"Inspiration" and "inerrancy" are closely linked Christian beliefs:
Inspiration means that God inspired the
authors of the Bible so that they wrote inerrant text.
Inerrancy generally means that biblical
books were free of error in their original autograph copies -- the copies that
the authors themselves wrote down. This allows for errors to creep into
subsequent copies of the original documents, whether by copyist error or the
insertion of forged text.
The concept of inerrancy is one belief that dramatically shows the
differences among various wings of Christianity:
Fundamentalist denominations, such as the Southern Baptist
Convention, and other very conservative Evangelical Protestant
denominations generally teach a strict view on the inerrancy of the Bible.
It is a belief that is tied with their understanding that God directly
inspired its authors. The writers largely played the role of a secretary
taking dictation: "...every word with every inflection, every verse and
line, and every tense of the verb, every number of the noun, and every
little particle are regarded as coming from God. Scripture is
"God-breathed," and God does not breathe falsehood..."
At the liberal end of the Evangelical spectrum, inerrancy is interpreted
less strictly. Their theologians deviate from the literal interpretation of
the Bible in more cases. Biblical authors are seen as writing with their own
style and content. Theologians have suggested that Biblical infallibility need not be total. It is
of prime importance on matters relating to the deity of Christ and an individual's route
to salvation. However, historical, geographical and scientific details are of little consequence.
Errors creeping into those areas could be admitted with little or no consequence to the overall
Christian message. Needless to say, this approach generates a lot of opposition among
many conservative Christians.
At the other extreme, most liberal Protestants have rejected the concept
of inerrancy. They generally analyze the Bible as a historical document in
which its authors' purpose was to promote their own beliefs and those of
their faith group. The writers incorporated stories from nearby Pagan
cultures, legends, myths, scientific errors, religious propaganda, and even
material which was clearly against the will of God
into their writing. Examples of the latter, in the area of
women's rights alone, include stoning non-virgin
brides to death, forcing widows to marry their husband's brother, forcing
women to marry their rapists, burning alive some prostitutes, and requiring
women suspected of adultery to pass a religious test which, it was believed,
would result in her death if she was guilty, etc.
Individual mainline Protestant Christians tend to take either a liberal
or conservative stance on inerrancy. This is currently
generating a major divisions and massive conflict
within their denominations over church policies such as: the ordination of
homosexuals in committed relationships, and rituals which recognize same-sex
relationships. There are also theological divisions over inerrancy itself,
whether trusting Jesus Christ is the only way to
salvation, etc. Future schisms between liberal and conservative wings of
leading mainline denominations are quite possible. They occurred in the 19th
century over the morality of human slavery, and
came close to happening during the 20th century over
female ordination.
Conservative Christian Theologians regard biblical inspiration and
inerrancy as among the most
important of Christian doctrines. The terms inerrancy, authoritative, infallible and inspired are
closely linked. If the scriptures are to be considered authoritative, then they must be
inerrant and infallible. And the only way to assure these factors would be to have the
writings inspired and controlled by God - because only an all-knowing God can be
totally free of errors.
Unaided, humans are certain to make mistakes.
Some indications of their belief in inspiration and inerrancy:
At a Niagara Bible Conference in 1895, attendees prepared a list of 5
fundamental beliefs that could be used to evaluate the orthodoxy of a Christian speaker. A
1909 publication "The Fundamentals" repeated these same beliefs. The
first, and presumably most important, was the inerrancy of the Bible.
The Lausanne Covenant of 1974 is a statement of faith agreed to
by many Evangelical Christian groups from over 150 nations. Its Section 2
is titled "The Authority And Power Of the Bible." It states, in
part: "We affirm the divine inspiration, truthfulness and authority of
both Old and New Testament Scriptures in their entirety as the only
written word of God, without error in all that it affirms, and the only
infallible rule of faith and practice." 1
Although the Manila Manifesto of 1989 did not refer to biblical
inerrancy, it confirmed the participants' commitment to the Lausanne
Covenant. 2
A document on the Bible written by a group of sixteen scholars and
leaders from the Roman Catholic Church and the
Southern Baptist Convention stated in part: "For Southern Baptists,
inerrancy means that the original biblical text was composed precisely
as God inspired it and intended it to be because of God's
superintendence: not just the thought comes from God, but every word
with every inflection, every verse and line, and every tense of the
verb, every number of the noun, and every little particle are regarded
as coming from God. Scripture is 'God-breathed,' and God does not
breathe falsehood, so the text is faithful and true in all it affirms,
including the miracle accounts, the attributed authors, and the
historical narratives. The 1978 and 1982 Chicago statements on biblical
inerrancy are representative of this doctrine." 3
Many take an all-or-nothing approach to inerrancy. The implication is that if the Bible can be shown to contain some
errors, then all passages become suspect, and unreliable.:
Warren Doud wrote: "The whole of Scripture and all of its
parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration...The
written word in its entirety is revelation given by God...Confession of the full
authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of
whole of Christian faith." 4
J. I. Packer wrote: "Only truth can be authoritative; only an
inerrant Bible can be used... in the way that God means Scripture to be used."5
Dave Miller writes: "If the Bible is a mixture of truth and
error, then it is like any other book and simply not deserving of any special
attention." 6
Conservative theologians recognize that many Christians and skeptics point out what appear to be errors and
inconsistencies in the Biblical text. However, they believe that no conflicts truly exist.
They believe that the critics are themselves committing errors in their analysis, such as:
Assuming that unexplained conflicts can never be explained.
Assuming that the Bible contains errors, unless it is proven accurate.
Confusing human interpretations of passages with God's true revelation.
Taking the passage out of its context.
Ignoring similar clear passages when interpreting difficult ones.
Assuming that a partial description of an event is a false description.
Requiring New Testament authors to cite the Old Testament without error.
Assuming that God approves all events in the Bible.
Not realizing that the Bible uses ordinary, non-technical language.
Interpreting rounded-off numbers as false data.
Ignoring the effects of subsequent copying errors. 7
Many religious conservatives believe that the Bible cannot be understood by the
"natural" person. The only people who can truly grasp biblical
teachings are those
who have first been saved -- that is, they have repented of their sins and
trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. (Some conservatives have dropped the
requirement for repentance.)
Some Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians consider a particular English
translation of the Bible to be inerrant. This is particularly true among lay members in
their beliefs about the King James Version. But most conservatives believe that
inerrancy only applies to the original, autograph copies of the various books of the Bible. None
of the latter have survived to the present day. We only have access to a variety of
manuscripts which are copies of copies of copies..... An unknown number of errors are
induced due to:
Accidental copying errors by ancient scribes.
intentional changes and insertions into the text, made in order to match developing theology
The incorporation of notes in the columns of the manuscripts into the text itself.
Sometimes, scribes inserted interpretations beside the text. Later copyists then
incorporated these notes into the actual text.
Accidental translation errors by modern translators.
Intentional bias by translators in order to make the material agree with
the current
theological thought of their sponsors.
Sometimes, translators are faced with obscure original texts whose meaning is not
clear. They often convert these passages into English without footnotes, even though they
cannot be certain that they are accurate.
Usually, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is considered by
conservative Christians to be responsible for inspiring the Bible's authors to
write inerrant text.
Religious conservatives generally believethat Moses wrote all of the
Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible. Jesus is quoted as believing this to be true
(See Mark 10:3, Luke 24:27, and
John 1:17).
Other conservatives believe that he wrote all of the Pentateuch except for Deuteronomy 34,
which deals with Moses' own death and burial. Moses is believed to have written the books
after the Israelite's exodus from Egypt, but before they entered Canaan. This would date
the writing to the 40 year period when the Israelites were wandering through the desert,
circa 1450 BCE. There are about two dozen verses in the Hebrew Scriptures and one dozen in
the Christian Scriptures which state that Moses was the author.
Some conservative Christians believe that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
were written by apostles with those names. The Southern Baptist Convention
required its employees to sign a loyalty oath which commits them to this belief. They also
believe that all of the books of the Christian Scriptures which state that they were
written by St. Paul were actually written by him.
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Beliefs of mainline Christians:
Mainline denominations, like the Presbyterian Church (USA), often take
an intermediate position on inerrancy; in fact, many try to avoid the term where
possible. This has caused internal rifts within the
Presbyterian movement. In 1973, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) split off
from the Presbyterian Church (USA), partly over the matter of inerrancy. The PCA
left because the PCUSA "...had shifted from its
historic beliefs to a theological liberalism that denied core biblical
doctrines, such as the inerrancy and authority of Scripture."
During 2001-JUN, the inerrancy of the Bible was at
the core of a dispute at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
(USA). The representatives were debating whether to remove a church rule
that banned gays and lesbians from ordination.
According to ReligionToday: "In debating the issue, officials from the PC
(USA) stated: 'We acknowledge the role of scriptural authority in the
Presbyterian Church, but Presbyterians generally do not believe in biblical
inerrancy. Presbyterians do not insist that every detail of chronology or
sequence or pre-scientific description in scripture be true in literal form. Our
confessions do teach biblical infallibility. Infallibility affirms the entire
truthfulness of scripture without depending on every exact detail.' "
8
Manyliberal Christian theologians believe that the writers of the
Bible naturally exhibited a "high degree of religious insight, something akin to
artistic ability...The net effect of this position is to make the scriptural authors as
qualitatively no different than Plato, Buddha, Mohammed etc. The Bible thus becomes the
spiritual experiences of the Jewish people." 8 But
they do not believe that it is inerrant. In fact, they believe that no book is inerrant.
Many liberals believe that the Hebrew and Christian scriptures:
Sometimes incorporated text from earlier writings that had been created by unknown
authors.
Sometimes incorporated text from other Middle Eastern societies. The two creation
stories in Genesis, the story of the Noachian flood, the Ten Commandments, the passage in Exodus 21 which devalues the life of a fetus, etc. were
adapted and copied from nearby Pagan societies such as the Assyrians and Babylonians.
Sometimes expressed the ideas and promoted the beliefs of the religious group that the author(s) were part of.
Sometimes described an event as an allegory. That is, a story that was intended to have
a hidden or symbolic meaning. They did not intend that the passage relate to an event that
really happened.
Sometimes involve the combined writings of many authors and editors. Richard Simon, a 17th
century theologian, wrote a book called Critical History of the Old Testament. He
analyzed the Pentateuch, the 5 books which had been attributed to Moses. He found
different writing styles, different names used for God, and groups of laws that seem to
have patched together from various original sources. Jean Astruc during the
18th century
and Julius Wellhausen during the 19th century further developed these thoughts. A
consensus of liberal theologians now accept the "JEDP"
theory, that most of the Pentateuch was written by four authors or groups of authors:
"J" (who used Jehovah as the name for God). "E"
(who used Elohim); "D", the author of the book of Deuteronomy
and "P" who wrote the "priestly" sections which deal
with ritual, liturgy and the dates and genealogical passages. To this was added additional
material obtained from other Mid-Eastern sources. The Pentateuch was assembled circa 950
BCE by "J", 750 BCE for "E" and 539
BCE for the "P" source. However, these were the dates that
"editing" occurred; the authors sometimes used much older material, from Hebrew
and Pagan sources.
Sometimes were not written by the persons that are traditionally considered the authors. e.g. the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were not written
by apostles with those names. The names of the gospel authors are unknown. Some
theologians believe that the Gospel of John was written by a group of authors.
Most theologians believe that none of the gospels were written by
authors who heard Jesus preach. Many books of the Christian Scriptures that identify St. Paul as
the author were in fact written many decades after the apostle's death by anonymous
writers. This also holds for the general epistles.
Record a gradual evolution of religious thought over many centuries. The
writings contain errors and passages that exhibit highly immoral practices by today's
standards. For example, the Bible promotes religious intolerance, the death penalty for
behavioral transgressions, extensive genocide of neighboring tribes, etc.
Contain hundreds of internal contradictions.
Discuss many individuals who never existed, and events that never
took place.
In summary, mostreligious liberals believe that the scriptures were
written by very human and capable individuals, but that their works were not inspired by
God. Their writing is not inerrant.
Retired bishop John Shelby Spong answered an inquiry about biblical
inerrancy from a Sunday school teacher who had just been fired from a
Presbyterian Church in Tennessee because he would not present the Bible as
perfect and infallible to his class. Bishop Spong responded:
"The idea that any educated person would today try to defend the idea
that the Bible is either perfect or infallible is difficult for me to
imagine."
"When I confront people quoting biblical texts literally and thus in
defense of some theological agenda or prejudiced attitude, I tell them
they are asking the wrong question of the Bible. The appropriate
question is not, 'Is this literally true?' for the world of biblical
scholarship settled that question years ago with a resounding 'no'. The
proper question is rather, 'What does this story mean?' Then I might
inquire about 'What need in the life of the person making the literal
claim does the presumed literal authority of scripture meet?' Religion
has always been more about the search for security than it is the search
for truth - people crave certainty. When there is no certainty or
insufficient certainty, people will go to great lengths to create it.
The more irrational the claim, the more the insecurity is apparent.
There is nothing rational about claims for the inerrancy of the Bible,
or for the infallibility of the Pope. There is nothing rational about
religious anger, religious persecution, religious wars, religious
inquisitions or religious hatred of other faith traditions. However, the
way to confront this irrationality is not with rational arguments no
matter how tempting it is to try that approach."
"If you were dismissed in order for the myth of biblical perfection to
continue to live, proving them wrong by rational argument will not touch
the issue. What you have done is to threaten the security system of your
congregation's leadership. You have two choices for an appropriate
response:
Remain in the congregation and bear your witness lovingly -
hoping to bring about change.
Find a new church whose leadership is not so threatened and help
to make an alternative available for people like you...."
"My first advice is always to stay where you are and to work for
change. If change is impossible, my second choice is to go to a place
where you can be fed." 11
Tony Masinelli, Ed., "Misconception: 'The Bible is Full of Errors""
http://witnessbox.com/ "The truth and salvific purpose of sacred scripture according to
Dei Verbum, Article 11" Living Tradition #59, 1995-JUL, at: http://www.rtforum.org/
"Homosexual ordination vote widens gap between Presbyterian factions,"
ReligionToday, 2001-JUN-20, at:
http://news.crosswalk.com/
R.E. Brown, "The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of
Jesus," Paulist Press, (1973), cited in Ref. 26 above.
