Back-story is here. The collection is here. You can subscribe over there >>>.

9. How long was the ark of the covenant at Abinadab’s house? 1 Sam 7:1-2, 10:24 vs. 2 Sam 6:2-3, Acts 13:21

Um … something about this is familiar.

Let’s go back to #7:

7. How long was the ark of the covenant at Abinadab’s house? 1 Sam 7:1-2, 10:24 vs. 2 Sam 6:2-3, Acts 13:21

Ya. Check out the PDF of the poster for yourself.

Of course, we talked about this just before Christmas. If you missed it, and you’re thinking, “Ya, how long was the ark at Abinadab’s?” you can get the answer here.

If you’re thinking, “What the crap? Really?” … me too.

I think, since we started this project, that I’ve been pretty kind and pretty forgiving. I’ve deleted countless snarky comments before hitting Publish. I gave “The Reason Project” people the benefit of the doubt when they printed Genesis 4:22 even though it had nothing to do with Abram/Abraham and his sons.

But this is pretty blatant. And I find it a little irritating.

I can understand printing an extra scripture reference by accident. Even if someone was proof-reading the poster, they weren’t looking up every scripture reference when they did. Fine.

But this is an obvious, word-for-word, character-for-character, duplicated “contradiction.” And it’s only two lines down from the original. I’d even understand if it was number 367 that repeated number 7. That might be a tough catch, but seven and nine? It’s like they didn’t really expect that anyone would even read the thing.

It’s impossible that no one noticed this before they published this poster. Impossible. So what, then? The only reason I can think of – and if you can come up with another one, leave it in the comments and let me know – is that the people behind the project didn’t really think anyone was going to read the fine print.

And I hope that I’m not the only one who finds that just a little insulting.

Not just as a believer, but as a human being with a brain. I hope atheists are similarly – if not more – insulted.

Someone thought they could create a clever graphic, and shout about, “the Bible contradicts itself 439 times!,” you’d all go “Wow,” and swallow it. Someone didn’t think you’d actually read it, or attempt to think about it the idea of the Bible contradicting itself on your own.

And it added a number to their little list. It didn’t get accidentally re-printed as #7 and then #7, and then #8 was different. It wasn’t 438 issues on 439 lines, it’s 438 issues on 439 lines. It’s a lie.

And a lie based on the assumption that you and I are lazy and/or stupid.

And that irritates me.