“Many scoff when I articulate this solution. They almost seem to be offended.”
Let them scoff. If they don’t believe God about something as simple as someone’s lifespan, then they surely won’t really believe God when he tells them the more preposterous story about sending His Son to die for our sins.
Amen!
You’re on to something there. The Son is a “stumbling stone” for unbelievers, but that is God’s doing, since it was HE who “laid a stone in Zion”. The petulant Western mind is unbelief towards God and that WILL NEVER WORK. He opposes the proud (we’re all proud, but I’m talking about a mindset).
Scripture is not scientific as if we can figure God out. Contradictions are a facet of the stumbling stone, IMO. Faith clears up a lot, because trust in the goodness and steadfast love of God settles us in being unsettled.