Re: A profound disturbance found in Yak butter.

--- Don Winterstein <dfwinterstein@msn.com> wrote:

> Where does it say in the Bible that scriptures are the Word of God?

2 Timothy 3:16

> In fact,
> "Word of God" as used in the Bible never means scriptures.
Never? I agree that often "Word of God" means Jesus Christ. But never?

> And if the Bible
> did make such a claim, why should you believe it? It was a group of mere men
> who chose the writings to be included in the Bible; why should you believe
> those men knew which writings were inspired and which were not? What is
> inspiration, and what does it imply?

Here you have a valid point, which I have been corresponding with a former
colleague about (he saw the writing on the wall at GMR&D long before I did,
quit and went to divinity school) For me I can accept the canon because the
church fathers who selected it were historically closer to the events described
in the Gospels. I think it's problematic to ascribe infallibility to them.
However, because many Christians agreed on the canon and because they were
closer in time to the events described (and therefore had access to more
original records) I can accept what they did.
>
> [Aside: The current problem with YECs has its roots in the super-elevated
> status conferred on the Bible presumably following the Protestant
> Reformation. YECs are as fearful of deviating from literal interpretations
> as Muslims would be in deviating from the Quran: both consider their texts to
> be the literal Word of God. If anything is found to be wrong with the text,
> it is God who fails; so the text must be infallible by definition. Your
> thinking seems analogous to YECs' thinking in this respect.]
>
Agreed. The status of Scripture is a difficult issue. You don't want to
indulge in Bibliolatry, neither do you want to pick and choose what is and
isn't inspired. I have come to the conclusion that the inspired nature of the
Scriptures means that the Bible will correctly guide Spirit-filled Christians
who seek understanding prayerfully.

Bill Hamilton
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
248.652.4148 (home) 248.821.8156 (mobile)
"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31

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Received on Wed May 31 08:51:11 2006