Bible Question: in study of God word many use the terms contradiction and paradox, what is the different between the two |
Bible Answer: ford, There is a difference between paradox and contradiction. A contradiction is when at least two ideas, by their very definition, cannot coexist. For example, it is impossible for it to naturally be daytime and nighttime simultaneously in one location. Paradox, on the other hand, is when two ideas do coexist, when in fact one would have thought that they should not and could not. The basis of a paradox, therefore, is usually a lack of information that, more than likely, is the result of a faulty assumption. For example, one of the most profound paradoxes today is the one concerning the age of the world. Modern science through carbon testing and other methods have put the age of the world in the billions of years. Torah, on the other hand (according to Nachmanides), teaches that the world is under 6,000 years old. Assuming that the scientific data is accurate, and assuming that the world has always aged according to the same pattern, and assuming that time has always flowed according to the same measure, there is a paradox. How can the world be both billions of years old, and yet under 6,000 years old? Until recently the paradox was viewed as a contradiction. How then does one resolve a contradiction? They merely dismiss what seems to be the least credible side of the contradiction (for some that was Torah, and for others it was science), and accept only one viewpoint. Now when you figure this out, let me know :) God bless |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 1 | Author | ||
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ford | ||
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inmyheart | ||
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