Some might question my interest in the Bible. After all, if the Bible isn't inerrant, then why do I have such intense interest in it? And I want to make it clear, that my interest in the Bible is not simply scholastic, nor is it limited to the New Testament. The Bible-- as a whole-- is the most important artifact in my life, and it has changed me more than any other person or thing. I have read commentaries on almost every major book in the Bible and I dearly love almost every detail of the Bible. It is unbelievable important to me personally. And not just me.
The Bible is the best selling book in the world, perhaps 2.5 billion copies sold. It is the most printed book, with 6 million copies printed—the second being Mao’s Little Red Book at 900 million (The most popular Harry Potter book sold about 100 million copies). It is also the most translated book in the world— at least portions have been translated into 2454 languages. Clearly, it’s important to somebody.
But why is it important? And does it deserve its reputation and acclaim?
It is one of the oldest books in the world
The Bible, more than any other book, reflects a wide spectrum of ancient life, customs and thought. It is a sourcebook of ancient history, spanning a period (at least) of a thousand years.
It Expresses Human Experience
Because the Bible is written by forty different authors, as well as a number of editors. And it tells the stories of hundreds of people, who lived over a period of time of 2000 years (from Abraham to Jesus). All these stories cover the broad spectrum of human experience: joy, love, guilt, anger, lust, hope, sorrow, sacrifice, selfishness, murder, piety, hypocrisy, power, humility, farming, building, ruling, slavery, visions, butchery, and so much more. In all of these experiences, the Bible invites each reader to experience all this, and to see it all from the perspective of the ancient Hebrews. No book, novel or otherwise is such a masterwork.
More to come...
friendly (but serious) challenge: can you prove that the Bible is not inerrant? -esp. important since you've shared your opinion that it is not, and that you don't want to claim that it is inerrant b/c it does not claim so (your opinion). -my opinion is that this view stretches simple logic to the point of breaking, given verses incl. 2 ti 3:16.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot find a single verse that claims that the Bible is inerrant-- II Tim 3:16 says that it contains God's teaching, which is no more than what I am saying. It does not say that every verse is without error.
ReplyDeleteI have given my argument that the Bible is not inerrant in my series of posts about contradictions in the Bible. All that is required to prove the Bible is not inerrant is a single error. I have shown that there are errors, which is to be expected because it was written by human beings.
How can the original writings be errant if God wrote them? How can we know who Jesus is if the original writings about Him *are* errant? How can we come to any conclusion different from the fact that if the Bible is errant, anything goes: there is no objective truth to be known about God?
ReplyDelete2 Pe 1:20 Above all, you do well if you recognize this: *No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination,* 1:21 for **no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.**
2 Timothy 3:16 *All Scripture is God-breathed*
Psalm 119:160 All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.
Mennonite confession: We believe in the plenary and verbal inspiration of the Bible as the Word of God; that it is authentic in its matter, authoritative in its counsels, inerrant in the original writings, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Exodus 4:12; 2 Samuel 23:2; Psalms 12:6; Psalms 119:160; Jeremiah 1:9; Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21.
http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/C4798.html
Leeann, I don't believe that you are really listening to me. This has not been a discussion, but a reiteration of positions.
ReplyDeleteThere is not a one of the passages you mentioned that come close to speaking of inerrancy. Nor does the Bible claim itself to be written by God, but rather men trying to express God's truth.
I don't think this conversation is helpful, since you aren't actually responding to what I say.
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThis is redundant, because I'm paraphrasing the verse above, but asking questions shows that this is a discussion vs. reiterating a position.
The verses themselves state that they are God breathed. If they were human breathed, of course they would be errant. But the *original writings* were breathed by God. I do not understand how we can believe that "God-breathed" is errant. Since it is the original writings that I believe are inerrant, and scribes could make mistakes over the centuries, causing contradictions, how do you come to this conclusion?
The reasons "God-breathed" is not the same as "inerrant":
ReplyDelete"God-breathed" is not the same as "God-written." It means "inspired" not "written by". It is similar to a script that is based on a novel. God's word is given to people and they have experiences of connecting with God. Then there is the human process of communication. God's word is there, but it is not perfect. This is why Jesus can sometimes disagree with the OT or interpret it in a way that doesn't make sense of the original text. Because what He says is truer than what the Law says.
Thus, to make the claim that Scripture is inerrant is to make a theological statement that needs to be evaluated. As I said in another post, to claim that Scripture is inerrant is, by definition, to claim it has no contradictions with itself or reality. However, we can find contradictions with itself. There are parts of Scripture that disagree with other parts. Even Jesus pointed this out in Matthew 12: 1-7, where parts of the law don't work with other parts.
If we believed Scripture were inerrant, we wouldn't ever disagree with the Scripture, such as some disagreeing with Paul about wives being submissive to their husbands, or that adulterers should be stoned. We would accept the whole thing as true and right. As it is, we already know that it must be interpreted. In other words, even those who claim that Scripture is inerrant already know that it is not, and find ways of disagreeing with it, although more subtle.
I am saying two things: we need to recognize and embrace Scripture as it is, although it can be a mess sometimes. And we need to allow ourselves to interpret Scripture as Jesus did, through Jesus' eyes. In this way, we remain followers of Jesus, believers in Him and not another group that manipulates a massive, complex book for their own purposes.