What would an error in the bible even show?

[Jeffonthenet]

The gnostics WERE xtians. Who knows...they may well have been the originals.

If you define Christian very widely… and who knows, you might be Barack Obama in a dream.

---

What would an error in the bible even show?

Well that depends on the nature of the error doesn't it?

If its a fatal error, a massive Bible blunder, then its irreconcilable and no apologist can hope to make excuses for it that will stand.

Take the story of Jonah for example. Its biologically impossible for the biggest whales to swallow people. Its biologically impossible for anyone to survive three days inside a cetacean or any other large life-form if it were possible for that matter. You'd die from asphyxiation long before crushing pressure or the gastric fluids would start to damage you.

If Jonah didn't submit to god in the belly of the whale, and didn't turn back to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it, the entire story, as my old RE teacher surmised when I was still a Christian, is nothing but an allegory.

I think there is a good possibility it is not literally true also, though not so much for the same reasons. In any case, it wouldn't show that God doesn't exist or that Jesus didn't rise from the dead.

You don't exercise any critical thinking or care about the truth. You just want to believe and take it all on faith, which is not a path to truth, just gullibility.

So why even beg the question Jeff if you're convinced Jesus Christ is real?

It seems sometimes that I do is question myself and my faith. I still believe it is true despite not having 100% certainty.

---

It seems to me that it wouldn't show that Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead or that God did not work through miracles as it is written in the bible. It would show that the doctrine of biblical inerrancy is false, but I don't think it would effect drastically the most important parts of Christianity. Certianly some people have claimed this doctrine is the most important part of Christianity, (fundamentalist Christians) but that doesn't mean that they are correct.

Well, laying aside how incredibly important it is that the events described in the bible be factually accurate for the integrity of the faith........it would only show that the authors were human beings capable of telling tall tales, which is precisely the situation re the biblical narrative, and not exactly surprising in the first place.

I don't every story being literally true is essential, and I think God can use allegory to teach things even if every word was not directly His.