> First, that you seem to be equating "Christian" with "believer in the
>inerrancy of Scripture." Many Christians, maybe even most of those who
>call themselves Christians, do not believe in the inerrancy of Scripture.
>Being a Christian means believing in, and having a relationship with, Jesus
>Christ. In my opinion, it has nothing to do with the historicity of
>Genesis 1-11.
>
If this was all Steve had written, I'd be upset with him :-). Part of the
problem with inerrancy is that Christians who don't accept someone's
definition of inerrancy get pegged as people who believe there are errors
in Scripture.
While I'm quite comfortable with the age -- 4.6 billion years or so -- the
geologists claim for the earth, I still consider myself an inerrantist in
this sense: I believe that what God intends to communicate through the
Scriptures is communicated accurately to the Spirit-filled, prayerful
Christian who endeavors to learn what God is teaching in the Scriptures. I
am not at all convinced that God is intent on teaching us the details of
geology, astronomy or any other science in the Scriptures. As Mark Noll
said in "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind," I would consider the primary
purpose of the Scriptures to be communicated in John 20:31:
"But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
Bill Hamilton | Chassis & Vehicle Systems
GM R&D Center | Warren, MI 48090-9055
810 986 1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX)
hamilton@gmr.com (office) | whamilto@mich.com (home)