A brief instruction of what the word contradiction.

A very common criticism often hurled at the bible is it contains contradictions, but 9 times outta 10 the person making this assertion is ignorant as to what a contradiction really is.

What does the word contradiction mean?

Oxford dictionary definition of contradiction

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/contradiction?view=uk

contradiction

• noun 1 a combination of statements, ideas, or features which are opposed to one another. 2 the statement of a position opposite to one already made.

— PHRASES contradiction in terms a statement or group of words associating incompatible objects or ideas.

Second

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contradiction

1: act or an instance of contradicting
2 a: a proposition, statement, or phrase that asserts or implies both the truth and falsity of something b: a statement or phrase whose parts contradict each other
3 a: logical incongruity b: a situation in which inherent factors, actions, or propositions are inconsistent or contrary to one another

Contrary

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contrary

1: a fact or condition incompatible with another : opposite —usually used with the
2: one of a pair of opposites
3 a: a proposition so related to another that though both may be false they cannot both be true — compare subcontrary b: either of two terms (as good and evil) that cannot both be affirmed of the same subject

Contrary 2

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/contrary?view=uk

• adjective 1 opposite in nature, direction, or meaning. 2 (of two or more statements, beliefs, etc.) opposed to one another. 3 /kntrairi/ perversely inclined to do the opposite of what is expected or desired.

• noun (the contrary) the opposite.

— PHRASES to the contrary with the opposite meaning or implication.

— DERIVATIVES contrarily adverb contrariness noun.

— ORIGIN Latin contrarius, from contra ‘against’.

Lets look at the root words.

Two words, contra diction.

Contra defined

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/contra?view=uk

We have the word Contra defined.

contra-

• prefix 1 against; opposite: contraception. 2 (of musical instruments or organ stops) pitched an octave below: contrabass.

— ORIGIN Latin contra ‘against’

Diction defined
http://www.askoxford.com/results/?view=dict&freesearch=diction&branch=13842570&textsearchtype=exact

diction

• noun 1 the choice and use of words in speech or writing. 2 the style of enunciation in speaking or singing.

— ORIGIN Latin, from dicere ‘to say’.

Inconsistent defined.

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/inconsistent?view=uk

inconsistent

• adjective not consistent.

— DERIVATIVES inconsistency noun inconsistently adverb.

Inconsistent

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inconsistent

: lacking consistency: as a: not compatible with another fact or claim
b: containing incompatible elements
c: incoherent or illogical in thought or actions : changeable
d: not satisfiable by the same set of values for the unknowns
— in·con·sis·tent·ly adverb

an inconsistency is not a contradiction. Take a look at the following statement.

The victim was killed with a knife.
The victim was killed with a gun.

Taken at face value this looks like a contradiction. However if I added the following.

The victims body was found with knife wounds and gun wounds.
A contradiction more specifically is defined would resemble the following

In logic, the Principle of contradiction (principium contradictionis in Latin) is the second of the so-called three classic laws of thought. The oldest statement of the law is that contradictory statements cannot both at the same time be true, e.g. the two propositions A is B and A is not B are mutually exclusive. A may be B at one time, and not at another; A may be partly B and partly not B at the same time; but it is impossible to predicate of the same thing, at the same time, and in the same sense, the absence and the presence of the same quality. This is the statement of the law given by Aristotle. It takes no account of the truth of either proposition; if one is true, the other is not; one of the two must be true.

So I cannot be dead and alive at the same place at the same time. I can however, be alive at one moment and dead the next, or I can be alive in one place and dead in another place, the most important part of the definition are the following words "at the same place and at the same time."
Let us take a bible 'contradiction' from here and apply the real definition of the word.

EXO 15:3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

ROM 15:33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

It says in Exodus that God is a man of war, and in Romans, which was written thousands of years later that God is a man of peace, for it to be a contradiction it would God would have to be a man of war and a God of peace at the same time or in the same place.