ContradictionsReading order 453Bible context 2 min read
Should we think for ourselves?
Some passages encourage inquiry and testing, while others subordinate thought to prior religious authority. Thinking and trusting are not opposites, but the limits placed on inquiry differ.
- Textual conflict
- Weak contradiction
- The supplied passages do not establish incompatible claims. Different events, meanings, or conditions may account for the difference.
- Importance
- Major
- A major event or claim with wider implications.
Testing claims and pursuing understanding are compatible with relying on an acknowledged authority rather than one's unaided judgment.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
People should seek understanding and test what they encounter
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Proverbs 2:2
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Proverbs 2
I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:
Ecclesiastes 7:25
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Ecclesiastes 7