>The Bible claims inspiration from God (2 Tim. 3:16). Therefore, since
>God is the Creator of all things (Isaiah 44:24), then He is also the
>Creator of time.
SQUIRES:
In my not-so-humble opinion, nothing shows the weakness of the
fundamentalist's inerrancy claim than their repeated use of 2 Timothy 3:16
to proove that the Bible is inspired. As I will discuss below, this verse
proves absolutely nothing. This verse has to be one of the most misused
passages in the Bible! Before we continue, for those not familiar with it,
here's 2 Timothy 3:16:
"(A)ll scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness."
Suffice it to say that Rob's reasoning (and I use the word loosely) is
rather weak and shortsighted. First of all, the verse is basically a
valueless statement because what does the word "scripture" mean? To a
Jews, Christian or Muslim, it means Divinely revealed (or "inspired") books
that speak the will of God. Thus to say that all "all scripture is by
inspiration of God" is the same as saying "all books that were inspired by
God were inspired by God". This is pointless double-speak that not only
proves NOTHING, but also fails to address the real issue. This issue is
whether or not something that people CLAIM to be scripture really is a
scripture - in whole or in part. The verse doesn't address this important
issue, but the inerrantists still use it as proof of such a claim. Go
figure...
As we all know, CLAIMS mean nothing, since there are varying opinions among
Jews, Christians and Muslims in regards to the Old Testament, the New
Testament, the Qur'an and the Book of Mormon - all of which CLAIM to be
"scripture" (i.e "inspired" by God). Not only do these religions and their
books make the claim, but they also all have their alleged PROOFS also.
Who to believe?
This is not to mention the fact that when this statement in 2 Timothy 3:16
was originally made by (St.) Paul, he was referring NOT to the New
Testament, but only to the Jewish writings that he considered to be
scripture. As most Protestant Christian apologists usually do, Rob didn't
cite verse 15 along with verse 16. This verse, JUST BEFORE the passage in
question, says: " . . . and from childhood you have known the Holy
Scriptures . . ." Obviously, since none of the so-called "gospels", nor the
Epistles of (St.) Paul, could have existed in this person's "childhood",
the entire New Testament is excluded from the alleged claim of 2 Timothy
3:16. If in later years Christians came to believe that everything that
they claimed was "inspired by God" was really "inspired by God", then
that's their mistake. Also, since all of the books of the New Testament
were deemed "Divinely inspired" by a Church that already had a certain
theological point of view, it comes as no surprise that some parts of the
books that they selected (at the expense of others) confirm their beliefs.
Suffice it to say that even if Rob could produce a clear unambiguous
Biblical verse where Jesus or Paul says that the entire Bible from Genesis
to Revelation is the "inerranct Word of God", this would still prove
NOTHING (assuming everything else in the Bible stayed as it currently is).
This is because this is just another meaningless internal proof, just like
the other fairy tales that have to do with the god Yahweh and his tribal
followers. Why should I believe the Bible even IF it did make a clear
claim? And can I apply the same criteria to the Qur'an and the Book of
Mormon? As Farrell would say: "If not, why not?"
By the way, The Secular Web has an article by James Still refuting
"Reasons Skeptics Should Consider Christianity", by Josh McDowell and Don
Stewart. The URL is: http://www.infidels.org/./library/modern/james_still/
reasons_consider_christianity.html
The article discusses 2 Timothy 3:16 and the simple-minded approach
mentioned above.
Cheers,
Rob Squires
r-squires@worldnet.att.net
The Errancy List's Resident Disney Employee
(I was enchanted by the Dark Age antics of the Baptist convention this past
week. Don't they have any bigger problems to worry about? Even when I was
a Christian I despised Baptists. As my father, a reformed/ex-Southern
Baptist, used to say: "If all the Baptists in South Carolina quit
drinkin', half the liquor stores would go out of business." Just to let
you know...the Disney parks here in Florida were still full to capacity
this weekend and "Hercules" in doing well at the theatre too. Most (if not
all) of the local Baptist ministers here in Central Florida were against
the boycott, which they basically called ridiculous. Personally, I think
that the Baptist boycott will backfire and simply encourage more people to
come to Disney. I hope so. I applaud my company in not caving into the
attacks of the Religious Reich.)