:*[https://www.goarch.org/-/the-orthodox-church-and-the-other-christian-churches The Orthodox Church And The Other Christian Churches, Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Clapsis (goarch.org)]
:The contrasting texts in the exercise above all appear to '''[[Contradiction|contradict]]''', ''absolutely''—but only when the consistent tradition of the interpretation of the body of Christ, the church, the "mind of Christ" handed down from the time of the apostles, is rejected, in favor of independent, individualist interpretations formulated (a) according to the unguided intellect of [[Ignorance|ignorantuninformed]] Bible readers concentrating on the apparently "simple, plain and obvious meaning of the words" of the text, or (b) according to scholarly theologians, and researchers who have divorced themselves from the past and are standing apart from the whole community of the body of Christ, by isolating passages of scripture, even whole books of scripture, from the context of the Bible as a whole. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+2%3A11-16&version=RSVCE 1 Corinthians 2:11-16 "we have the mind of Christ"]. [https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Sirach%203%3A24 "Their own opinion has misled many" Sirach 3:24] (see [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Peter+3%3A16-17&version=RSVCE 2 Peter 3:16-17] and [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Peter+1%3A19-2%3A1&version=RSVCE 2 Peter 1:19–2:1]).
:[[Specious reasoning|Speciously apparent]] contradictions in the biblical text have been seen as a willing pretext, or (unfortunately) an ''unwilling'' pretext, or opportunity for [[apostasy]] from the faith. Many have been so [[scandal]]ized by what they think are inconsistencies in the Bible that they have decided that Christian belief is [[Logical fallacy|wrong]]ly founded on [[falsehood]]s and [[myth]]s without any basis in reality and therefore cannot be true (''"so why should we believe it?"''). The majority of [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologists]] could easily cite the parable of the sower of the seed, and the meaning of "[[Satan]]" as "accuser, faultfinder", the [[Devil]], "the birds of the air" taking away the word ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13%3A18-30&version=RSVCE Matthew 13:18-30]). There are Christians who place their faith solely in Christ and the truth of the Bible alone without relying on the Church or any scholarly research (''[[sola spiritu]]''), and there are Christians who place their faith in Christ and the Church alone without feeling the necessity of relying solely on understanding the truth of the Bible to confirm their faith. There are also those [[Hypocrites|hypocritical individuals]] who are comfortable in being [[Christian In Name Only|nominal believers]] for whom doctrine is simply a casual matter of [[opinion]] and [[indifference]], like those careless individuals who are [[Cafeteria Catholic|Catholic in name only]], Christians who believe the Bible does not actually need to be true, who see no need for debate over its meaning, content to be "reasonably moral citizens" who go to church when it is convenient, who pray from time to time when it occurs to them, and are untroubled by apparent inconsistencies and contradictions. They indirectly support the [[Social Gospel|social gospel]] without being [[Activism|activists]] and implicitly accept a vague and indefinite form of [[preterism]]. The simple faith of those untroubled by "contradictions" rests on the belief that ultimately all mysteries will be revealed in heaven. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms+131&version=RSVCE Psalm 131]. Compare [[Eternal security (salvation)]].