1. If We Deny Inerrancy, a Serious Moral Problem Confronts Us: May We Imitate God and Intentionally Lie in Small Matters Also? This is similar to the point made in response to objection #4, above, but here it applies not only to those who espouse objection #4 but also more broadly to all who deny inerrancy. Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God. But a denial of inerrancy that still claims that the words of Scripture are God-breathed words necessarily implies that God intentionally spoke falsely to us in some of the less central affirmations of Scripture. But if this is right for God to do, how can it be wrong for us? Such a line of reasoning would, if we believed it, exert strong pressure on us to begin to speak untruthfully in situations where that might seem to help us communicate better, and so forth. This position would be a slippery slope with ever-increasing negative results in our own lives.
2. If Inerrancy Is Denied, We Begin to Wonder If We Can Really Trust God in Anything He Says. Once we become convinced that God has spoken falsely to us in some minor matters in Scripture, then we realize that God is capable of speaking falsely to us. This will have a detrimental effect on our ability to take God at his word and trust him completely or obey him fully in the rest of Scripture. We will begin to disobey initially those sections of Scripture that we least wish to obey, and to distrust initially those sections that we are least inclined to trust. But such a procedure will eventually increase, to the great detriment of our spiritual lives. Of course, such a decline in trust and obedience to Scripture may not necessarily follow in the life of every individual who denies inerrancy, but this will certainly be the general pattern, and it will be the pattern exhibited over the course of a generation that is taught to deny inerrancy.
3. If We Deny Inerrancy, We Essentially Make Our Own Human Minds a Higher Standard of Truth Than God’s Word Itself. We use our minds to pass judgment on some sections of God’s Word and pronounce them to be in error. But this is in effect to say that we know truth more certainly and more accurately than God’s Word does (or than God does), at least in these areas. Such a procedure, making our own minds to be a higher standard of truth than God’s Word, is the root of all intellectual sin.
4. If We Deny Inerrancy, Then We Must Also Say That the Bible Is Wrong Not Only in Minor Details but in Some of Its Doctrines as Well. A denial of inerrancy means that we say that the Bible’s teaching about the nature of Scripture and about the truthfulness and reliability of God’s words is also false. These are not minor details but are major doctrinal concerns in Scripture.
In light of this I was thinking more about the common emergent/liberal perspective that the Bible doesn't have to be true. At one level, their deception is just an attempt to sound noble and somehow more faithful or trusting. But the more I think about it the more I think it is really that the true Church has lost the power of God. To the previous generation, the Bible becomes a rule book that requires the effort of scholars to build upon. One of my favorite quotes is that constitutions and by-laws are really the Church preparing for the absence of the Holy Spirit.
That becomes ugly and distasteful to the following generation. But they don't want to abandon the Bible so the think of it as a guidebook to right living and a story. Now, since the words are not God's inspired communication to man with power and since there is no real transforming power by the Holy Spirit, they can easy talk about what applies to their story or not - and overall, it's ok if it's not true. And ironically, the emergent/liberal has embraced what they hate, a works based salvation.
In response we must desperately seek God. He is to be experienced and known. We need Him to change our lives in a way far more amazing than that accomplished via good advice and counseling. We need the God of the Bible and we need to devour and champion His Holy Word.
Technorati Tags: Scripture
No comments:
Post a Comment