Saturday, June 25, 2011

Biblical Inerrancy

My position on biblical Inerrancy


 

Purpose and importance of Biblical inerrancy

    Aside from the historical and theological importance that Erickson provides, further emphasis can be applied to the significance of biblical inerrancy to the personal spirituality, devotion, faith and evangelism efforts of the believer. Proper view of biblical inerrancy must be established by every believer as a foundation in every aspect of their life. There is a logic connection of the character of God, who is Holy, and the necessity of the bible to be inerrant. In agreement with the epistemological importance of biblical inerrancy, the bible and all it contains must be entirely without error to be held as trustworthy. All views that purport that the bible contains erroneous information compromise the perceived integrity of the bible.

    In my personal view I dare to report that I hold the full inerrancy view just a hair shy of absolute inerrancy. Reluctantly, I must come to the realization that there are instances in the bible that may be perceived by some to be contradictions, grammatical and copy errors, and flat out erroneous information. But I caution that the current societal view of truth is dangerous because of its twisted philosophy that truth is relative or subjective. Truth is not relative, or subjective. Jesus is Truth. Because of the sinful nature of humans, our perception and understanding is inadequate for determining absolute truth apart from the illumination of the Holy Spirit. So, our perception of truth is based upon, and directly proportionate to the knowledge available to us. That is why truth appears to be subjective or relative and can seem to vary by context. Humans cannot know all things pertaining to everything and that is why faith is so important. Because of the integrity and holiness of the Creator of the universe, any errors that are found are merely a byproduct of human finiteness and limited knowledge. We must trust the bible and its revelations from the Omniscient God as truth.

Because of my realization of my fallen nature I recognize my necessity to rely on the bible as the inerrant word of God. When I come across information in the bible that seems contradictory, false or erroneous I hold to the belief that it is the feebleness of my intellect, limit of my knowledge, misunderstanding of my flesh, or my lack of spiritual maturity which prevents me from understanding the discrepancy. Faith bridges the gaps that my intellect cannot account for. With the full inerrancy view of the bible, I am able to evangelize with confidence that what I am presenting to the unbeliever is truth. I am able to submit to the authority of scripture in my personal life and exercise faith when I encounter information that I don't understand.