Inerrancy

Posted on June 10, 2003 by Kevin

(Mark 8:12 NRSV) And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

The Bible is a subject that seems to lead to extreme positions: either the Bible is perfect, or it is worthless. What I would like to do in this essay is to explore why people take the extreme position and to explain why the doctrine of inerrancy is actually a sign of the lack of faith rather than a sign of strong faith. An inerrant scripture is the sign demanded by those who cannot believe without proof. To call a belief in biblical inerrancy a sign of a lack of faith would seem to be paradoxical at the outset. Nevertheless, much of Christianity is paradoxical (one gains ones life by losing it, love ones enemies, God became human…). The value of paradox is that it cannot be simply understood and filed away, but rather it continues to goad one to thought.

Where does faith come from? Scripture says that faith is created by the Holy Spirit in the believer.

(Phil 2:13 NRSV) for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

When someone tries to create faith all by themselves [for more on this, see my article on Do it Yourself Faith], they are unable to make the real thing, and to compensate they replace faith with reason. If one wishes to trust God through their own efforts, then they must try to find evidence that bolsters that faith. These attempts are rampant in Christianity today, and they largely consist of attempts to give the Bible external authority. Examples are the pseudo-sciences called “Flood Geology” and “Creation Science” which attempt to fabricate evidence of things which support a literal and historical reading of the Old Testament origin stories in Genesis. Another is the misrepresentation of the level of agreement among Greek New Testament manuscripts (and some fables about Erasmus, the editor of the first published Greek New Testament). There are incredibly contrived interpretations of scripture to mask contradictions (e.g. the two accounts of the death of Judas), and even some questionable Bible translations (e.g., the NIV). Now even more esoteric faith crutches have appeared in the guise of statistical fallacies used to suggest that secret messages are somehow found by picking every 4,712th (for example) letter in the Pentateuch.

All of these are attempts to artificially create evidence for God by creating faith in an inerrant book from which God is then a logical conclusion.

(John 20:29 NRSV) Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

In classic Protestant theology, saving faith comes as the activity of the Holy Spirit working in conjunction with the external Word of God (which may be scripture or may be preaching whose foundation is scripture). However, scripture alone has no effect. From this, I would conclude that one who bases his faith in God on his faith in scripture (and that faith in scripture based on some miraculous quality of the text–like inerrancy, fulfilled prophecy, hidden messages, miraculously preserved manuscripts or anything else) is trying to reach God on his own merit rather than relying on the Cross of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

At this point, one usually says: “Yes, but we only know of the Cross of Jesus through the Bible,” and this is true. But we do not “know” that the Bible speaks truly of Jesus except by faith, and this faith is the creation of the Spirit rather than the creation we make by arguing about the external qualities of Scripture itself.

Let me be blunt here: if one bases his faith on God on faith in Scripture, then Scripture is primary and God becomes secondary; that is, Scripture takes the place of God.

Scripture is of immense value, but God must come first.

One mailing list writer put it this way:

Of course God is in control. But I think you’re taking some things for granted that ought not be taken for granted. I think you’re looking for security in the wrong place.

I believe that the Bible is the word of God. But I don’t think it’s a user’s guide and service manual that comes with the creation. It wasn’t handed down from heaven gilt-edged, leather-bound, in the King James Version, as some people seem to believe. It doesn’t give us definitive answers to all our questions or satisfy our curiosity.

The Bible is a remarkable collection of writings the tell us about who we are, and who God is, and what kind of relationship we have. The important things are crystal clear. I believe that God speaks to people through the words of the Bible, and is revealed in these writings. But our trust and confidence must be in God, not in the writings, in the Person, not the Book. We don’t have the kind of security that says, “Now I possess the Truth, now I have all the answers.”

The Bible introduces us to a loving God, and to Jesus Christ our Savior, and invites us to put our trust in this God and in this Savior. If we try to put our trust in our own knowledge or understanding, these things will disappoint us. God does puzzling and inexplicable things, but ultimately does not disappoint us. Rather, God keeps on surprising us with good things of which we never dreamed.

God’s revelation is incarnational. “In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” God became incarnate in a human being. God’s infallible truth comes to us incarnate in the Scriptures, that fallible collection from various authors, written over a span of more than a thousand years, that reflects the human limitations of the writers. God’s Good News has come to us in a fallible Church. God uses imperfect people, books, and institutions, and through them accomplishes his loving purpose. God redeems that which is imperfect, just as he redeems sinful human beings and transforms them. As we experience the love and grace of God, we also are set free to be loving and gracious.

It’s that “old Adam” in us that makes us think, “I don’t want to be forgiven, I want to be *right*. I don’t want to be redeemed, I want to *win*!” That’s our pride speaking. It’s very liberating to finally understand that when we think like that, we’re on the wrong track. We’ll never save ourselves. Only God can do it. It is accomplished in Christ. Deo gracias.

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The Great Flood(s)

Posted on June 10, 2003 by Kevin

Often, in discussions of the Great Flood of Noah, someone says that there are many ancient legends and myths about floods. But what is less-widely known is that there are two flood stories in the Bible. This is somewhat difficult to see until the two stories are pulled apart.

I took the verses from the Bible story in Genesis 6-8 and divided them into two piles (based on notations in the Moffatt translation of the Bible); then I took each pile and put its verses together to make a story. The result is two rather complete (albeit shorter) stories about Noah and the Flood.

Flood Version 1:

(Genesis 6 NRSV) When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, {2} the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. {3} Then the LORD said, “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years.” {4} The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

{5} The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. {6} And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. {7} So the LORD said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created–people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” {8} But Noah found favor in the sight of the LORD.

(Genesis 7 NRSV) Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. {2} Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; {3} and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. {4} For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” {5} And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

{10} And after seven days the waters of the flood came on the earth.{7} And Noah with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. {8} Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, {9} two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. {16} And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.

{12} The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. {22} everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. {23} He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.

{6} At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made {2} the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, {3} and the waters gradually receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had abated; {7} and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. {8} Then he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; {9} but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. {10} He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; {11} and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. {12} Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more.

{13} In the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying.{20} Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. {21} And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. {22} As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

{18} The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. {19} These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled. {20} Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. {21}

Flood Version 2:

(Genesis 6 NRSV) {9} These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. {10} And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

{11} Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. {12} And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. {13} And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth.

{14} Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. {15} This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. {16} Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.

{17} For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. {18} But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

{19} And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. {20} Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. {21} Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.” {22} Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

{6} Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. {11} In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. {13} On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons entered the ark, {14} they and every wild animal of every kind, and all domestic animals of every kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every bird of every kind–every bird, every winged creature. {15} They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.

{17} The flood continued forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. {18} The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. {19} The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; {20} the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. {21} And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings;{24} And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred fifty days.

(Genesis 8 NRSV) But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided;{4} and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. {5} The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.{14} In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. {15} Then God said to Noah, {16} “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. {17} Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh–birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth–so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” {18} So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. {19} And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.

(Genesis 9 NRSV) God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. {2} The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. {3} Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. {4} Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. {5} For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life. {6} Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind.

{7} And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it.” {8} Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, {9} “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, {10} and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. {11} I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” {12} God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: {13} I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. {14} When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, {15} I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. {16} When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” {17} God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

{28} After the flood Noah lived three hundred fifty years. {29} All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years; and he died.
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Feelings – Thoughts on Mark 6:10-12

Posted on June 10, 2003 by Kevin

The following started as an e-mail reply I made to someone on the Internet. This letter is representative of many I receive and of many articles posted on the USENET from sincere individuals who look at the “God of the Bible” who see a deity who is arbitrary and violent, and who look at Jesus and see someone preaching hell fire and brimstone belying all the Christian talk about Love. Because such persons contact with Christianity is with Biblical literalists and inerrantists, it’s difficult for someone like me to credibly defend my faith with scholarship and a kinder, gentler way of interpreting scripture. The original writer commented:

Still, I think you missed my point slightly, which is my personal serious stumbling block with Christianity, for which I asked these questions in the first place, so that I might be given an answer that would soothe me:

Jesus said (severely paraphrased): “If you go to a town and they reject me, shake the dust of that town from your shoes and be off; because it would be better if that town were Sodom when I get through with it!” He also said: “No one is saved except he comes to know the Father through me.” (He said MANY more things in this same vein than this, either.)

This does not leave open much possibility for a “way of life characterized by love and trust” to all, only to a limited few who believe in Jesus, right?

You raise some good points. The answers I have are not all that clean or simple, but I will share them. Continue reading →

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Do-it-yourself faith

Posted on June 10, 2003 by Kevin
(Heb 11:1 KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith comes from God, but God has His own timetable. What can we do if we get impatient? This article describes how one might make faith on their own, and what the result might look like.

Christian theology states that mankind is is sinful, fallen, and generally not to be trusted to do anything good. But surely there are nice, caring, conscientious, altruistic, ethical, sensitive, kind and generous people who aren’t adherents to the Christian religion. Apart from anything God might inspire, such a person could look at the story of Jesus and be attracted to his ethical teaching, his loving relationships, and his self-giving way of life and that person might be emotionally touched by Jesus’ death on behalf of his friends. Such a person might want to be a Christian as part of a program of self-betterment. This person whom God has not (yet) called and in whom God has not worked the gift of faith does not know for himself what faith looks and feels like and when this person decides to “join up” he has to rely on his own resources to get some faith. While real faith is created ex nihilo (from nothing) by God, human beings (lacking this God-like creative ability) have to create things out of other things. Continue reading →

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Characteristics of a Cult

Posted on June 5, 2003 by Kevin

This is a list I ran across somewhere and found it useful.

  1. INTERNAL CONTROL, amount of internal political power exercised by leader(s) over members.
  2. WISDOM CLAIMED by leader(s), amount of infallibility declared about decisions.
  3. WISDOM CREDITED to leader(s) by members; amount of trust in decisions made by leader(s).
  4. DOGMA, rigidity of reality concepts taught; amount of doctrinal inflexibility.
  5. RECRUITING, emphasis put on attracting new members; amount of proselytizing.
  6. FRONT GROUPS, number of subsidiary groups using names different from that of the main group.
  7. WEALTH, amount of money and/or property desired or obtained; emphasis on members’ donations.
  8. POLITICAL POWER, amount of external political influence desired or obtained.
  9. SEXUAL MANIPULATION of members by leader(s); amount of control of sex lives of members.
  10. CENSORSHIP, amount of control over members’ access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines, or its leader(s).
  11. DROPOUT CONTROL, intensity of efforts directed at preventing or returning dropouts.
  12. ENDORSEMENT OF VIOLENCE when used by or for the group or its leader(s).
  13. PARANOIA, amount of fear concerning real or imagined enemies, perceived power of opponents.
  14. GRIMNESS, amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrines, or its leader(s).
  15. ISOLATION, attempts to separate members from family and friends who are not part of the group.
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A Field Guide to Heresies

Posted on June 5, 2003 by Kevin

This article catalogs some of the movements within early Christianity at variance with the orthodox faith. Material from this guide came from History of the Christian Church by Henry C. Sheldon, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and A History of Heresy by David Christie-Murray.

Ebionism

Ebionites considered Christianity as a sect of Judaism. The believed the Jesus was a mere man of exceptional righteousness and a superior endowment of the Spirit which came upon him at his baptism. Some Ebionites accepted, and some rejected, the supernatural conception of Christ. Ebionites were among the Judaizers who attempted to impose the Law of Moses upon Christians. Ebionites were millenialists–those who believe in a literal 1,000-year reign of Christ on Earth.

The System of Cerinthus

Cerinthus (contemporary of the Apostle John) combined Gnostic views (separating the earthly Jesus who was the son of Joseph and Mary from the heavenly Christ) with the views of the Judaizers. Cerinthus was also a millinealist (also known as chiliasm).

The Pseudo-Clementine System

It is based on a 2nd century document claiming to be a collection of sermons by Clement of Rome. These writings emphasize the unity of God (as opposed to the Trinity), representing God as dwelling in bodily form at the center of the universe. The work is strongly dualist — dividing everything into a thing and its opposite (male-female, good-evil, Christ-antichrist, etc.).

Gnosticism

Predating Christianity, it is not correct to consider Gnosticism as merely a Christian heresy. Gnosticism may be considered a religion on its own. A syncretistic religion (a religion which borrows freely from and integrates elements of other religions), Gnosticism contains elements of Judaism, Jewish speculation, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and other Mediterranean and Eastern mystery religions. While there are many varieties of Gnosticism, they all shared an elitist view that some people are capable of knowing (hence the word Gnostic from the Greek word gnosis = knowledge) and understanding the secrets and those who were unredeemable. Salvation is a matter of knowledge rather than works or faith.

Gnostics had elaborate systems of heavenly beings and their relationships borrowed from Jewish speculation and such works as the Book of Enoch. Gnostics are strong dualists. They held that there is a Supreme Being, unknowable to the world, from whom unfolded attributes and powers who manifested in personal form. There is a chain of these beings, called AEons, linking the Supreme Being to the material world. “The Savior” was one of the AEons who united himself with Jesus of Nazareth in an un-real incarnation. Mankind is divided into immutable classes–some destined for salvation and some for destruction. Gnosticism was strongest in the 2nd century. Continue reading →

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Bible Dates

Posted on June 5, 2003 by Kevin

For my own use, I consulted various Bible commentaries and reference books (including New Testament Introduction by Guthrie) to compile a table of Bible books, their authors and dates of composition. There are, of course, disagreements over these issues, but here is the best I could come up with.

The Bible – Dates and Authorship

Book

Author

Writing Completed
GENESIS Compiled from several oral traditions, Possibly by Ezra
J source 950 BCE
E source 750 BCE
P source 539
EXODUS J,E,P,D sources As above
LEVITICUS P source As above
NUMBERS J, E, P source As above
DEUTERONOMY D source 800 BCE?
JOSHUA Several 587 BCE
JUDGES Several + editor, some 8th and 9th Century BCE sources 6th Century BCE
RUTH Unknown as late as 3rd Cent BCE
1 SAMUEL Several + Editor Compiled around 560 BCE (some argue for 610)
2 SAMUEL As above As above
1 KINGS Unknown ca 560 BCE
2 KINGS As above As above
1 CHRONICLES Unknown ca 400 BCE
2 CHRONICLES Unknown early 4th century BCE
EZRA Ezra possibly early 4th century BCE
NEHEMIAH NEHEMIAH 4th century BCE
ESTHER Unknown 125 BCE
JOB Unknown 3rd-6th Century BCE
PSALMS Several before 586 BCE
PROVERBS Several 8th century BCE or later
ECCLESIATES Unknown 3rd Century BCE
SONG OF SOLOMON Unknown Unknown
ISAIAH (ch 1-39) Isaiah 6-7th Century BCE
  • (40-)
 Others 200-300 years later
JEREMIAH Jeremiah 626-586 BCE
  • (26-)
 Baruch ?
  • (46-51)
 Others 626-586 BCE
  • (52:1-34)
 Editor 626-586 BCE
LAMENTATIONS Jeremiah (?) 597 BCE
EZEKIEL Ezekiel + others after 597 BCE
DANIEL Unknown between 167-164 BCE
HOSEA Hosea 745 B.C.E
JOEL Joel 1st Half of 4th Century BCE
AMOS Amos 750 BCE
OBADIAH Obadiah after 586 BCE5th Century
JONAH Jonah (not the guy in the story) 5th Cen BCE
MICAH Micah et al 6th or Early 5th Cen BCE
NAHUM Nahum, et al Early 5th Century
HABAKKUK Habakkuk Early 5th Century
ZEPHANIAH Zephaniah 612-640 BCE
HAGGAI Haggai 520 BCE
ZECHARIAH Zechariah 518 BCE
MALACHI Unknown 450 BCE
MATTHEW Matthew (?) 80-85 CE
MARK Mark (?) 64-70 CE
LUKE Luke (?) 85-96 CE
JOHN John (which?) 85-90 CE
ACTS Same as Luke’s Gospel 90-100 CE
ROMANS Paul 55-59 CE
1 CORINTHIANS Paul 57 CE
2 CORINTHIANS Paul 58 CE
GALATIANS Paul 57-72 CE
EPHESIANS Paul (?) before 95 CE
PHILIPPIANS Paul 54-62 CE
COLOSSIANS Paul (probably) 60-61 CE
1 THESSALONIANS Paul 50-51 CE
2 THESSALONIANS Paul (?) 75-90 CE
1 TIMOTHY Paul (unlikely) 63-180 CE
2 TIMOTHY Paul (unlikely) 63-180 CE
TITUS Paul (unlikely) 63-180 CE
PHILEMON Paul 54-56
HEBREWS Unknown 60-96 CE
JAMES James (not the brother of Jesus) 100-125 CE
1 PETER Peter (?) 62-64 CE or later if not by Peter
2 PETER not Peter 125 or later
1 JOHN John 100 CE
2 JOHN John (which?) 100 CE
3 JOHN John (which?) 100 CE
JUDE not Jude 2nd century CE
REVELATION John (which?) Early 90’s
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The King James Version of the Bible

Posted on June 5, 2003 by Kevin

A visitor to my web site wrote: “I believe the King James Version is God’s Word perfected in English.”

This page discusses why I would take exception to the word “perfected.”

What if there were no King James Version? Let’s say all we had was the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Now think of someone producing the exact KJV that we have now and trying to publish it. Would anybody buy such a thing or take it seriously? The answer is “no.” People would immediately note that the language is obsolete, the text was confusing in places, there were errors in the translation and the Greek text underlying the New Testament was faulty. The unanimous view would be that this was a poor Bible version and that it had no place in study or worship.

The reason the King James Version continues to be published is simply tradition. A local preacher told a story of a man who got saved and went to the store to buy a Bible, asking the clerk “what do you recommend”? The new convert knew nothing of the Bible except what he had heard as a child at his grandmother’s knee. The clerk brought a Bible, but the man read it and knew it wasn’t what he wanted. Finally (to make a long story shorter), the clerk brought a KJV and the man said “this is the Bible.” Now my friend on the radio told the story to make the point that in one’s heart, one knows that the KJV is the Word of God. But I read the story to make the point, that the only reason the fellow picked the KJV was because that was what he was “used to.” There was no special virtue in the translation except that it reminded him of his grandmother. Now I have nothing against familiarity, tradition or grandmothers, but these have no bearing on the perfection of the translation. Continue reading →

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Bible Primer

Posted on June 5, 2003 by Kevin

An atheist once told me:

Don’t quote the Bible by numbers, I don’t have a bible and wouldn’t know how to use the numbers if I did.

This is a very introductory primer on the Bible for folks who know virtually nothing about it.

What “bible” means

By derivation, the word bible means “library.” The Bible is a collection of books written over a period of over 1000 years by many authors in three languages. At least some parts of the Bible are sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims. The books in the Bible differ widely in their literary form and historical context. There are laws, biography, history, poetry, short stories, parables, proverbs, songs, letters, prophecy, and more.

What’s the Bible about?

The Bible is about God, the creator of the earth and sky and humankind. The one God reveals himself to a Middle-Eastern man named Abraham to whom a promise is made. God’s self-revelation and the promise unfold through the story of Abraham’s descendants. The Bible then tells of God’s Son, Jesus, who came into the world to save it from sin and death and the early history of the “called out” followers of Jesus, the Christians. Continue reading →

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Faith and Works

Posted on June 5, 2003 by Kevin

“You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” [James 2:24 NRSV]

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” [Rom 3:28 NASB]

“‘Faith without works is dead,’ we are reminded. Quite true. But then what follows is usually some long and dreary description of works and what we should be about, as though the way to revive a dead faith were by putting up a good-works front. If the faith is dead, it is the faith that must be revived. No amount of works will do it.” [Gerhard O. Forde in Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification, Intervarsity 1988]

And so it goes around and around. We are justified by faith and not works–but faith without works is dead–but we are justified by faith–but faith without works is dead…

So an understanding results which seems to satisfy both views: we are justified by faith and works naturally result. The lack of works is a symptom of the lack of faith. Continue reading →

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