Ivan has surfaced again! Ivan emailed me this missive yesterday, so I thought I'd post it. Ivan spotlights some very interesting content in Jeremiah that pertains to our discussion. That book of Jeremiah just seems to play with our minds! Here's Ivan, between...
Inspiration
The Naked Bible’s Thoughts on Inspiration, Part 5 – Which Edition of the Book of Jeremiah Originated with God but not the Human Writers?
It's been pretty quiet at The Naked Bible. The last post on the multiple editions of Joshua didn't get much of a response. It's made me wonder about posting more edition "problems" -- especially this one -- but I promised. Again, the issue of the biblical books being...
The Naked Bible’s Thoughts on Inspiration, Part 2
In this post I want to turn to 2 Peter 1:20-21 and share a few thoughts on how this passage dovetails with my views on 2 Tim 3:16. Here's the passage (ESV): 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no...
The Naked Bible’s Thoughts on Inspiration, Part 1
I've reached a point with this subject where I think it's time to just start putting out what I think about inspiration and inerrancy. It'll probably take a few posts on the former before I get to the latter. Your comments have been helpful, but I'm sensing that I...
Hebrews 10:5-7 and Its Quotation of Psalm 40:6-8 (LXX 39:6-8): Another Very Tough Road to Hoe for the Traditional Inspiration View
Someone asked me about this passage this morning, and I thought it was another great illustration of why we need to affirm freedom on the part of the biblical writers, as opposed to God dictating the words to them (audibly or through some sort of mysterious...
Response to John Hobbins’ Thoughts on the Bellingham Statement
What follows is some brief interaction with John Hobbins' post about the Bellingham Statement (second draft as I recall). John wrote, "I happen to think that Mike's view of Scripture is not high enough. He backs away from upholding verbal inspiration." Actually, I...
Guest Blogger: John Hobbins Responds to the Bellingham Statement
John sent me what follows in an email, and I'm thrilled. This is just what I was hoping for. You'll note we have disagreements (perhaps!). John doesn't think my view of Scripture is "high enough." I'll be responding to this soon, as I think part of the disconnect...
Bellingham Statement 1
In no particular order, what I'm going to do in the ensuing posts is to write out statements of affirmation and denial and hope that readers critique the language in careful, constructive ways. Naturally, after we get a bunch of these posted it may become clear how to...
One Last Illustrative Problem for Inerrancy and its Literary-Critical Solution
One more item to throw out for illustrative purposes. After this, I'm going back to inspiration and begin to produce my own statement (I'm calling it "The Bellingham Statement" since I work in Bellingham, WA). Posts will be much shorter, as my goal is to produce...
Let’s Talk About Divine Accommodation
So far in my forays into inerrancy, on the heels of laying out my thoughts on inspiration, I've put forth the idea (with the help of Chet) that I just want to make sure the Bible is taken on its own terms, not terms that we, in the wake of Enlightenment empiricism,...
A Short Explanatory Note on the “Westminster Addendum”
Just a quick clarification on what is meant by the "Westminster Addendum" in my last post. The "addendum" refers Primarily to a statement made by Westminster Seminary, not the Westminster Confession (but see below). The seminary, in suspending Peter Enns in regard to...
Pre-Scientific Worldview “Problem” and Inerrancy
Taking off on Chet's lengthy response to my "Definitions of Inerrancy" post: The first thing I'd like to pursue is Chet's criticism of the word "affirm" -- I also think it's a weasel-word. You quote 1 Cor. 11:14, which says, "Does not nature itself teach you that if a...
Survey on “What Troubles You About Inspiration?” And a Rant
Thanks to all of you (nearly 50) who responded to my survey. It's still open so that others can chime in. I'll be using these thoughts as fodder for my trip to Nashville this week, as its goal is to experiment with creating some content / teaching videos for YouTube....
The Errancy and Inerrancy Problem Illustrated: The Case of Genesis 48:21-22
I was recently received a question about inerrancy from a student in my MEMRA institute. Readers here know I've spent a lot of time on that subject (see the archived page). My short answer was that the difficulty in talking about inerrancy and errancy is defining what...
The Use of the OT in the NT
I had occasion to send this file to someone by email who asked whether or not NT writers used Second Temple Jewish interpretive methods when handling the OT. They do. We've talked about this subject a couple of times before, so I thought you'd be interested in the...