As controversial as the previous two marginal beliefs were, I think the doctrine I am going to discuss in this post will be the most controversial of all, and that is the doctrine of inerrancy. If there is one thing Christians fight over more than anything else, it is what the Bible says, and how authoritative the word of God is. One end of the spectrum says that the things in the Bible transcend all culture and all human values, and provides us with the ultimate truth. There is the other end of the spectrum which says the Bible is full of good stories that we can learn from, but ultimately is not a good source of objective truth. I do not fall on either end of the spectrum, and do not believe Christians should hold firmly to either side.
Before I go any further let me clarify that much of the Bible should be taken as having actually happened. The historical account of Jesus Christ that we find in the Scriptures should be believed and not doubted in the slightest. Much of the events recounted in the Old Testament can be believed as completely true. And most of the precepts taught in Scripture are good rules to live by that ultimately bring us closer to God. But let me also be clear that we worship Jesus Christ, not the Bible. To adhere to the claim that the Bible is perfect in every respect and does not speak wrongly in any way, is to set the Bible up as an idol and sets your faith up for failure.
If your faith rests on the idea that the Bible contains no errors, the moment an error is shown to you, your faith will crumble. And it is not difficult to show errors in the Bible. For instance, Joshua 10:13 describes a moment in battle when the Israelites were defeating a community in the land of Canaan and Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still to allow for a longer day so that they could be victorious. In this passage we are told that the sun stood still, which would accord with a world that believed the sun rotated around the earth, but is not accurate scientifically. Therefore, this is an error in the Bible, showing that Scripture is not inerrant. I do not believe it would be fruitful to continue on with more examples here, so I will allow the Joshua example to suffice.
Lifting up the Bible as inerrant makes it an idol and creates a Church that practices what Karl Barth called "biblio-idolatry."
Biblio-idolatry is the practice of holding up everything in Scripture as good to do. But if we read Leviticus 20:13 as something good to do, we would be rounding up the gay community and putting them to death. I am sure no one would abide by such a barbarous rule today. Yet there are Christians who hold so strongly to particular interpretations of Scripture and uphold the Bible as a god, that you wonder if they have room for the love of Jesus in their lives.
This is another area where if we find ourselves in debate with another Christian about a particular text in the Bible, or even just debating about the inerrancy of Scripture, if there is no give from the other person, we should not feel the need to debate to the death. The Bible, we need to remember, was written 2000 years ago in a completely different culture by many different men and women, in multiple languages, and consists of 66 different books spanning several thousand pages; and our fallible and finite minds are not capable of interpreting the Bible perfectly, and we need to allow for error in our own interpretations.
I do stand by 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." Many often turn to this passage as proof that Scripture is without error. First off, you should not use material from the very resource you are debating to prove that resource is without error. Secondly, this passage simply says the Bible is good for our edification in good works. It does not say that the Bible always gets things right. All of the commandments in the Bible are intended to bring us to two things: 1. love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and 2. to love our neighbor as ourself. To these two things do all the law and the prophets point. So let us love one another and get along in peace.
Blessings,
-Brandon
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