(October 22, 2015 at 3:30 pm)Godschild Wrote: … man penned what God inspired them to write…When someone "cherry picks" any work they can find supposed inconsistencies and/or inaccuracies…when a supposed inaccuracy or contradiction is found does one stop and accept it or does one dig deeper and find the truth?…When anyone has stated they have found an inaccuracy or contradiction in the Bible and it came to my attention I always showed how it wasn't true and gave an explanation and sometimes other verses to support the verses as truth.( I edited slightly for consistent noun/verb agreement and some spelling – CW)
One impediment to discussing Scripture with atheists is their expectations of what they think scripture should be rather than what it actually is. In other words, they have in mind some ideal version that 1) is so explicit that it is impervious to distortion by either ignorance or intent; 2) its content immediately and unerringly obvious to any 21st century reader; and 3) presents every biological, cosmological, and geographical reference in terms of the most recent scientific findings. Surely, the atheists say, any god worthy of the name could have given Mankind that kind of text.
John 1 teaches that the Word proper is none other than the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christians call Holy Scripture ‘the Word’ because everything in it is, in some way, about the Lord and His relationship to us. John 19:23 gives us a picture of this when the soldiers divided the garments. The Lord was clothed first in a tunic over which He wore a seamed outer garment. The inner meaning of this passage is about the Scriptures and how they are received.
The outer garment is the most literal and obvious meaning of the text. The Scriptures are a compilation of 66 books written in different styles during different periods. The tunic represents the whole council of the Bible, what is found below the surface as the themes that carry across and are found present in each of inspired texts. The text says it was woven from top to bottom as a single piece which makes the message even more profound: the many yarns of the weave (stories, poems, prophecies, and gospel) are bound by a single thread that runs through the whole. And covered outside by the literal meaning and within the deeper themes is the Lord Himself, the Word incarnate.
In application the crucifixion narrative shows how the Word gets mistreated. The literal text is torn apart by redaction (critical theory), selective reading (heretics), and endless fuss over inaccuracies and contradictions (atheists). The inner themes are removed from the living body by earthly exegesis (prosperity gospels) and lifeless symbolic interpretations (secular academics). The innermost meaning, the Lord Himself, is left to die and forsaken by the world (represented by the earthly power of the soldiers.)
Properly understood, the terms of inerrancy and infallibility refer to the Holy Scriptures as the necessary and sufficient guide to saving faith when approached with humility and earnest desire to know the Lord and be led by Him. For the simple, the literal meanings of the stories and lessons serve as a sufficient guide for life and saving faith. For the more learned, careful study and deep reading of the whole text allows them to resolve the more challenging passages to the satisfaction of Man’s higher rational faculties. In other words, God meets up where we are and provides exactly what we need if only we are willing to listen.
