How can you convince people that the Bible has errors?

by Jeff
(Wausau,WI)

Rick Brentlinger Answers -

If I understand your question correctly, you are asking, How can we convince people that the Bible has errors and God was not active in giving us the scriptures or preserving them over time so that what we have is trustworthy.

I believe that God inspired and then preserved His written word down the centuries. God not only gave us the scriptures by inspiration, He also preserved the scriptures for us, 2 Timothy 3:15-17, Psalm 12:6-7, 119:160, so that our Bible is absolutely trustworthy.

The doctrine of inspiration is meaningless IF God did not also preserve what He inspired in a form that we can read and obey. Here is what GayChristian101.com believes about the Bible.

We understand that Inspired Scripture is the essential and trustworthy record of God’s revelation of Himself to humanity.

Because they were given by inspiration, all sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the written word of God, our only infallible rule of faith and practice. The Scriptures are to be interpreted according to their context and purpose and in reverent obedience to the Lord who speaks through them in living power."

We clearly distinguish our Bible believing position from non-evangelical approaches to Scripture. For example, when we affirm that "Inspired Scripture is the essential and trustworthy record of God’s revelation of Himself to mankind" we separate ourselves from neo-orthodoxy, which sees Scripture not as a revelation but only as a witness to the revelation that took place when God encountered his people throughout the course of history.

Similarly, our belief that "all sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the written word of God, our only infallible rule of faith and practice" stands in sharp contrast to the neo-orthodox belief that the Bible only becomes the word of God when the Spirit brightens its truth for the eyes of a believer.

The gap between our evangelical view of Scripture and the view of theological liberalism is even wider.

Our confidence in the absolute trustworthiness of the facts of biblical history, including the historicity of Adam and Eve, the fall of humankind, in Adam, the virgin birth and miracles of Christ and His bodily resurrection,

stand in dramatic contrast to liberal views, as do our doctrinal views about human sin, Christ's Substitutionary blood atonement, the necessity of receiving God's gift of salvation in this life and the eternal judgement of unbelievers who die in their sins.

Our statement on the inspiration of both Old and New Testaments as the written words of God puts a wide gulf between us and theological liberals who routinely state that the Bible is not the word of God but merely contains the word of God.

First, God, who is Himself Truth and speaks only the truth, has inspired Holy Scripture in order to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator, Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God's witness to Himself.

Second, Holy Scripture, being God's own word, written by men guided by His Spirit, possesses infallible authority in all matters upon which it touches. It is to be believed, as God's instruction in all that it affirms, obeyed as God's command in all that it requires, embraced as God's pledge in all that it promises.

Third, The Holy Spirit authenticates Scripture to us by His witness in believing hearts and opens our minds to understand the meaning of Scripture.

Fourth, Because Scripture is verbally God-given, Scripture is without error in all it teaches, including what it states about the acts of God in creation and about chronology, geography, history and mathematics.

Fifth, The final authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this view of Inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible's own viewpoint.

We've answered the question: How can you convince people that the Bible has errors? Click here to return to Gay Christian 101 Home Page.

Click on eDisciples and look at our links for alleged errors and contradictions in the Bible.

What Bible are you using to defend your gay Christian position?

How and why was the Bible mistranslated?

Are the words of Jesus in Matthew, Mark and Luke more important than the decision of the apostles in Acts 15?

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Jeff's original question: Some believe that the bible was translated without error (guided by God). How can you convince them otherwise?

My edit of the question I think Jeff is asking: How can you convince people that the Bible has errors?