From: Leo Percer (PERCERL@baylor.edu)
Date: Thu Dec 07 1995 - 12:41:54 EST
I had promised myself that I was going to stay out of this fight until I
read the following from Eric Vaughan <jevaughan@sauaca.saumag.edu>:
>Anyone who doesn't believe in the inerrancy of the scriptures DOESN'T believe
>in Christ, or God for that matter. Part of believing in Christ, is believing
>his divinity, which includes the characteristic of omnipotence. How could an
>omnipotent being fail at anything, including giving us a nonerrant scripture?
>I think you may be confused on what it may mean to believe in Christ.
Eric, do I really hear you saying that one cannot be a disciple of Christ
without first believing in the inerrancy of Scripture? That is a little
hard to swallow, especially since the NT is full of examples of people
(like the Pharisees and Saduccees) who believed strongly in the written
word (or, if you prefer, "law") of God, and yet who did not trust in Jesus
nor receive him as their Messiah! But according to your statement above,
they were better "Christians" than some of the disciples! So, all those
Jews and Christians who for centuries had no concept of inerrancy really
did not believe in God? Boy, that must come as a surprise to them and to
God! Speaking as a conservative (and a staunch inerrantist, I might add!),
this linking of relationship with God to doctrine sounds too much like
legalism to me. Not only that, but I find no where in Scripture where
Jesus says that relationship with God begins with a believe in inerrancy.
In fact, Jesus seems to claim that relationship with God begins with Jesus,
not doctrines (kindly see John 14 and the book of Acts for references!).
The kind of reasoning presented in the post above makes me ashamed to call
myself a Christian sometimes! Where does it say that just because God is
omnipotent that He would "never fail at anything"? Does that include that
He won't fail at saving everyone? After all, 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord
is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient
with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance." Since
then God is omnipotent (meaning God never fails), then no one will fail to
come to repentance according to this verse. Are you an universalist, Eric?
I apologize to the list for this rant, but stuff like this makes me see
red! As a conservative, I think I have some good reasons to believe what I
believe, but that doesn't then give me the right to judge those who
disagree with me. The Christian life is more than a set of doctrines or
statements about God, and many godly people have lived that life without
much concern about inerrancy. Can we please get off this topic and on to
more fruitful things?
Thanks,
Leo Percer
PERCERL@BAYLOR.EDU
Waco, TX
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