I\u2019m<\/em> the heretical one here.<\/p>\nRight.<\/p>\n
Anyway, this post isn\u2019t about the historical problems with affirming Biblical inerrancy. It\u2019s about the lack of faith it takes to do so and what the Bible actually has to say about itself.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right. I said a lack of faith.<\/p>\n
But in an ever increasingly post-Christian society, isn\u2019t affirming Biblical inerrancy a bold act of faith?<\/p>\n
Not at all.<\/p>\n
Faith, as Paul Tillich say, requires an element of doubt. It\u2019s a choice to believe in the face of incomplete, or even imperfect evidence. Inerrancy, on the other hand, is an arrogant claim to certainty in the face of a definitive reality.<\/p>\n
And, as Anne Lamott so eloquently points out, \u201cThe opposite of faith is not doubt. It\u2019s certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biblical inerrancy is certainty grounded in fear and the need for control. Allow for any \u201cerror\u201d in the Bible, so the inerrantists claim, and how can you trust any of it? The answer to this supposedly challenging question is actually quite simple.<\/p>\n
Faith.<\/p>\n
How do I know this? Because I have a mother.<\/p>\n
When I was child my mother told me to look both ways before crossing the road. If I didn\u2019t look both ways, she said, I might not see an oncoming car. If I didn\u2019t see that car and stepped out in front of it bad things would happen, like broken bones, maybe even death.<\/p>\n
My mom isn\u2019t perfect. She would be the first one to tell you so. She has several degrees and a lifetime of experience, but she would also tell you she\u2019s not inerrant.<\/p>\n
And yet, I can still trust her when she tells me that stepping in front of an oncoming car will have negative consequences for my well-being.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Because inerrancy or \u201cperfection\u201d is not a necessary condition for conveying truth, knowledge, or even trust. While something can\u2019t be completely wrong and still be \u201ctrue\u201d and \u201ctrustworthy,\u201d mistakes don\u2019t render someone or something completely invalid.<\/p>\n
This is why the example of my mother is so important here.<\/p>\n
As I grew up, I went through that stage that all of us go through when we realize our parents aren\u2019t perfect. No matter how much I wanted her to be perfect, I had to accept the fact that my mother made mistakes and that there were things she was wrong about. But that reality didn\u2019t negate all the true things my mother taught me growing up, like how walking in front of traffic is a terrible idea.<\/p>\n
When I became an adult I went from a place of certainty in which I believed my mother was perfect, to a place of faith when I recognized her flaws. Nothing about my mother changed during that time. She still loves me as much as she ever did and I love her just the same. I may ask more questions of her than I did when I was 5, but a lifetime of her love and guidance allows me to continue to put my faith in her that she wants what is best for me, that when she speaks she speaks what she believes to be the truth, and that while I may find some mistakes in what she says or does, that doesn\u2019t mean she suddenly becomes an untrustworthy liar.<\/p>\n
In other words, my mom is a lot like the Bible. She\u2019s not perfect, but I can still trust that what she says is true.<\/p>\n
You see, it\u2019s ok to believe that Noah\u2019s ark was filled with all the animals on earth when you\u2019re 5 years old, and then change your mind when you realize the physical impossibility of that when you\u2019re adult, but still have faith in that story. Why? Because the truth of Noah\u2019s ark is not found in zoological arrangements. It\u2019s found in the message of a God who watches over and cares for His creation even in the midst of a storm.<\/p>\n
These sorts of truths, the sorts of truths the Bible is concerned about conveying, are not contingent on their authors\u2019 perfection or even on their authors getting all the facts right. These sorts of truth only require a truthful message.<\/p>\n
And, yes, I said authors.<\/p>\n
The simple reality of the Bible is that it was written by people. If you don\u2019t believe me, then I have to question how carefully you\u2019ve actually read it as countless books of the Bible explicitly state their human authorship, i.e. every single one of Paul\u2019s letters just to name a few.<\/p>\n
Now this doesn\u2019t mean the Bible is not \u201cGod-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correction, and training in righteousness.\u201d It very much is. But \u201cGod-breathed\u201d scripture and \u201cinerrant\u201d scripture are two very different things. How do I know?<\/p>\n
Because the Bible told me so.<\/p>\n
Do you remember the other big moment when we read about something being \u201cGod-breathed\u201d in scripture? Sure you do. We find it in the very beginning, in Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 when God took the dust of the ground and breathed life into it to create humanity.<\/p>\n
In that moment God breathed something into existence\u2026..which wasn\u2019t perfect. It couldn\u2019t be. It wasn\u2019t God.<\/p>\n
(And before you try arguing we were perfect before the Fall, first ask yourself why the forbidden fruit would have been a temptation if we were already perfect. Remember, God called us \u201cgood\u201d not perfect.)<\/p>\n
Because scripture is also \u201cGod-breathed\u201d it means it too isn\u2019t God. Nor does it even come directly from God, but instead it passes through an intermediary. In the beginning, the intermediary between us and God was dirt. God breathed into it and the result was that we were created.<\/p>\n
In the case of the Bible, God breathed His truth into the hearts and minds of people and the result was that the Bible was created. But like that ancient dirt that gave birth to us, the people who wrote the Bible, God\u2019s intermediaries, weren\u2019t perfect. Which is why Paul says \u201cFor now we\u00a0see in a mirror\u00a0dimly, but then\u00a0face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also\u00a0have been fully known.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Paul believed the Bible, or what parts of it he had, was perfect he would have simply said \u201cWe fully know because we have scripture.\u201d But he didn\u2019t because he knew that even with scripture as his source of knowledge that knowledge was imperfect because it was God-breathed not God Himself.<\/p>\n
In other words, the God-breathed Bible is just like the God-breathed people who wrote it. It isn\u2019t perfect. And that\u2019s ok because as is the case with our parents, we can still learn important truth from imperfect people.<\/p>\n
This is where faith comes in. Faith forces us to rely upon and put our trust in God. Without the need for faith, there is no real need for God, at least not this side of eternity.\u00a0When Paul spoke of seeing through a mirror dimly, it was a statement of faith that even though his knowledge was only in part and wasn\u2019t perfect, it was sufficient for his salvation, sufficient enough to see him through until Christ\u2019s return. When we take the path of inerrancy the space for this sort of humble faith evaporates and is replaced with an arrogance that claims more certainty than even the Biblical writers themselves were willing to affirm.<\/p>\n
Which means when we affirm inerrancy, we reject the need for faith.<\/p>\n
When we affirm inerrancy, we ascribe perfection to the creation rather that to the Creator.<\/p>\n
When we affirm inerrancy, we create an idol fashioned out of the same need for certainty and control that drove Adam and Eve to snatch divinity away from God.<\/p>\n
Simply put, Biblical inerrancy isn\u2019t Biblical.<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019m not naive enough to think that someone who believes in BIblical inerrancy will read this post and suddenly \u201csee the light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our fear and ingrained need for control are not overcome that easily.<\/p>\n
So, if you are reading this post and you do affirm Biblical inerrancy, please know that not only are you breaking away from Church tradition, you are also rejecting the imperfection the Bible claims for itself, the very imperfection that is necessary for faith.<\/p>\n
You may have certainty and therefore have no need for faith in the Bible.<\/p>\n
But the apostle Paul sure needed faith.<\/p>\n
And so do I.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you blog long enough, someone will eventually call you a heretic. Self-appointed orthodoxy watchdogs plague the internet almost as much as porn. Say something outside their particular theological tradition and they\u2019ll damn your soul to an eternity in hell as fast as you can click \u201cpublish\u201d on your blog post. My latest accusation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n