finding contradictions in the bible is not "bold" and "courageous" but "lazy"

Here's a methodological driving principle that I hope remains at the foundation of our education for centuries, if Jesus tarries: namely, that it is not bold and courageous to oppose sacred tradition by finding contradictions in the Bible. Sometimes people will be described: "He's a courageous scholar!" and then he says something negative about the Bible or points out a contradiction and therefore he's "courageous" and "bold."

My assessment of that is that it's not courage but laziness, and a failure to go deep for the unity that is there. It will make a superficial institution of higher learning if we opt for the cheap solution of finding contradictions, instead of saying "If I work long enough and hard enough with all my might and as much help as I can get by the Holy Spirit I can find the unity beneath this apparent problem."

- Piper

truth in language

We simply must acknowledge that even though our finite understanding of God is limited, it is no less true! We possess exhaustive knowledge of very little; all reality, including the visible and physical, remains something of a mystery to us. Our talk of spiritual matters, including those of our own souls, is necessarily metaphorical, figurative, poetic. But this does not mean that what we say is untrue and incorrect. On the contrary, real poetry is truth, for it is based on the resemblance, similarity and kinship that exist between different groups of phenomena. All language participates in this rich interpenetration of visible and invisible. If speaking figuratively were untrue, all our thought and knowledge would be an illusion and speech itself impossible.

- Bavinck