The Inerrancy Of The Bible

This morning, I read a blog entry which discussed false preachers. I won't go into my thoughts on that subject except to say that in my opinion, a false prophet is a false prophet regardless of whether he is misleading intentionally or just mistaken.

I believe Satan is behind both the intentional and the unintentional. Of course, I believe there is a real, living Devil, so that will brand me with that dreaded designation, "Fundamentalist", a word that has lately begun to take on negative connotations for some reason. I believe there is a real, physical Hell, too, but that's a post for another day.

But I digress. One statement caught my eye in ER's treatise, and that is this:

"Whether Peter wrote it or not it's an authentic apostolic view."

This started me thinking. Why would someone, anyone, suspect Peter didn't write the second epistle of Peter? Where is the source or reason for the doubt? Is there any evidence anywhere to suggest Peter didn't pen the letter that bears his name? If there is a statement from Peter himself somewhere that can be verified as certifiably authentic that states he didn't write it, where is it? I've never seen it, and I don't have any reason to question the authorship of 2 Peter. What would be the point? Is this merely one more attempt to cast doubt on the inerrancy of the Bible in general?

I asked these questions over at the other blog, and in return, I received a lengthy explanation which encompassed the scholarly opinions of several so-called scholars who referenced several "scholarly" studies and books to explain that Peter couldn't possibly have written Second Peter because it doesn't seem to match Peter's particular style of writing. The explanation offered is circumstantial at best and heretical at worst.

Why is it that some people blindly accept the theories and opinions of so-called experts about what God says is true, but feel they need to do volumes of research into books and studies by mortal men before they will accept that God is the final arbiter of His own truth? Could it be they simply can't believe that a poor fisherman could possibly be educated and intelligent enough to write such a powerful and insightful missive? Is it possible they are forgetting that God can do all things, including making an uneducated man articulate far beyond his potential?

Do you sense the same dichotomy here as I?

I have no doubt that the author of the aforementioned blog post believes himself a Christian. I have had my doubts in the past, but I have reached the conclusion that the only criteria to determine Christianity is "Do you reject or confirm the Deity of Christ"?

There has been, for some time now, an ongoing argument between me and some others on whether the Bible should be taken literally or merely seriously. Obviously, the Bible should be taken seriously, but should it be taken literally?

Certainly there are fables, known as parables, and object lessons present in the Bible that shouldn't necessarily be taken literally, but for the most part, I believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God.

I believe ER and many others tend to over think God and theology. By that I mean they tend to over-analyze the Bible and give too much credence to fallible Biblical "Scholars".

There are many who would say that I am too simplistic in my faith. I have been sneeringly accused of believing too much in that old adage, "God says it, I believe it, that settles it." So, let me clarify my thoughts on that point:

If God says it, I believe it. Is that clear?

Now, I suppose readers will expect me to explain why I am so adamant in my beliefs. OK. I'll explain it, thus:

Faith has been defined as "The evidence of things unseen." But that can be true of many things besides faith. For instance, I can't see air, but I know it exists. I can't see gravity, but I know it keeps my feet on the ground. When my feet are not on the ground, I know I will eventually end up on the ground, due to gravity.

I have faith in God. I believe that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omni-everything else. I believe God has the power to insure that everything He says will be included in the Bible, and that anything that He doesn't want us to know will not be included there. I believe He has the power to make sure His Word remains unchanged.

I believe that in addition to having faith in things unseen, we have to have faith that God says what He means and means what He says. I don't need a battalion of Biblical scholars to understand the truth.

So, in conclusion, I say, what difference does it make whether Peter wrote the 2nd epistle of Peter or not? It is not an essential tenet of the faith. If we die believing someone else besides Peter wrote the book, will we go to Hell? Of course not.

But think on this:

If any part of God's word can be proven to be in error, than we can have no faith in the remainder.

I fail to understand how people far more intelligent than me can't seem to grasp this simple concept. Perhaps I am just too simplistic, as they say, but if God is fallible, then who is infallible? When we start to question the truth of God and His word, we place ourselves in a dangerous position.

Remember that devil, Satan, whom I believe is real, is the author of lies and deceit, as well as confusion. If he can sow confusion through lies and deceit, and can convince us that merely some of what God says is not true, then he has discredited God.

Once God is discredited, Satan has successfully led us astray from God, and from there he can manipulate us into stretching the boundaries of what we call truth, up to and including the authoring of books that question the basic tenets of Christianity, among other things.

God's mission is to save us from everlasting separation from Him. Satan's mission is to eternally separate us from God.

Choose wisely whom you will serve. Your eternity depends on that choice.