Brief Thought #5: Bible Contradictions and the Fourth Dimension

One of the most common criticisms that skeptics raise against the Bible is that it is self-contradictory.  Being a big fan of logic, I used to spend a lot of time and thought trying to reconcile these perceived contradictions.  Then I became an entrepreneur.  Studying books and articles about business, I learned that the most common and necessary characteristic of an entrepreneur is a high tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity.  You always have to act based on incomplete and contradictory information.  I started thinking about this.  The Bible may not contradict itself, but if it does, then it is merely a reflection on all of life.  Life is full of contradictions: all things equal, we have to choose the ones we are most comfortable with.

I have been reading a book to my family that I read about ten years ago.  It is Hyperspace by Michio Kaku.  It’s a little outdated, but still a good introduction to the topic of string theory.  The author has some new books which I haven’t read yet.  In Hyperspace, Kaku explains the fourth and higher dimensions and how they simplify the laws of nature mathematically.  The complicated “forces” we observe in three dimensions become relatively simple space geometries when analyzed in higher dimensions.  The lesson here is one of perspective.  From a higher perspective, things which seem hopelessly complicated and contradictory can appear elegantly simple and consistent.  The goal of modern physics is to give Man a “God’s-eye view” of the universe and let him see the universe in its elegant simplicity.  Similarly, a God’s-eye view of the world, human history, and the Bible and other ancient writings, would likely bring pattern and organization out of what we perceive to be chaos.  The apparent contradictions of life may coalesce into a coherent whole.