Why People Reject Inerrancy

Over the past several days I have posted on the subject of inerrancy. This is a dear subject to my heart as I love the Word of God. My prayer is Psalm 119:33-40:

Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes;

and I will keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, that I am keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

Incline my heart to your testimonies,

and not to selfish gain!

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;

and give me life in your ways.

Confirm to your servant your promise,

that you may be feared.

Turn away the reproach that I dread,

for your rules are good.

Behold, I long for your precepts;

in your righteousness give me life!

The Bible is precious to me because in its pages I find that its precepts are "more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward" (Psalm 19:10-11 ESV). I firmly believe that the pages of the Bible were written by men who spoke from God "as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21 ESV).

But when it comes to attacks on inerrancy, why do people reject inerrancy? We all know the standard cults reject inerrancy and we understand why: authority. If the Bible is the final authority for faith and practice and that all Christian theology should flow from the Bible then it logically follows that a cult must reject the authority of the Bible. Yet the only way to do is to deny that the Bible is written by the Spirit of God and by fallible men. In this way cults can either introduce false teachings by twisting the Scriptures through their own means and declaring themselves the authority to do so or they introduce new writings (such as the Book of Mormon with the LDS or the New World Translation with the Jehovah's Witnesses or Health & Science by the Christian Science).

I have found from my years that the following are some reasons why people reject inerrancy:

1. Pride - Some guys in my college rejected inerrancy but while they later on appealed to liberal German theologians and human philosophers, they initially rejected inerrancy simply to be different, to be "cool" and to stir up heated debates. They loved mocking true disciples for their reading their Bibles and for their zeal for the Word. They loved mocking evangelical scholars and pastors for teaching inerrancy. The loved being able to say that they rejected inerrancy and watching the looks on disciples faces. It was a pure pride issue.

2. Authority - I have appealed this above with Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses but many emergents and others who reject inerrancy do so because the Bible represents a final authority, an absolute truth. We humans pride ourselves on our own minds, our own feelings, our own creativity, our own goals and dreams. We like to feel that we are the gods of our own lives. Yet the Bible represents God's authority. The Bible confronts our sinfulness, exposes our weaknesses and wickedness, shows our ignorance and pride, and allows us to see that Yahweh alone is the one true God and that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).

3. Sin - Perhaps someone is struggling with sexual sins such as homosexuality or pornography or adultery or just pure lust in your heart and you give up fighting against your sins yet you still want to be a Christian and have the assurance of heaven when you die. How can you live in sin and yet still be a disciple (Romans 6:1-23)? It's impossible (1 John 3:6-9)! There is no assurance of salvation for those living in outright rebellion against God and His Law. No promises are given to those living in sin of their salvation. To give yourself false assurance perhaps you want to reject those passages that speak about your sins. You want to believe that God did not say what He said about your sins (Ezekiel 18:4). You want to commit adultery and still be saved so how can you? By rejecting inerrancy of course. If the Bible has mistakes in it, you are free to decide what should be in the Bible and what should not be based on how you feel.

4. Human Wisdom - 1 Corinthians 1:25 says, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (ESV) yet so many listen to the lies of men and come to reject inerrancy based on cliches such as "The Bible was written by men and men make mistakes" or "The Bible was voted on Church Councils and the Councils decided which books would be in the Bible and throughout the others." So many human sayings and philosophies of men come across sounding logical but in the end it is like grasping at the wind. The Bible has withstood 2000 years of human philosophy attacks and will continue to stand against them (should Jesus tarry) for another 2000 years.

5. Textual Criticism - Now to be honest there is both good textual criticism and there is bad. The good would be those who sit down with the Hebrew and Greek texts and seek to know the exact wording of Scripture yet still holding that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. The false textual criticism would be those who in pride seek to tear down the Bible by trying to show that differing texts must somehow prove errors in the Bible. Josh McDowell has pointed out that 95% of manuscripts agree on nearly every verse with little variation and the 5% that differs does not do so with any major Christian doctrine (see McDowell Evidence That Demands A Verdict). There is valid textual criticism and a simple reading from 1 John 5:6-8 in the New American Standard and the New King James shows that Greek manuscripts don't always agree but nonetheless they are accurate on all major theological issues and we can trust that an essentially literal translation is a worthy translation that seeks to give us the very words of God.

Conclusion

Obviously much more could be written on this subject. The rejection of inerrancy opens the door to so many false teachings. Without a divinely inspired Book to teach us God's ways or God's truth, we are left to try to discern truth for ourselves which is impossible in our human minds (Jeremiah 17:9; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10). We can not know right from wrong apart from the law of God (Hebrews 5:14) and through the Law of God we become aware of our sins (Romans 7:7). The Bible is God's mirror given to show our sinful hearts (James 1:22-25).

Some have accused me of worshiping the Bible. I can assure you that I do not. I don't bow down to the Bible and chant to it. But I do believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God and I believe I have strong biblical justification and historical justification in doing so. I don't mind being a man of the Book. I want God's Word to dwell in me richly and I want to be able to remember and quote hundreds (if not thousands) of verses like Jesus did (Matthew 4:1-11; Colossians 3:16-17). I don't mind if people accuse me of worshiping the Bible so long as the Bible is drawing me closer to Jesus and I am becoming more like Jesus in all that I say or do (1 Corinthians 10:30). That is my heart's cry each time I open my Bible and spend time with Jesus in His Word.