach in our investigation with a more open mind.

As C.S. Lewis tells us in ‘Mere Christianity’, reality is very much different than we would have expected.  If we were designing the universe it would have been much more symmetrical and simple.  Instead, what we have is complexity that does not meet our expectations.  For example, if one were designing the planets they would probably be uniform in size, or maybe growing larger as they moved further from the sun.  Or they would all have one moon, or three, or some pattern.  Instead we have planets of all different sizes in no particular order, with a variety of moons, one with rings, etc.

The same would be expected if someone were putting together the Bible as a scam or a hoax or even just a good made up story.  They would go to great care to make sure that when people looked for contradictions they would not be able to find them as that would hurt the credibility.  Instead what we have is a book that seems to have (I emphasize the word seems) multiple contradictions, but somehow has stood the test of time.

To address the two examples provided in the question above, simply put, no, God did take away these men’s free will to choose.  Pharaoh did not begin to comply and then God harden His hurt.  There was no real compliance on Pharaoh’s heart.  He thought he could negotiate a deal, thereby placing himself on equal footing with God.  This is not compliance and is certainly not humility.  God hardened Pharaoh’s heart because he would recognize who God was.   The same is true of Judas.   If  not then why was Judas distraught and regret what he had done?  These men chose their own fate when they chose to be the god of their own lives.  This happens to all of us as we seek to make ourselves the God of our own lives.