To those done with religion but not God and my kids (Click FOLLOW for future Posts; See ABOUT/USING THIS SITE tab to navigate Site)

The word infallible is confusing or unknown by those who didn’t grow up in the church. Did biblical writers always understand God perfectly from the beginning rather than growing in knowledge? How would God control the minds and words of the writers anyway? This may explain violent warfare actions in God’s name as writers thought it was sacrilegious to not speak of God as almighty and controlling. Regardless, literature requires interpretations which can be wrong so we must read the Bible with an open-mind.

The Bible or any Book can’t be infallible because it is subject to interpretation.

Even if we assume the Bible is infallible in characterizing God, literature still requires interpretation. Scholars disagree what the Bible says about God and divorce, gender roles, homosexuality, hell, end-of-the world views, etc. The Bible can’t be an authoritative or definitive guide of what God is like because interpretations can be wrong. When does a passage not state exceptions or use hyperbole for emphasis? Is Jesus advocating domestic violence when advising to turn the other cheek? It is unlikely God only communicates through a Book because the Bible hasn’t been available to the majority of people born into this world.

We can’t prove any Book is infallible.

Many who accept the Bible being infallible would not accept the Quran being infallible because it claims to be. It is circular logic to suggest the Bible is infallible because biblical writers claim it is infallible. For example, “All Scriptures is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). This passage may imply God makes useful for reflection writings of God coming alongside Israel and climaxing in the life of Jesus, not that God somehow controlled the beliefs and pens of the writers. Besides, when did God supposedly control the process – when the writer first wrote the words, when an editor(s) edited the original words, or finally when such recordings were gathered into a book?

The Bible can’t be proven infallible because the canon’s process is not agreed upon.

The history of the canon’s development is quite complicated. The formation of the Old Testament was a long, slow development over centuries. The Catholic Bible has seven additional books in the Old Testament than the Protestant Bible. We cannot definitely say the books of the Bible we have were the ones God intended to convey truth or there aren’t other books that have been excluded to convey truth about God. The passage above in II Timothy, for which numerous interpretations exist, can only refer to the Old Testament being God-breathed as the NT had not been gathered together when the writer penned those words.

The Bible isn’t likely to be infallible because it is not God’s nature to control.

An uncontrolling God cannot guarantee a perfect Book, but God can enter our world with the communications means available so we can grow in our understanding what God is really like. God’s lack of interference in the world with so much evil prevalent contrary to God’s wishes suggests that God seeks to influence than dictate beliefs. God much less humans know beliefs are only genuine and lost-lasting when freely chosen. God’s freedom-giving nature doesn’t support God performing a lobotomy on OT writers and controlling the canon process.

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