From: richard@biblewheel.com
Date: Thu Sep 11 2003 - 13:01:45 EDT
Debbie wrote:
>It is my understanding that when measured on
>the godly scale of perfection, the Bible flunks
>as does everything else on this planet.
The wisdom of the world views the Cross as foolishness. It can not be otherwise.
The Gospel is imperfect to the natural mind. It flunks.
Likewise Scripture. People stumble over the Word just as they stumble over Christ.
Perfection viewed through a broken imperfect mind will appear broken and imperfect, just as a face in a broken mirror.
I believe God placed stumbling blocks in Scripture, just as Christ is a stumbling block. The correlation is very strong.
It is also important to note the implicit inconsistency of a broken human mind declaring what would be "a godly scale of perfection." God's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55).
If you are a purist who feels it necessary to justify every statement of Scripture as factually true (which is a totally human criterion imposed on Scripture), then you are stuck with the difficulty of explaining why God made it *seem* like there are contradictions in Scripture when in fact there are none. Presumably, he could have done otherwise.
On the other hand, if there really are false statements in Scripture, then you have to come to a new understanding of the nature of Scripture and the meaning of inspiration.
My solution is that Scripture is perfect in as much as it perfectly accomplishes that for which it was designed. It is God's Book - that is my final word on it. I have no right to declare what God can or can not do with His Book. On the other hand, we have volumes of evidence for the specific letter-for-letter divine design of certain texts, most notably Genesis 1, John 1, Hebrews 4:12, and Deuteronomy 6:4. Here are the links to much of the rock-solid, fully documented objective evidence:
Genesis 1:1: http://www.biblewheel.com/GR/GR_Creation.asp
John 1:1: http://www.biblewheel.com/GR/GR_Creation_John1.asp
Deuteronomy 6:4: http://www.biblewheel.com/GR/GR_Unity.asp
Hebrews 4:12: http://www.biblewheel.com/GR/GR_Logos.asp
We are therefore confronted with evidence for both sides. Yes, the Bible appears faulty in many respects. On the other hand, its structure appears to be nothing less than the direct product of the Divine Mind. This is what I call *dynamic tension*! I think this reveals much of the nature of God and His purposes, which He designed and gave "to the sons of men to be exercised in it." (Ecc. 3:10)
There is also a fundamental link to the concepts of Grace and Faith. How could we come to God through Faith if the Truth of His Bible were incontrovertible? What would happen to Choice? Where would Grace be? Would not the revelation of God's perfection imply complete judgment on sin? It would be like the third degree under a ten trillion watt lamp!
Christ's face will shine like the sun in the Day of Judgment when the Age of Grace comes to a close. There will be no more questions.
There will be no clouds obscurring His Everlasting Truth. We will see Him face to face.
And His Word will remain forever, as it is written in His *apparently* imperfect Bible (Isaiah 40:8).
In service of God's perfect Christ, whose name is called The Word of God,
Richard
Discover the sevenfold symmetric perfection of the Holy Bible at http://www.BibleWheel.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Debbie Mann
To: Asa
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 8:56 AM
Subject: The Bible
It is my understanding that when measured on the godly scale of perfection,
the Bible flunks as does everything else on this planet. However, when
measured against all other historical documents, the Bible's score is so
high as to be considered a statistical outlier - or curve breaker.
I read in The Case for Christ that the New Testament scores above a 99%.
This is because the books were written while witnesses were still living,
they were widely circulated, extant copies exist from within a couple of
centuries of the originals, copies from relatively large distances agree
closely and there is corraborating evidence through other archeological
finds.
My understanding of the Old Testament is that the evidence is not so strong,
however, again, the score for these books would be curve breakers.
Comments?
Debbie Mann, P.E.
Debbie Mann Consulting
(765) 477-1776
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