>>>Okay ... <snip> WHERE in the Bible does "the Bible...clearly
claim" to be "free of error"? I'm taking your words literally - where
does "the Bible" - not individual books or epistles or individual
authors or specific statements or passages - where does THE BIBLE
claim this for itself? <snip>
<<<
Since we're leaving grammar and getting into theology, I'll try to be
brief. I doubt that I will be able to answer your question to your
satisfaction, since I can't accept the distinction you're making
between "the Bible" and its component parts. Many statements of
Scripture express complete confidence in God's Word as a whole. I
started to list a few, then I realized that to do so would simply be
to invite further theological debate on their interpretation, debate
that would not be grammatical in nature.
The whole tenor of Scripture writers is to trust implicitly all
previously written Scripture. I have never found a hint of distrust
or rejection of any OT passage on the part of NT writers. Rather, any
statement of Scripture that bears on a question at issue is always
taken as the final authority settling that issue. The kinds of
statements made by today's "errantists" are unthinkable from the pen
of a Peter or a Paul or from the mouth of Jesus.
God doesn't have to spell out everything for us, does He? Isn't there
such a thing as literature? Doesn't literature sometimes SHOW the
reader something rather than just TELL him so? Isn't the Bible
literature? And doesn't the example of every positive Bible character
SHOW us that the Scripture is to be taken as errorless?
I know there will be calls to desist from this thread (I get only the
digests, so I haven't seen them yet), and I agree with them. I don't
even want to carry on this debate privately if it is to be an
argumentative exchange. There is plenty in print, on both sides of
the issue, to guide the honest inquirer. Let us have recourse to our
books and to a sincere submission to God and, in this forum, keep to
our stated purposes.
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In Love to God and Neighbor,
Randy Leedy
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC
RLeedy@wpo.bju.edu
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