This week was really different. Again, though I tried reaching several people to interview to feature the stories of their lives, it evidently was not meant to be. What was different was that I had a lot of difficulty realizing what the Lord would have me to write about. Then I heard some man talking about “the inerrancy of scripture,” claiming it as an example of critical theory, since it promotes “power” over people through the idea that the Bible is the “true Word of God.” Thus it oppresses us with authority over what we should or should not do. Don’t worry. I’m not going to write about critical theory but about the inerrancy of scripture. I also looked up distinct definitions of words such as inerrancy, which means that the Bible does not contain any errors. A synonym of that is infallible, which word most people prefer, as it may not seem to be so definite concerning the Bible being totally true.
The common view of most of our American population seems to be the belief that truth is “relative.” But if something is relative, it has to have something else that is absolute. Most “post-modern” citizens no longer believe in “absolute truth,” the idea that anyone can actually “know” what is really “true.” Our society at present resists efforts to set up standards of moral behavior. However, quoting from the book Mama Bear Apologetics, edited by Hillary Morgan Ferrer, “As Christians, we believe that everything is relative to God’s moral law. C. S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, ‘My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?’”
My daughter Joanie and I enjoyed watching five preachers in a discussion called the 2015 Shepherd’s Conference: Inerrancy Panel Q & A. We don’t usually watch deep theological discussions on YouTube, but this one was good, even humorous at times. The first thing the five (which included Rev. John MacArthur) pointed out was that the questions, “Is the Bible true? Completely true? Reliable?” originated from what Satan asked Eve, “Did God really say…?” In this discussion, the history of evangelicalism was dealt with somewhat, over a period of the nineteenth century throughout the twentieth century, with emphasis on the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy in Chicago in 1978.
They pointed out that liberalism grew from the evangelism and missions movement. The Edinburgh 1910 World Missions Movement put forth the idea that “If we can get the world to agree on our common mission, we don’t have to worry about the doctrine that divides.” They spoke of the fact that Duke University’s religion department was very liberal, Southern Presbyterian seminaries were liberal, and said that Fuller Theological Seminary “lost the battle for the Bible,” as they totally compromised on the truth of the scriptures. They also thoroughly discussed the Southern Baptists’ fight against liberal inroads into that conservative denomination, giving a lot of credit for the Baptists saving their basic belief system to many lay people coming to the convention to vote for inerrancy. One preacher proclaimed, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4) The Presbyterian denomination split a good while back, and in the 2015 conference a pastor stated that the his conservative wing, the Presbyterian Church of America, requires pastors to “vow to believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.”
A younger member of the pastors’ group told of how, as he was doing his seminary studies, he had to decide what he was going to believe. He attributed his decision to come down on the side of the truth and inerrancy of the Bible to the beliefs and examples set by his parents. He wisely concluded, “If this gets wobbly, everything else is a house of cards.” He advised other students to avoid Christian colleges, where liberal professors seem so Christian yet cause students to become confused and at times lose their faith. He humorously told them to attend state universities where one does not expect to be encouraged in their faith.
At one point in our viewing, Joanie exclaimed, “If you don’t believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, how can you believe any of it? Then you could pick and choose whatever you want to believe.” As I was writing this, my son David in Tennessee, not knowing what I was doing, posted on our Russell Family Messenger site an illustration that also stated, “The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God!” When I exclaimed to him that I was just writing about the inerrancy of God’s Word, he sent me a short video of a Bible professor Dr. Robert Plummer speaking on this subject. At one point, he spoke of how Jesus affirmed Old Testament scriptures as true, and how Psalm 95, written by King David, is quoted in Hebrews 3:7-19, with Verse 7 of Hebrews 3 asserting that the Holy Spirit actually spoke that passage written by David.
The pastors discussed how in the nineteenth century, liberals attempted to rid the Bible of supernaturalism. There has now been such a cultural shift that liberals are looking down on the Bible, “making moral judgments about the ethics of the Bible being below their standards, calling the Bible into question on a moral, even theological basis.” Also, people will claim, “Well, the Bible doesn’t really say that,” when it comes to something they do not like or agree with, instead of taking God at His Word. A memorable comment by one of the men (whose names were not given on this video, except for Dr. MacArthur’s) was that “if you have a low view of scripture, you will have a low view of God.”
They explained that as Christians who have studied and have come to an understanding of the fact that “the Bible records a good God,” that nothing validates the inerrancy of scripture like the scriptures. If you study God’s Word, with all the history and motivations that are explained in the scriptures, you come to realize that the Bible records a good God, who is just and wise in everything He does. The pastor stated, “The gospel itself, in naming sin as sin, makes it very clear that to the political and sexual revolutionaries the gospel itself is immoral in their eyes.” He also asserted, “If you are afraid to be called ‘immoral’ by the secular world, then you have abandoned not only the inerrancy but the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
I know one thing—it is so comforting and freeing to read my Bible, trusting that the Lord has preserved truth even in the translation that I need to be able to understand it! This Book has survived thousands of years, even when many have tried repeatedly to destroy it and its influence.
People get ready! Jesus is coming soon!
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
