Jump to content
IGNORED

The Domino Theory of Scripture


MadHermit

Recommended Posts


  • Group:  Junior Member
  • Followers:  1
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.01
  • Content Count:  82
  • Content Per Day:  0.04
  • Reputation:   41
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  06/02/2018
  • Status:  Offline

One of the most destructive teachings encountered by bright honest seekers is the Domino Theory of Scripture, the contention that if you determine that the Bible is in error in one significant way, then it is totally unworthy of belief.  I have known Christians deeply committed to the Lord and the Gospel with a vibrant personal relationship with Christ who threw out their faith because  they embraced this Domino theory that their church taught them, but either encountered what they considered errors in Scripture or became convinced of the truth of evolution and imagined that they then had to reject their faith in the biblical God.  We need to recognize that many feel they can't love God completely unless they love Him honestly, and for them that means confronting uncomfortable truths that prevent them from embracing biblical inerrancy.  We also need to recognize that someone's faith commitment and relationship with Christ is more important than their assent to our personal theology.

Edited by MadHermit
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Worthy Ministers
  • Followers:  35
  • Topic Count:  99
  • Topics Per Day:  0.02
  • Content Count:  40,796
  • Content Per Day:  7.95
  • Reputation:   21,263
  • Days Won:  76
  • Joined:  03/13/2010
  • Status:  Online
  • Birthday:  07/27/1957

21 minutes ago, MadHermit said:

One of the most destructive teachings encountered by bright honest seekers is the Domino Theory of Scripture, the contention that if you determine that the Bible is in error in one significant way, then it is totally unworthy of belief.  I have known Christians deeply committed to the Lord and the Gospel with a vibrant personal relationship with Christ who threw out their faith because  they embraced this Domino theory that their church taught them, but either encountered what they considered errors in Scripture or became convinced of the truth of evolution and imagined that they then had to reject their faith in the biblical God.  We need to recognize that many feel they can't love God completely unlessthey love Him honestly, and for them that means confronting uncomfortable truths that prevent them from embracing biblical inerrancy.  We also need to recognize that someone's faith commitment and relationship with Christ is more important than their assent to our personal theology.

2 Tim 3:15-17
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
KJ
V
  • This is Worthy 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest shiloh357
3 hours ago, MadHermit said:

One of the most destructive teachings encountered by bright honest seekers is the Domino Theory of Scripture, the contention that if you determine that the Bible is in error in one significant way, then it is totally unworthy of belief.  I have known Christians deeply committed to the Lord and the Gospel with a vibrant personal relationship with Christ who threw out their faith because  they embraced this Domino theory that their church taught them, but either encountered what they considered errors in Scripture or became convinced of the truth of evolution and imagined that they then had to reject their faith in the biblical God.  We need to recognize that many feel they can't love God completely unless they love Him honestly, and for them that means confronting uncomfortable truths that prevent them from embracing biblical inerrancy.  

First of all, the Bible is never in error.  That is something that churches need to take more seriously and emphasize.   We cannot allow science and popular culture to hijack interpretation of Scripture.  When we do allow that, we end up with Christians whose faith becomes shipwrecked because of alleged error in Scripture.   The problem, when it comes to alleged errors being assigned to Scripture is that some people have bought into erroneous methods of interpretation.

But more to the point about the domino theory...   It is important to understand that the doctrines of the Bible are interlocking and layered.  You cannot reject one doctrine without doing violence to all other doctrines.   For example, if we dispense with the bodily resurrection of Jesus, all of Christianity collapses because our entire faith rests on the resurrection of Jesus. Nothing else in the Bible matters if Jesus is not raised.  

In addition, what the Bible says about Jesus and the teachings of Jesus are not at all disconnected from what the Bible teaches us in Genesis.  The Bible is a system of progressive revelation in that as we progress chronologically through the Bible, it builds on itself and we see the theology of the Bible developing over time.  Abraham had more revelation than Noah.  Moses had more revelation than Abraham The prophets had more light and revelation than Moses and so on.  Each one building on what was already revealed to those who came before them.  So you cannot discredit one part of Scripture and expect everything else to correct.  It simply doesn't work that way.

If we dispense with the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture then the Bible, if the Bible is wrong on one point, then it is not the Word of an inerrant and infallible God who does not commit error.   It is the fact that God is the author of the Bible that makes it so unique.   I have to be able to trust it 100%  because you don't want what you are putting your ultimate faith in to be wrong.   I am trusting what the Bible says about salvation and eternity to be true.  If the Bible isn't always correct, what is it wrong about?

Quote

We also need to recognize that someone's faith commitment and relationship with Christ is more important than their assent to our personal theology.

Well, it is not about anyone's assent to our personal theology.    Rather it is about the authority of Scripture itself.  Our faith commitment and relationship with Christ is based on the Bible.   If you cannot trust what the Bible  says to be true in Genesis, which is the seed-bed of all of the theology that follows in the Bible then you cannot trust anything built on that faulty foundation.   Many people do not realize that ALL Christian doctrines find their points of origin, either directly or indirectly in the first three chapters of Genesis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Worthy Ministers
  • Followers:  9
  • Topic Count:  3
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  2,326
  • Content Per Day:  0.63
  • Reputation:   1,303
  • Days Won:  1
  • Joined:  01/26/2014
  • Status:  Online

I've never heard the term "Domino Theory" before, but I would ask; If I can't trust that God has preserved all scripture, how do I know which verses and passages I can trust? What's to stop me from using the possibility of untrustworthy scriptures to reject any doctrine I'm uncomfortable with? Suddenly, I feel as though I am an authority over God's Word - rather than His Word being my authority.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Royal Member
  • Followers:  0
  • Topic Count:  10
  • Topics Per Day:  0.04
  • Content Count:  4,027
  • Content Per Day:  16.64
  • Reputation:   5,187
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  07/30/2023
  • Status:  Offline

The first time I heard the phrase "Domino Theory" was in justification for the Viet Nam War.  It was a false presumption then and false presumption now when applied to Holy Scripture.  I suspect it is or will be used to attack sola scriptura, the inerrancy of the Bible.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Junior Member
  • Followers:  1
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.01
  • Content Count:  82
  • Content Per Day:  0.04
  • Reputation:   41
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  06/02/2018
  • Status:  Offline

As a young man, I once travelled across eastern Canada on a bus of young witnesses for Youth with a Mission.  The bus was driven by the founder of YWAM, Loren Cunningham.  Loren shared with us the leaps of faith and resulting miracles he experienced as he trusted God to use him to reach the lost, many of whom had never heard of Jesus.  In awe of his testimonies, I asked Loren if there was a special secret to his success.  His answer surprised me.  He said, "My spiritual breakthrough came only after I was intellectually honest enough to become an atheist."  In other words, his spiritual quest reaquired ruthless intellectual honesty as he confronted his doubts and the hard questions for apologetics.  

The Domino theory of Scripture is not just intellectually misguided; it is frankly evil.  That is because it makes one's faith vulnerable to perceived errors in the Bible and, in so doing, makes the seeker intellectually rigid and incapable of honest and open inquiry.  It is far better to endure the pain of discomfort created by loose end's in one's theology than to prematurely and dishonestly close the inner debate by taking a stand on Scripture which one knows is not yet intellectually justified.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Advanced Member
  • Followers:  1
  • Topic Count:  1
  • Topics Per Day:  0.00
  • Content Count:  289
  • Content Per Day:  0.05
  • Reputation:   45
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  03/25/2008
  • Status:  Offline

On 6/12/2018 at 9:18 PM, MadHermit said:

As a young man, I once travelled across eastern Canada on a bus of young witnesses for Youth with a Mission.  The bus was driven by the founder of YWAM, Loren Cunningham.  Loren shared with us the leaps of faith and resulting miracles he experienced as he trusted God to use him to reach the lost, many of whom had never heard of Jesus.  In awe of his testimonies, I asked Loren if there was a special secret to his success.  His answer surprised me.  He said, "My spiritual breakthrough came only after I was intellectually honest enough to become an atheist."  In other words, his spiritual quest reaquired ruthless intellectual honesty as he confronted his doubts and the hard questions for apologetics.  

The Domino theory of Scripture is not just intellectually misguided; it is frankly evil.  That is because it makes one's faith vulnerable to perceived errors in the Bible and, in so doing, makes the seeker intellectually rigid and incapable of honest and open inquiry.  It is far better to endure the pain of discomfort created by loose end's in one's theology than to prematurely and dishonestly close the inner debate by taking a stand on Scripture which one knows is not yet intellectually justified.  

 

The first honesty one should deal with that humans are not omniscient. We can't know everything, and that we don't need to understand everything to believe God. It's a fallacious argument to say that because one can't honestly understand quantum physics such that he should reject science as a whole. Most so-called contractions or logical flaws are mainly due to the lack of understanding of the historical situations. We tend to use today's environment as a reference to speculate what is said about what happened 2000 years ago, thus we can't be objectively know what is actually said. 

For an example, I just had an argument with others about the two genealogical accounts of Jesus. I simply pointed out the possibility that humans never knew clearly how genealogies were written in different cultures. Genealogies thus can include step sons or even adapted sons. The other side however argued that I have no evidence to say so. "Evidence" is a typical argument from atheists which they consider as honestly logical. You need evidence to support your claims. This, at a first glance, seems to be as honest and logical and straight forward as it can be. However this argument is deceptively flawed. I can't help but ask why a plain and honest and seemingly logical argument such as "you need evidence to support your claims" can turn out to be a logical flaw which thus is deceptive and satanic as it can be as it appears to be so honestly logical.

 

The nature of history is that it is composed of human testimonies which can hardly be evidenced. History is the recordings of the 0.00000001% events or historical figures which were considered famous by the public or an authority back then. It is the recordings of the 0.00000001% activities of these 0.00000001% famous persons. Mathematically it is as insignificant as can be ignored. Do you remember what you ate in last Christmas. What evidence can you find to support what you ate last Christmas or on any particular day in your life? It's virtually none. You have no evidence of your past meals (you may have had a million in your life), nor have the 70 billion humans on earth (not to account those in the long past of human history). If I said that "it is possible that you ate turkey that day", what's the point of asking me for evidence to support such a "claim", while none of the 70 billion humans ever had any evidence of what they ate?

 

That said. By my honest speculation Satan is behind the atheistic argument of "show me the evidence".

Edited by Hawkins
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Mars Hill
  • Followers:  7
  • Topic Count:  87
  • Topics Per Day:  0.03
  • Content Count:  3,795
  • Content Per Day:  1.36
  • Reputation:   6
  • Days Won:  3
  • Joined:  07/30/2016
  • Status:  Offline

On 6/1/2018 at 11:13 PM, MadHermit said:

One of the most destructive teachings encountered by bright honest seekers is the Domino Theory of Scripture, the contention that if you determine that the Bible is in error in one significant way, then it is totally unworthy of belief.  I have known Christians deeply committed to the Lord and the Gospel with a vibrant personal relationship with Christ who threw out their faith because  they embraced this Domino theory that their church taught them, but either encountered what they considered errors in Scripture or became convinced of the truth of evolution and imagined that they then had to reject their faith in the biblical God.  We need to recognize that many feel they can't love God completely unless they love Him honestly, and for them that means confronting uncomfortable truths that prevent them from embracing biblical inerrancy.  We also need to recognize that someone's faith commitment and relationship with Christ is more important than their assent to our personal theology.

 

Listening to Bible correctors is sort of like when a bird hits your car with its "droppings".

And it just so happens that the very first "corrector of the word", was Satan, who encouraged Eve to question God's words...."Hath God Said"?

So, since the garden and till the end of the Tribulation, you will always find self righteous devils trying to make you believe you can lose your salvation, or  writing books that try to correct the scriptures, and you'll find seminaries devoted to destroying trust in the scriptures, and you'll find preachers endlessly saying......"but right here, the original greek says".........and on and on.    As you see, the Devil is very committed to casting doubt on the Truth, and has many of his own deeply engaged in the same pursuit.

Edited by Behold
  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

  • Group:  Junior Member
  • Followers:  1
  • Topic Count:  12
  • Topics Per Day:  0.01
  • Content Count:  82
  • Content Per Day:  0.04
  • Reputation:   41
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  06/02/2018
  • Status:  Offline

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 1:11 AM, shiloh357 said:

Shiloh: "First of all, the Bible is never in error.  That is something that churches need to take more seriously and emphasize."   

First, NT prooftexts on biblical inspiration apply only to the OT and, in any case, never even claim inerrancy with respect to scientific and historical accuracy.

Second, even in principle the NT can't comment on its own inspiration as a canon  of books.  There was no consensus about the NT canon  until after 200 AD.  

Shiloh: "But more to the point about the domino theory...   It is important to understand that the doctrines of the Bible are interlocking and layered.  You cannot reject one doctrine without doing violence to all other doctrines."

So what you're really saying is this: if honest and intelligent seekers don't buy into your version of interlocking and layered biblical teaching, you'd rather that they renounce their faith in Christ just so you get to feel right?  Hmmm.

Shiloh: "For example, if we dispense with the bodily resurrection of Jesus, all of Christianity collapses because our entire faith rests on the resurrection of Jesus. Nothing else in the Bible matters if Jesus is not raised."  

Many Bible scholars who love Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him accept as more plausible the claim that on the Saturday after Jesus' crucifixion Roman soldiers removed Jesus corpse from the tomb (where it had been temporarily placed to avoid profaning the Sabbath) and dumped it in a criminal's hole with the other 2 crucified thieves.  So when disciples began having visions of the risen Jesus, they wrongly concluded that Jesus rose bodily from the dead.  These scholars still believe Jesus is alive.  So I guess you'd rather they renouce their faith in Christ than embrace your (for them) implausible version of events.   Remember, poltergeist phenomena often exhibit the same mass physical features as Jesus' resurrection appearances.

Shiloh: "If we dispense with the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture then the Bible, if the Bible is wrong on one point, then it is not the Word of an inerrant and infallible God who does not commit error.   It is the fact that God is the author of the Bible that makes it so unique."

The Bible was written by men with many limitations in character and understanding, not by  God.  It doesn't even claim to be written by God.   Nor does it claim inerrancy.   

Shiloh: "If the Bible isn't always correct, what is it wrong about?"

If I could convince you that the Bible contains errors would you even want to have that demonstrated for you?  Are you honest enough to consider a thorough challenge to your last claim?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest shiloh357
10 hours ago, MadHermit said:

First, NT prooftexts on biblical inspiration apply only to the OT and, in any case, never even claim inerrancy with respect to scientific and historical accuracy. 

No, inspiration applies to the entire Bible.   Even Paul's letters were considered Scripture (II Pet. 3:16).  

The Bible makes no scientific claims, but when we speak of inerrancy, we are speaking to the historical claims of Scripture.  I would be interested in you demonstrating that the Bible is not inerrant.

Quote

Second, even in principle the NT can't comment on its own inspiration as a canon  of books.  There was no consensus about the NT canon  until after 200 AD.  

Even though the NT canon was completed at a later time, that has no bearing on inspiration.  The Church did not decide the canon, they discovered it. The canon was revealed to the Church; the Church did not and does not sit in judgment on the canon. 

Quote

So what you're really saying is this: if honest and intelligent seekers don't buy into your version of interlocking and layered biblical teaching, you'd rather that they renounce their faith in Christ just so you get to feel right?  Hmmm.

No, what I am saying is that the nature of the Bible, the way it is constructed, all of the doctrines in it, are connected.  The doctrines regarding God, Salvation, the Church, the Trinity, the Deity of Jesus, are all connected and overlap with each other and to reject one area of what the Bible says does violence to the other parts.  The Bible is unified whole and it is perfectly consistent within itself.  

Quote

Many Bible scholars who love Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him accept as more plausible the claim that on the Saturday after Jesus' crucifixion Roman soldiers removed Jesus corpse from the tomb (where it had been temporarily placed to avoid profaning the Sabbath) and dumped it in a criminal's hole with the other 2 crucified thieves.  So when disciples began having visions of the risen Jesus, they wrongly concluded that Jesus rose bodily from the dead.  These scholars still believe Jesus is alive.  So I guess you'd rather they renouce their faith in Christ than embrace your (for them) implausible version of events.   Remember, poltergeist phenomena often exhibit the same mass physical features as Jesus' resurrection appearances.

No, they don't have a personal relationship with Jesus while at the same time trying debunk the resurrection.  The resurrection of Jesus is  the lynch pin of the Christian faith.  If Jesus didn't rise from the dead as is claimed by the New Testament, Christianity is a false religion.  Our hope of a future resurrection is tied directly to Jesus' resurrection.

Furthermore, the disciples did not have visions of Jesus being alive.   For 40 days they ate with Him, touched him, talked to Him.  To argue that the disciples had mass hallucinations and that they had the exact same hallucinations of Jesus defies how hallucinations work.   Not only that, but according Paul, over 500 people saw Jesus alive.  That means you would have to have a mass hallucination by 500 people and again, that is just not a rational argument to make.  

The disciples experienced  Jesus risen from the dead and that is what they preached.   The Bible tells us that the Roman soldiers were paid off to tell the people that the body of Jesus was stolen and they were risking their lives to make such a claim since it would mean that the body was stolen on their watch.   If they had been order to throw the body down a criminal's hole, it makes no sense to put their own lives in danger for no reason.

Do you support their view that the Bible's account of Jesus' resurrection is implausible?

Quote

The Bible was written by men with many limitations in character and understanding, not by  God.  It doesn't even claim to be written by God.   Nor does it claim inerrancy.   

Actually, the Bible had it been written by men, would not look like the Bible we have today.  In fact, I would argue that the Bible is, generally speaking, too offensive to human nature to have been written by men.  The writings of other religions, that were written by men are revered and venerated by the whole world as enlightened.   The Bible is denigrated.   There is no shortage of documentaries literature produced in the secular world and even in among pseudo-Christian scholars attempting to debunk and discredit the Bible's claims.   No such documentaries are produced about the writings of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. Not even the Apocrypha is scrutinized  the way the Bible is scrutinized. 

But the Bible does demonstrate its divine origin from start to finish.  

Quote

If I could convince you that the Bible contains errors would you even want to have that demonstrated for you?  Are you honest enough to consider a thorough challenge to your last claim?

I would love to have that conversation.  Perhaps you could start another thread where we can explore all of the alleged errors you claim that exist in Scripture.  Or I can start that thread and you join me over there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...