This is a rebuttal to the 21st alleged Bible contradiction

Question 21: Could Christians carry staffs?

These are the verses Evans presented to make his claim.

In the 'no' category, we have

Matthew 10:9-10, Luke 9:3-5

Mark 6:8.

My standard prefacing comments:

• God's dealing with Mankind has been chopped up into various dispensations,
  starting with that of Adam, then to Noah, then to Abraham, then to Moses,
  then to Jesus (who gave us the Church Age), then to the Millennial Reign
  of Christ, etc. The moral constraints that God places on the people of the
  earth are primarily dictated by the dispensation the individuals were born
  within and their undefiled consciences.
• The Bible reveals the big doctrines of God progressively over time,
  such as heaven, hell, angels, devils, salvation, the Messiah, etc. As a
  consequence, the verses in the back of the Bible (i.e., the Gospels on)
  tend to be more authoritative than those in the beginning of the Bible.
  As a corollary to this, often part of the revelation given to the prophet
  will not make any sense to the prophet or even to the people of his own
  generation. In my novels I refer to these verses as 'praega talleas' or
  hidden gems, not capable of being appreciated or even understood until
  centuries or even millenia later.
• Not all verses are equally authoritative. What Jesus said trumps every
  other writing in the Bible.
• Not all people are equally equal. Jesus Christ is not just another man
  among the billions of people. Jesus, not you or me, is God in the flesh.
  In the Church Age, the true followers of Jesus, by the grace of God, are
  partakers of the divine nature [2 Peter 1:4], but they are not themselves
  divine. See also Galatians 5:16.
• Just because a certain action or claim is recorded about someone in the
  Bible, doesn't mean that God approved of it. They may even be sincere
  and still get it wrong. Remember Job's friends who came to Job to
  commiserate with him and later to advise him on righteousness and the
  nature of God? They assumed that they were acting as the oracles of God,
  but God gave them a stern rebuke for their errors. But even if God did
  not approve of some claim or action, that does not mean that the Bible
  specifically condemned it in the attending verses.
• My favorite way to attempt to resolve controversial doctrines or claims is
  to collect all verses on the matter and then consisticize them so as to reduce
  the number of apparent contradictions, if there are any. Like it or not, the
  Bible has to be interpreted by the Bible.
• I am not a Christian apologist. It may take twenty years of hard study
  to be good at Christian apologetics, and I'm too old to start education for
  that now. I'm just a Christian who has had to deal with some of these
  hard questions on my own.
• I do not demand that the scriptures are inerrant, though they may have
  been in their original forms. The reason I am not going to claim that
  they are inerrant is simple practicality: I am not prepared to rigorously
  defend that claim. That would take a lot of knowledge that I do not have.

On the No side:

5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not
into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter
ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And
as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal
the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye
have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass
in your purses, 10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither
shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
-- Matthew 10:5-10

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and
authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 2 And he sent them to
preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. 3 And he said unto them,
Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread,
neither money; neither have two coats apiece. 4 And whatsoever house
ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. 5 And whosoever will not
receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from
your feet for a testimony against them.
-- Luke 9:3-5

On the Yes side:

7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by
two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; 8 And commanded
them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only;
no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
-- Mark 6:8

My answer

Well, there could be an inconsistency here, but maybe not. One interpretation
could be that Jesus said that they could take one staff, but not more than
one staff, even as they apparently were allowed to take with them one coat,
but not two.

One criticism I must make is that this apparent inconsistency is about what
'his twelve' were allowed to take with them. It is not about whether all
Christians are barred from ever using a staff or not. In other words, the
original question presented by Mr. Evans is not specific enough.

Question 22: Could Christians carry swords?

Remember this: The righteous are mindful of the poor and help them; the wicked do not! (Proverbs 29:7)

You either get control of your lusts and feelings of entitlements or they will get control of you. -- Ilfinor