(May 20, 2013 at 2:28 pm)InevitableCheese Wrote: I grew up and worked at a Southern Baptist, which are pretty conservative Christians. The way we were taught was that the Bible is inerrant in the original language, while all else is translation error.Yes, most who accept inerrancy believe it applies only to the autographs, and that copying or translation errors are possible in today's versions. Comparisons of versions show that no changes affecting significant doctrines have been introduced.
Quote:Some of their evidence for infallibility (this is pulled from two systematic theologies that I own) is a Bible verse (2 Tim. 3:16-17), which I think doesn't matter, since Paul was referring to the Old Testament, since the NT letters and Gospels hadn't been canonized.2 Peter 3:16 puts Paul's letters on par with the "other Scriptures," showing that Paul's epistles at least were understood to be Scriptural.
Quote:As for any numbers or facts that were wrong, they were dismissed because they didn't effect the doctrine of Christianity at all. It wouldn't effect Christian beliefs if someone killed 300 or 800 men. The number is irrelevant to the faith, so ignore the error, and trust God. Any doubt is left to faith, not reason.How is it not reason to suppose that some copying errors were introduced?