Does the Bible really contradict itself? Pastors take on viral TikTok theology

In a day where TikTok theology is wracking up millions of views, it’s more important than ever for Christians to know what the Bible actually says. On this episode of “Live Free,” Josh Howerton’s co-hosts and fellow pastors Paul Cunningham and Carlos Erazo address a viral TikTok video, in which the creator claims the Bible has several contradictions. “The Bible says that God is all-knowing. Psalm 147:5 says that His understanding is infinite. First John 3:20 says that God knows all things. Matthew 10:30 says that He knows the number of hairs on our heads,” the video creator began. “But in Genesis 18, God says He’s going to go down to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to know how sinful they’re being. An all-knowing God would know that. He wouldn’t have to go down there. Also, an all-present God would already be there,” he argued.In his second claim, he argued that the empty story was inconsistent across the gospels: “In the books of Matthew and Luke in the Resurrection story, it says that the women who discovered the empty tomb ran off and told everyone that the tomb was empty. But in the book of Mark, it says that the women were afraid and didn’t tell anyone.” The creator’s final claim aimed to debunk the Bible’s definition of love: “And then of course there’s the whole God is love, but then it also says that love is patient and kind, never jealous or boast. But then it says that God is a jealous God. So how could God be love if love isn’t jealous?” Cunningham begins by addressing the TikTok creator’s claim about love and jealousy, pointing to the semantics of the word “jealous.”“The same word can be used in certain ways in certain contexts that would be appropriate and in other ways that would be inappropriate,” he says. He gives the example of a husband being jealous regarding his wife. “I should not be jealous if my wife were simply to say hello to a male co-worker, but I actually should be jealous if my wife slept with that male co-worker,” he explains. “The reason I give that analogy is that usually when it says God is jealous in the Bible, it’s in relationship to His people, Israel, and it talks about in context that they are His bride and they are giving love to a different god or a different thing that only belongs to Him,” he adds. Erazo then dives into the creator’s claim that an all-knowing God would not have to visit Sodom and Gomorrah to find out what the people were up to. He gives the analogy of playing hide-and-seek with his 4-year-old son. “I’ll say, ‘Where are you? I don’t see you.’ I know where he is because I’m his father,” he says. “And so when God seems to be asking questions and when He seems to not know one thing, He knows.” “A fancy phrase for that is called anthropomorphic language,” adds Cunningham. “God has to use language we can understand to help us understand a God we can’t completely understand.” Above all, Cunningham and Erazo want believers to not allow “seeming contradictions” to shake their faith. “When you see videos like this, don’t freak out if they bring up something you’ve never thought about because someone else has thought about it and probably given a really good answer for it,” says Cunningham. To hear the duo’s full response to the video and other kinds of TikTok theology, watch the episode above. Join BlazeTV+ and start watching Josh today at blazetv.com/JOSH. Use promo code JOSH to get $20 off your subscription.