Having rights or being rightWhen you try to explain the Bible to a friend, you might get the response, "That’s just your interpretation?" That reply is most popular from those who disagree with another person’s view, especially about the Bible. On the surface, it sounds innocent enough — we all have the right to our opinion. But having the right to our opinion is not the issue. The level of thinking in our day has declined so much that people confuse the right to their opinion with the likelihood that their opinion is right. But those two concepts are unrelated. "But," your friend adds, "the Bible includes all those mysterious, contradictory statements. How can anyone think his view is better than any other view?" The question introduces many issues such as the understanding of statements, the role of logic, and the difference between a paradox and a contradiction. Let’s consider those issues point by point.First, God gave the Bible to be understood in common language by common people. Its meaning is not restricted to church authorities or any other elite group. Even though we may need scholars to help us grasp the Bible’s hard parts, its meaning is usually quite clear if we approach it honestly. Second, the Bible’s understandability does not mean it can be interpreted any way we choose. We have no excuse for sloppy or lazy thinking to make it say whatever supports our preferences. Our interpretation of any statement is right only if it corresponds to the author’s intent. Third, our inability to understand everything in the Bible or in the universe does not mean that God, the source of both, is the author of confusion, or chaos, or irrationality. The fact that God’s understanding exceeds logic does not mean it violates logic. He may, at times, be supra-rational, but he’s never irrational. We don’t pursue truth better by avoiding logic. Fourth, the Bible does include things beyond human understanding. But the presence of mysteries or paradoxes does not make the Bible incomprehensible. A paradox is a statement that looks like a contradiction on the surface, but becomes more clear with more thought. A contradiction is a statement that says something can be what it is and not be what it is at the same time and in the same way. For instance, to say a shape is a circle and then say it is not a circle is a contradiction. The Bible never does that. We are responsible to think clearly about what we can understand now, and trust God to explain more fully in eternity what we can’t understand now. In the meantime, don’t let your friend confuse you by merging two unrelated concepts — their right to an opinion and the likelihood that their opinion is right.