The problem with the skeptic is they apply a different manner of logic compared with any other historical document; historians start of by giving the document the benefit of the doubt even when they find an error in them, they then try and reconcile it. If a skeptic finds an alleged contradiction they will immediately mark it of as an error and never do any further research. Many contradictions have been resolved by non-Christian scholars yet the typical skeptic holds to his outdated belief and refuses to have an open mind.
I believe there are several reasons why God inspired the writers of the bible to include contradictions at the surface level, one reason would be if the gospel writers all had the exact same story in every detail, the skeptic would then be chanting down the line collusion, collusion, collusion. The way a judge in a court of law can tell if there is collusion between witnesses is if the testimonies are exactly the same in every detail. Another reason for supposed contradictions would be to stimulate the mind, the amount of biblical studies conducted by scholars and intellectual Christians over contradictions is enormous. Once a Christian has resolved contradictions it creates an amazing awe of the bible, that all these writers over thousands of years and many different circumstances did not even contradict one another once, try doing that with a years worth of newspapers over the same topic. There are of course other reasons that many people have brought up but this part of the section is merely speculation and I will not go into it any further.
The reason why skeptics find so many contradictions is often because of a lack of knowledge in regards to the surroundings of the writers, lack of historical knowledge and lack of understanding of the original language. There is also an obsession with skeptics for everything to be written in the western style of writing and they disregard that other cultures around the world did not always write in the western format of chronological order.
I was studying a mythology unit at an Australian university and the story of Genesis came up concerning the two different accounts of creation, chapter one had plants trees and animals made on different days then chapter two. The college professor brought this one up, I sent him an email and asked what his obsession was with chronological order, he replied he did not have one and then asked if he understood that early Hebrews writers did not write in chronological order but in blocks of events, he replied he knew that. I then asked why there was a contradiction in Genesis and explained to him that chapter one is talking about what had occurred in the whole universe and earth but chapter two was specifically talking about what had occurred in the Garden of Eden only, in front of Adam and that there was no contradiction at all. It is funny I never received a response after that, so I included it in an essay just to make sure he got the idea. I do often wonder if the professor still teaches that contradiction. The most frustrating problem is not the alleged contradictions itself but when you resolve numerous contradictions for the skeptic and yet he continues making up more alleged contradictions, often never coming to the conclusion that the bible does not contradict itself but the logic of the skeptic does.
I could sit here all day and write out supposed contradictions the skeptics love to bring up and I could resolve everyone of them, so I will post a challenge to any skeptic who reads this if they can bring me a logical contradiction I cannot resolve I will pay them $100. If you as a believer have found contradictions or are challenged by a skeptics contradiction, I am happy to resolve them for you just message me and I will get back to you as soon as possible and will also publish them here.
In the next section I will write a brief refutation of the skeptics claim that the Gospel writers copied ancient mythology. Click here.