Inerrancy of Scripture

I believe the Bible is the Word of God containing everything He wanted to reveal to humanity about Himself. I believe “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, and for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). A key phrase in that verse is All Scripture. I believe that all Scripture is true, which also points out an attribute of God, God can not lie (Proverbs 30:5; Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2).

I hold to the full inerrancy of Scripture. That means that the Bible is “completely true” (Erickson, p. 248).

There is a question of what to do with certain areas that, on the surface, appear to be contradictions, or even errors. This is a difficult concept to digest sometimes, especially being a curious individual who wants answers immediately. However, there aren’t always immediate answers to my questions. With that in mind, I agree most with moderate harmonization. Problem passages are met head on, however, a solution is not forced. More information may eventually become available, or it may never become available, but patience is required, and faith.

Inerrancy of Scripture is a foundational doctrine. I’ll end by quoting something Erickson wrote in chapter eleven of Christian Doctrine that boldly stood out to me, “There is evidence that where a theologian, a school, or a movement begins by regarding biblical inerrancy as a peripheral or optional matter and abandons this doctrine, it frequently then goes on to abandon or alter other doctrines which the church has ordinarily considered quite major, such as the deity of Christ or the Trinity” (Erickson, p. 252).

Notes:
1. Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1998. Print.
2. Bible, Crossway. The ESV Study Bible. 1st ed. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, 2008.

Importance of Biblical Inerrancy

Tags

Bible, Biblical inspiration, inerrancy, inspiration, Theology

What do you believe regarding biblical inerrancy? Do you believe in absolute inerrancy, full, limited, an inerrancy of purpose, or something completely different? Do you even hold to biblical inerrancy? Is it relevant or meaningful in today’s culture?

Perhaps a better starting point would be that of biblical inspiration. Do you hold to it? What form? If the biblical writings are not inerrant, then how could they possibly be inspired?

A lot of questions, but I would be interested to see what believers, particularly young believers (18-35) have to say.

I’ll leave you with a thought from Millard Erickson, which will give you a clue as to my positions, “There is evidence that where a theologian, a school, or a movement begins by regarding biblical inerrancy as a peripheral or optional matter and abandons this doctrine, it frequently then goes on to abandon or alter other doctrines which the church as ordinarily considered quite major, such as the deity of Christ or the Trinity” (Erickson, Christian Theology, p. 252).

Make a comeback?

Tags

Randomness

Sitting in a comfy chair at my local Starbucks enjoying a pumpkin spice latte (by creating that mental image for you, I just lost 3 readers), a friend of mine asked if I ever wrote about my faith. “Why yes, yes I do,” I responded. “Good, post it online sometime,” he said, “it’ll help sharpen your theology and I want to read it.” I immediately remembered this old blog, long abandoned, long forgotten, and maybe not worth reviving. Life at the Cross started out as my personal project to post little bits of thought and theology. It didn’t last too long, obviously. The question before me is this, do I bring it back or let it die?

Most of the content will be based on material I’m already crunching either for school or private writing, so it’s just a matter of a little copy and paste and slight revision in some cases. Style is something else I don’t want to struggle with. Formal writing technique will be scrapped in many cases, and my thoughts will sometimes be disjointed. But, such is life in the blogosphere at the corner of No and Where.

I might just make a comeback by posting now and then. Readers… Must pickup some readers… Facebook could help, twitter, well, is twitter, and word of mouth always works (so if you like what you read, tell someone! If not, silence is a virtue…). More posts to come, maybe.

Studying Paul’s letters

Tags

Espistles, faith, Gospel, letters, Paul, Philippians, Salvation

I apologize for the lack of content. It’s been a very busy couple of months. I have been studying a few of Paul’s epistles for a class I’m taking this semester (Pauline Epistles II). It’s currently my favorite study this semester. The lengths at which Paul goes to spread the Gospel is nothing less than inspiring. He put everything on the line for the sake of Christ.

I’ve taken away so much from this study. I’d like to slowly start posting some thoughts on salvation by faith (never can get too much good info on that), the supremacy of Christ, and a lot more! In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this…

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 NASB).

Life at the Cross blog launch

Welcome to the Life at the Cross blog! There’s so much I’d like to say in this first post. First, let’s start with what this weblog will be and what you can expect to find here. Life at the Cross is a Christian blog where you’ll find me (and hopefully many of you) discussing the Bible, my faith (your faith), and various apsects of Christian living. I’ll be genuinelly authentic in discussing my faith, shortcomings, and victories, and in all areas, in every post and article, I hope Christ shines through.

Audience participation is important here. I want you guys to be involved in the discussions by commenting. Tell me what you agree with, what you have problems with, how something has inspired you, etc. I’d even like to invite some of you to be involved as guest authors if there’s enough interest. I realize at first that’s impossible. I have no readers as I’m writing this, but hopefully that will change. If you like what you read here, tell someone else about this blog!

What’s ahead? Content is of course the key. In my free time, I’ll get some good content up here in the form of posts. I’m also working on putting together a “Know God” page. I hope to put together a very simple, straight forward, and accurate page on salvation and knowing God. I’d like to pick up some readers and maybe even try to get a guest author or two here. I’d also like to make contact with other Christian blogs out there and partner up.

For more, check out the About page.