What is Inerrancy?

[wyguy]

How did they go extinct? They died!

[~candice~]

IL,

Can you please clarify?

In a literal Adam and Eve

A less than 4.5 billion year old earth

The Flood of Noah

Sure.

You said you have no problem with a literal Adam and Eve, but not with creation as literally written in Gen 1 & 2. Doesn't that pose some contradictions for you?

If Adam and Eve were literal, we don't NEED evolution, at least not for humans.

Adam and Eve also feature in the creation record.

Perhaps I have missed something here.

Sorry for the ambiguity, my views on these subjects are:

- Adam and Eve may have been historical figures, but if so they did not live 6,000 years ago. . .at least not in the capacity of the first human beings. More likely they are metaphorical stereotypes.

- The earth is around four billion years old

- Noah's flood probably refers to local flooding events most likely brought on by the end of the last ice age. No flood has ever covered the entire earth.

Lurker

OK... so what do you do with the apparant contradictions (in the bible) that would come in, if you believed that? First example off the top of my head is genealogies.

[DC10]

Why is this in "Faith vs Science"?

May. . .be because its an issue that has to do with faith and science?

Lurker

Well, it does include the word "science" a few times, it's true, but it seems more a topic on doctrine - and it could be an interesting one at that.

But if it's really about faith and science, which aspects of the science content do you think HalP was trying to bring to readers' attention?

Nothing, his sole intent is to try and sow discord, and he is unable to argue something like this in a coherent manner

It does seem to be promoting interesting discussion now, though.

I'm very hesitant to admit this, but the whole idea of inerrancy is something I've really only come across since Googling-in to Worthy.

How accurate a reflection of Worthy members' view of this matter is the "Inerrancy" article that started this thread? My guess would be "not very".

Care to elaborate on that? What is your own view? Welcome to Worthy, btw.

Thanks for the welcome, MG, good to be here.

I don't know enough about inerrancy to form a view. Could someone point me at the scriptural basis, please? It seems to be missing from the leading article (with apologies to all if it is there - it's a long article).

Having said that, IF the article that started this thread IS a reasonable synopsis, it seems like something I could sign up to, subject to a caveat or 2, and further and better particulars.

[MorningGlory]

You know as well as I that 99% of all species that have ever existed on this planet are now extinct. How did they go extinct? They died!

Then we are agreed - physical death existed prior to the fall. Correct?

Lurker

I can't answer that; as to whether everything died or God wiped them out, I just don't know (nor does anyone else). We DO know that nearly every species that ever lived is extinct now. The 'WHY' is the part that only the Lord knows. We do know that death didn't enter into the world created in Genesis until the fall.

[Guest shiloh357]

You know as well as I that 99% of all species that have ever existed on this planet are now extinct. How did they go extinct? They died!

Then we are agreed - physical death existed prior to the fall. Correct?

Lurker

Death did not exist prior to the Fall. Sin is the product of all death and decay in this world. We live in a broken, decaying world that will be renovated by God when sin is eradicated.

The reason I know this is because when God eradicates sin, there will be no more death, of anything on the planet. The death of living creatures was never engineered into God's creation. The power of sin has damaged the entire world, and its eradication in the end will eradicate death once and for all.

[Arthur Durnan]

Aur contraire, Kind Lurker of Sorts, modern science does indeed confirm Holy Writ. Why knock it? Consider if you will the fact that the Bible was penned thousands of years ago. Compare it with science TODAY, versus the Bible THEN -

Bible THEN - earth is a sphere (Isaiah 40); incalculable number of stars (Jeremiah 33); free float of earth in space (Job 26); each star is different ( 1 Cor. 15:41); light moves ( Job 38); air has weight (Job 28); blood is source of life & health (Lev. 17); ocean floor contains deep valleys & mountains (2 Samuel 22:16; Jonah 2:6); oceans contain springs (Job 38); etc, etc, etc. All penned thousands of years before modern science! Hundreds more canbe underscored. And to boot, the Bible is the very Book that remains on the battlefields of life to preach the funerals of those who oppose it! Chuck Darwin - Chuck Darwin yet! - was one striking example of a Bible-related funeral. Yup, some KFC chickens do indeed come home to roost.

Science THEN - earth was flat disk; only 1100 stars; earth sat on large animal; light was fixed in place; all stars were the same; winds all blew straight; sick people must be bled; ocean floor was flat; air was weightless; hands to be washed in still water; etc, etc, etc. Hundreds more can be underscored.

Science TODAY (FINALLY!) - earth is a sphere; incalculable number of stars; light moves; air has weight; winds blow in cyclones; oceans floors are indeed deep & mountainous; each star is indeed different; creation is made of invisible elements (atoms); free float of earth in space; etc, etc, etc. Long thousands of years after the "mistaken" Holy Bible underscored scientific facts against the thots of science, the truth is that science is now finally catching up with God's tremendous Word of Truth! Welcome to the Club, Charles D.!! Welcome to the Club!! You've been a long time a-wakin', C.D.,no?

P.S. Just thinking: If America could put a man on the moon, couldn't it also place Nancy Pelosi there as well?

[MorningGlory]

P.S. Just thinking: If America could put a man on the moon, couldn't it also place Nancy Pelosi there as well?

[CSLewis]

You know as well as I that 99% of all species that have ever existed on this planet are now extinct. How did they go extinct? They died!

Then we are agreed - physical death existed prior to the fall. Correct?

Lurker

Death did not exist prior to the Fall. Sin is the product of all death and decay in this world. We live in a broken, decaying world that will be renovated by God when sin is eradicated.

The reason I know this is because when God eradicates sin, there will be no more death, of anything on the planet. The death of living creatures was never engineered into God's creation. The power of sin has damaged the entire world, and its eradication in the end will eradicate death once and for all.

I think that is beautiful. But it is so much more than physical death. I don't think we should be thinking in terms of physical death and decay, more importantly a spiritual decay - Christ conquered death in a physical sense but more importantly he conquered it in a spiritual sense. He conquered sin.

[Jorge S]

I do very much the same thing you probably do with contradictions in the NT genealogies of Matthew and Luke (Matthew has Joseph as a descendant of Solomon whereas Luke has Joseph as a descendant of Nathan) in that I recognize that they are written for purposes other than the kind of sequential history we use today.

Lurker

Jesus' Genealogies in Matthew and Luke are not contradictory. They are simply different from David to Joseph. There have been several proposals to explain the puzzle. The more appealing to me is the one stating that Matthew records the Joseph's line while Luke centers on Mary's.

[Guest shiloh357]

OK... so what do you do with the apparant contradictions (in the bible) that would come in, if you believed that? First example off the top of my head is genealogies.

I do very much the same thing you probably do with contradictions in the NT genealogies of Matthew and Luke (Matthew has Joseph as a descendant of Solomon whereas Luke has Joseph as a descendant of Nathan) in that I recognize that they are written for purposes other than the kind of sequential history we use today.

Lurker

There is no contradiction. Jesus was the descendent of both Nathan and Solomon. You simply lack the biblical prowess to understand how the genealogies work.