Joram had two sons, and both were named Ahaziah.
The two Ahaziahs had some pretty remarkable parallels in their lives. They were both crowned king when their father Joram died. Both were terrible kings, following in the footsteps of their most villainous predecessor.
Both Ahaziahs were close friends and allies of a neighboring king who we will call Joram II. Both went into battle with Joram II against a foreign king named Hazael. In each case, Joram II was fatally wounded in the battle, and went home to die. Both Ahaziahs went separately to see Joram I, and unexpectedly, both Ahaziahs were murdered during the visit. Even more shocking: They were both murdered by a man named Jehu.
In all the parallels between the two Ahaziahs, there is only one recorded difference between the two: One Ahaziah assumed the throne when he was 22 years old, and the other when he was 42 years old.
Same father. Same mother. Same name. Same throne. Same friend. Same battle. Same death. Yet two different people.
Make sense so far?
You see, the elements of this story are found in the Bible. In fact, the same story is told twice, in two different places. One account, in II Kings 8, describes the Ahaziah that began to reign when he was 22 years old. The other account, in II Chronicles 22, describes exactly the same story, with the exception that Ahaziah began to reign when he was 42 years old.
You may read the accounts and think that the Bible was describing the same Ahaziah, and that a simple mistake was made in his age (22 versus 42). In fact, the Bible itself gives no indication that there were two separate Ahaziahs. However, for a fundamentalist Christian, Biblical mistakes are an impossibility. Therefore, they are required to invent a story like the one above to explain away this obvious error. This story was given to me, in fact, by one such Christian. It makes far more sense for him that “Joram had two sons named Ahaziah” than to assume that his sacred book may have a minor typographical error.
As long as he applies this sort of nonsensical approach to the Bible, a believer will always feel secure in his belief. If, however, he decides to subject his belief to the type of reasonable analysis that is required in the rest of his life, perhaps he will begin to understand the error of his belief.