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Cliffy
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2002
Total Posts : 26

Posted 3/14/2003 3:30 PM (GMT -6)

Hello All,

Recent threads have evoked a long-standing battle I've had in my head. It really concerns the view I should take on the Bible. The current view I take of inerrancy is quite simply, the Bible is not inerrant in the way people say it is. Basically, to elaborate, I do believe the Bible changes it's meanings and doctrines with the flow of history. We change, so God's revalation to us changes. God used humans to write the bible, and we change. But it never changes out of the "pale" of God's character and basic plan for the world. It's changes are consistent with the pattern of meaning which the Bible iteself lays out. The problem is that people dispute what that is, and I have this problem, How can I find something to be without error if I am not even sure what it means at point, and/or I disagree with parts of it (if taken literally). I know this is an absurd notion, that I'd be able to understand it all-a kind of all or nothing attitude if you will, but that's the way I think.

The idea that it doesn't error in what it teaches doesn't sound prima facie wrong to me. I mean, GENERALLY inerrant, concerning things central to the faith. Of course people have different ideas about that as well. It's just seems to me that if people are going to say something's inerrant from cover to cover, they'd be hard pressed to account for alot of apparent inconsistences between the OT and NT. But that's just one thing I've come up with. Another is science and creationism. Another is the ERRANCY of people, and the way they relate the Bible.

Many more conflicts can come up in our society, where we have quite a unique situation in history. We have to consider many different viewpoints nowadays, simultaneously. It's not like I am completly sold on the issue, and am still considering the issue my self. (Being that I like things all or nothing, not having decided totally is fun...) I apolgize if this has been hashed out on this site before but,

Why is it or is it not important that the Bible be seen as inerrant? (literally true on every point).

Cliffy

scott_jorgenson
Registered Member

Date Joined Dec 2002
Total Posts : 271

Posted 3/17/2003 11:10 AM (GMT -6)

David ("Cliffy"),

I notice you haven't been getting response here, possibly because of the other threads going on which touch on this question (or at least on inerrancy w/ respect to secular factual knowledge like science and history). I haven't answered until now, for one, just because I wouldn't want to repeat myself and bore everyone. You might want to check out those other threads. But that said, here's a quick answer here:

I feel that the doctrine of biblical inerrancy in secular, factual knowledge - eg inerrancy in science, history and geography - is unessential and, in fact, false. This is not to say it is completely unimportant for the Bible to have any general correspondence at all with well-established factual knowledge. For example, if the Bible were like the Book of Mormon, and there was no evidence that an Israel, Egypt, Babylon or Rome ever existed, or that even a shred of anything the Bible relates actually happened even in broad-brush strokes - that would be a fatal blow, IMO. As Christians, the basic historicity of Jesus is also crucial. But so long as the Bible is faithful to the standards of scholarly accuracy of the time - and those standards were much looser in New Testament times than now, and looser still in Old Testament and especially pre-exilic times - that is all that matters. That those standards do not measure up to modern standards is irrelevant.

Now, when it comes to inerrancy in matters of faith and practice, I do feel that the Bible is the unfailing guide there. But discerning what it requires of us as Christians is not as simple as just plainly reading and applying all its passages. For example, I feel the unfailing truth behind Paul's admonition on the dress of Christian women is not that Christian women should eschew jewelry and nice clothing - but rather that Christians (including women) should not present themselves ostentatiously and licentiously according to the standards of the culture and time in which they live. This is, in my view, an infallible truth that hasn't changed, but extracting it from scripture requires discernment across the whole.

So I believe that in matters of faith and practice scripture contains only such infallible truths, and not ones which God has changed across time; but discerning them can be difficult because God most certainly has allowed the particulars to change (as Jesus himself gave many an example of, in his fulfillment/supercession of the law).

Best regards,

Scott

Cliffy
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2002
Total Posts : 26

Posted 3/18/2003 4:54 PM (GMT -6)

quote:

David ("Cliffy"),

I notice you haven't been getting response here, possibly because of the other threads going on which touch on this question (or at least on inerrancy w/ respect to secular factual knowledge like science and history). I haven't answered until now, for one, just because I wouldn't want to repeat myself and bore everyone. You might want to check out those other threads. But that said, here's a quick answer here:

Yeah, I noticed that too! ;)

quote:

So I believe that in matters of faith and practice scripture contains only such infallible truths, and not ones which God has changed across time; but discerning them can be difficult because God most certainly has allowed the particulars to change (as Jesus himself gave many an example of, in his fulfillment/supercession of the law).

Thanks for the input.

Cliffy

BBBCanada
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 2763

Posted 3/19/2003 9:14 AM (GMT -6)

Cliffy,

Let me get back on this later today. I seen your thread and I thought it was really interesting.

Brandon
"And don't say it's love that broke your heart when you trusted someone. Cause love's the victim, not the crime."--Jody McBrayer, Love Can Break Your Fall www.jodymcbrayer.com

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