A Challenge to Farrell Till

JAlw@aol.com JAlw@aol.com
Tue, 2 Feb 1999 15:29:22 EST (00918008962, 716d0d55.36b76022@aol.com) 

In a message dated 99-02-02 14:02:10 EST, you write:

<< Subj:	 A Challenge to Farrell Till
 Date:	99-02-02 14:02:10 EST
 From:	mbkbell@aapi.co.uk (Matthew Bell)
 Sender:	owner-errancy@infidels.org
 To:	errancy@infidels.org
 
 >>Matthew Bell
 >>It is high time that I put my neck on the line for what I 
 >>believe, i.e. Biblical Inerrancy, hence I am proposing to
 >>you (Farrell Till) that I will engage in written debate on
 >>any subject either:
 >>
 >>a) previously published in TSR and not responded to by
 >>an inerrantist.
 >>b) any other matter of alleged errancy you wish to discuss.
 
 <snip for brevity>
 
 >Farrell Till
 > Sounds great.  You have heard me say that I am working frantically this
week
 > to finish the copy of the next issue of TSR, so it will be a week probably
 > before I will have time to begin.
 
 Matthew Bell
 No problems with the timeframe.
  
 >Farrell Till
 >Do you want me to suggest the subject?  You said that "any"
 >would do.  I propose that you affirm this.  RESOLVED: Jesus
 >of Nazareth was born of a virgin, i.e., a woman who had never
 >had sexual intercourse with a male.
 
 Matthew Bell
 I said, '...any other matter of alleged errancy you wish to discuss.' Perhaps
 you could clarify a few matters  

 on your proposal:
 
 1. How it relates to Biblical Errancy?
 2. How one is supposed to affirm a miraculous happening without first
 ascertaining whether miracles are possible or not? 
 3. How one is supposed to affirm any event in the Bible without begging the
 question of the event to be affirmed?
 
=============
Joe Alward:

The only way the virginity question can be tied to errancy is through the
words of Matthew, who claimed that the prophet Isaiah predicted the virgin
birth of the messiah.  The fact that no inerrantist can provide *any* extra-
biblical evidence that Jesus was born of a virgin in no way shows that Bible
is errant.

Matt is being asked to do the impossible. If he tries, and then fails as he
must, this still would not have shown errancy.  All it will have shown is that
Matt believes in the virgin birth purely because he wants to.

I hope Bell and Till will pick something else to debate.