Short Essay on Inerrancy and Inspiration

As listeners to my podcast will know, I have begun undergraduate studies online at Liberty University, working toward a Bachelor of Science in Religion—Biblical and Theological Studies. This has (hopefully understandably) reduced my blog and podcast output, both here and at http://www.rethinkinghell.com, which I was already struggling to balance with a full-time secular career and growing family. I do have an interview recorded for an upcoming episode of the Theopologetics podcast, which I’ll publish soon, and I’ll be moderating a Christological debate in August, but to keep the blog alive in the meantime, as well as in the future between podcast episodes, I’ve decided to publish some of my coursework.

I submitted the following short essay on the inerrancy and inspiration of Scripture a couple of months in a first semester course in theology. I won’t reproduce the assignment instructions or grading rubric, except to say that it was required to consist of between 600 and 800 words, and to be primarily based upon articles in the second edition of the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, published in 2001 by Baker Academic. Naturally, then, I was limited to the extent I could explore, consider, and respond to arguments against my view, which is that Scripture is, indeed, inerrant. Please keep that in mind, as well as that this fulfilled a requirement of an undergraduate theology course, not one at the graduate or postgraduate levels. Continue reading

John Gill on Sola Scriptura

Apparently, on November 2nd, 1750, John Gill preached a sermon entitled, “The Scriptures: The Only Guide in Matters of Faith.” Were Gill alive today, he and I would have our disagreements, to be sure. But if this sermon is any indication, he and I would have agreed on the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. Here are some selected quotes:

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Episode 82: Tradition

Debate topic: “Affirming Sola Scriptura: Scripture is the only infallible rule of doctrine and practice for Christians today.” Rob Bowman, Director of Research at The Institute for Religious Research, affirms. Eastern Orthodox Rev. Pr. Laurent Cleenewerck, editor of The Eastern / Greek Orthodox New Testament, denies. Moderated by Chris Date. This episode contains part two of the debate, including cross-examination, closing statements and listener Q&A; listen to episode 81, “Sola Scriptura,” for part one’s opening arguments and rebuttals.

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Episode 81: Sola Scriptura

Debate topic: “Affirming Sola Scriptura: Scripture is the only infallible rule of doctrine and practice for Christians today.” Rob Bowman, Director of Research at The Institute for Religious Research, affirms. Eastern Orthodox Rev. Pr. Laurent Cleenewerck, editor of The Eastern / Greek Orthodox New Testament, denies. Moderated by Chris Date. This episode contains part one of the debate, including opening arguments and rebuttals; listen to episode 82, “Tradition,” for part two’s cross-examination, closing arguments and listener Q&A.

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Episode 69: When The Saints Go Marching In

Dr. Mike Licona from Risen Jesus Ministries joins me to discuss the resurrection of Jesus and the recent controversy over his interpretation of Matthew 27:51-53.

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Episode 36: God Makes No Mistakes

Jamin Hübner from RealApologetics.org joins me to discuss the doctrine of biblical inerrancy.

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Episode 35: Contradicting Words

Atheists and other non-Christians skeptical of the Bible’s reliability and divine origin are fond of pointing to what might appear to be contradictions in Scripture, of which there are alleged to be hundreds. In this episode I begin to step through one popular list, demonstrating how a close look at the text reveals that they are not contradictions at all.

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Episode 34: When in Rome

Dr. James White from Alpha & Omega Ministries joins me to discuss Roman Catholicism, Sola Scriptura and the issue of authority.

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Episode 28: Testify

Jim Wallace from Please Convince Me joins me to discuss the gospels as reliable eyewitness testimony to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

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Episode 8: Walking Contradiction

In this episode of the Theopologetics Podcast I discuss several alleged contradictions in Scripture, pointed to by theological liberals as evidence against the inerrancy of Scripture, and by skeptics as evidence against the overall reliability of the Bible.

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