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Inspiration
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Verbal Inspiration
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B. H. CARROLL
"It has always been a matter of profound surprise to me that anybody |
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should ever question the verbal inspiration of the Bible.
The whole thing had to be written in words. Words are signs of ideas, |
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and if the words are not inspired, then there is no way of getting at anything |
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in connection with inspiration. If I am free to pick up the Bible and read |
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something and say, "That is inspired," then read something else and say, |
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"That is not inspired," and someone else does not agree with me as to |
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which is and which is not inspired, it leaves the whole thing unsettled |
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as to whether any of it is inspired.
What is the object of inspiration? It is to put accurately, in human words, |
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ideas from God. If the words are not inspired, how am I to know |
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how much to reject, and how to find out whether anything is from God?
When you hear this silly talk that the Bible "contains" the word of God |
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and is not the word of God, you hear fool's talk. I don't care if he is |
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a Doctor of Divinity, a president of a university covered with medals |
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from universities of Europe and the United States — it is fool-talk. |
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There can be no inspiration of the book without the inspiration of the |
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words of the book."
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J. Frank Norris
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"Norris also experienced conflicts with other pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1914, he was expelled from the Fort Worth Baptist Pastor’s conference. In 1922, the First Baptist Church was excluded from the Tarrant Baptist Association. Two years later, the church suffered the same at the hands of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The last censure included a statewide radio “hatefest” by Southern Baptist leaders that labeled Norris a liar, diabolical, thief, devilish, dastardly, corrupt, perjurer and reprobate. Issues included Norris’ campaign against other churches accepting his “disciplined members,” his failure to participate in financial giving campaigns sponsored by the denomination, his failure to use literature prescribed by the denomination (his only Sunday school book was the King James Version of the Bible) and his tactics in fighting modernism in the denomination’s schools."
HigherPraise.com
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STATISTICS AND STUFF
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The end result of all of this is sadly illustrated in the book, Reforming Fundamentalism, by George A. Marsden, which informs that 85% of the students in one of America's largest evangelical seminaries stated that they do not believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. Beyond that, a poll of 10,000 U.S.A. clergymen (of whom 74% replied) by sociologist Jeffery Hadden in 1987 clearly reveals the effects of this significant change of belief through the passage of time. When asked if they believed that the Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant Word of God in faith, history, and secular matters:
95% of Episcopalians said "No."
87% of Methodists said "No."
82% of Presbyterians said "No."
77% of American Lutherans said "No."
67% of American Baptists said "No."
(This is pitiful!)
The Gideon, January, 1994, pp. 12-13
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Every Word
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A wealthy woman who was traveling overseas saw a bracelet she thought was irresistible, so she sent her husband this cable: "Have found wonderful bracelet. Price $75,000. May I buy it?" Her husband promptly wired back this response: "No, price too high." But the cable operator omitted the comma, so the woman received this message: "No price too high." Elated, she purchased the bracelet. Needless to say, at her return her husband was dismayed. It was just a little thing--a comma--but what a difference it made!
Leslie B. Flynn, The Twelve
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