On Thu, 26 Feb 1998 10:17:40 -0700, John W. Burgeson wrote:
>BH>"In many Southern Baptist churches one had better answer the
>question "Do you believe the Bible is inerrant?" with an
>immediate yes."
JB>FWIW, Brian, I was a SBC memberin a small southern town for 15
>years or so -- cannot remember the issue even coming up once during
>that time. We took a high view of scripture, to be sure, but that
>descriptor was not used.
As an Australian, I obviously have not been a member of Southern
Baptist churches, but for most of my 30+ years as a Christian I have
been a member (and held leadership positions at) Baptist churches that
would qualify as fundamentalist. Certainly their constitutions all had clauses
about the Bible being "inspired", "infallible" and "inerrant".
Yet comparatively speaking over 30+ years, I agree with you that the
issue rarely came up. When it it did come up in private conversation
or once when we were revising a constitution, there was a lot of
liberty allowed on the precise definition of what "innerrant" meant.
For example, it was OK to hold that there were some errors in our
present-day Bibles due to errors of transmission by copying one
manuscript from another. It was also OK to hold that the technically
Bible had errors if it was gauged by modern-day scientific precision
(eg. pi = 3 in 1 Kings 7:23). Also, it was OK to hold that the
Bible writers themselves may have held erroneously popular views
of their time (eg. that the earth was flat, or that the sky was
solid and that there was water above it), if it was not part of
their doctrinal teaching (which it isn't).
E.J. Young was a conservative (some would say ultra-conservative)
Old Testament theologian who wrote a very good book called "Thy Word
is Truth". In it he said something very sensible about Biblical
Inerrancy, namely that the Biblical doctrine of inerrancy is to
be obtained from the Bible itself, not from apriori notions that we
have gained elsewhere:
"Closely related to this concept [infallibility] is that which is
expressed by the term 'inerrant'. By this word we mean that the
Scriptures possess the quality of freedom from error. They are
exempt from the liability of mistake, incapable of error. In all their
teachings they are in perfect accord with the truth. In what way then
shall we discover how the terms 'infallible and 'inerrant' can be applied
to the Bible? We might conceivably approach the matter with an a
priori idea as to what infallibility should be and then proceed to make
the Bible fit into that idea. If we were to proceed in that way, we
should not be alone. There are those who do just that. They approach
the Bible with a preconceived idea as to what inerrancy and
infallibility should be. That is one way of obtaining an answer to our
question. Popular as it may be, it is a method that cannot have
satisfactory results. There is a much better way to follow, namely that
of turning to the Bible itself to learn what infallibility is. If we follow
this latter method we shall obtain the Biblical view of the matter and,
since the Bible is the Word of God, that is all-important." (Young
E.J., "Thy Word is Truth: Some Thoughts on the Biblical Doctrine of
Inspiration", The Banner of Truth Trust: London, 1963, pp113-114)
No doubt there are some fundamentalist churches who demand that its
members all answer immediately with "yes", the question "do you
believe the Bible is inerrant?", but I have not ever encountered one.
But if someone ever did ask me: "Do you believe the Bible is
inerrant?", having read Young, I would unhesitatingly answer with an
immediate "yes"!
I am convinced that there is nothing to fear from a fully Biblical view
of inerrancy, which is derived *from the Bible alone*. If Christians do
have a problem with inerrancy, it probable that what they are reacting
to is a *human tradition* about inerrancy rather than what the Bible
teaches on it (Mk 7:8).
Steve
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Stephen E (Steve) Jones ,--_|\ sejones@ibm.net
3 Hawker Avenue / Oz \ Steve.Jones@health.wa.gov.au
Warwick 6024 ->*_,--\_/ Phone +61 8 9448 7439
Perth, West Australia v "Test everything." (1Thess 5:21)
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