From: Don Winterstein (dfwinterstein@msn.com)
Date: Thu Jan 30 2003 - 08:28:28 EST
Douglas Hayworth wrote:
> I am in total agreement that requiring Jesus' parables to be
scientifically
> accurate is absurd.
If inerrancy were not such a big deal, people would not even be having this
mustard-seed debate, would they? And for those who do not hold Scripture to
be inerrant but still respect it, the parable's message for them would still
be there in all its force. So to me an insistence on inerrancy seems to
trade emphasis on enlightenment for endless debates over relatively trivial
points. Furthermore, such debates historically have become causes for
division.
On the plus side, holding to inerrancy at least requires interpreters to
interpret rather than merely dismiss. I'm thinking of people like the Jesus
Seminar scholars, who according to _The Five Gospels_ dismiss much of the
key material in the Gospels. They thus go way beyond what I would consider
acceptable.
If you don't hold to inerrancy, as I really don't, the big question becomes,
what are the acceptable limits? How much will I allow someone to dismiss
without excluding him from my fellowship? The short answer is that,
fortunately, it's not my job to judge. I think I could have fellowship with
anyone who seems to have a basic respect for the authority of God and
biblical teaching.
I just don't see God as someone who is going to be uptight over whether you
immerse or sprinkle, or whether you believe it's the real body and blood or
a representation. God has more important things on his mind.
Don
PS - By the way, I'd like to thank those who responded to my request for
feedback. You've taught me a lot. Among other things, you've taught me
that I've been paying way too much attention to the atheists and skeptics
both among my friends and in general, and way too little attention to people
like yourselves. But without the Internet I'd never have known you existed.
I conclude that OECs who accept something like traditional Christian
theology need better PR.
You've also taught me that I need to rework some phraseology on my personal
website!
>
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