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The rationale for this book is as follows: If the Bible is not truly God’s Word for
today — if it is in fact somehow, full of errors, or not reliable, if it has mistakes
— then all of Christianity falls. Christianity is built upon the authority of God’s
Word, and if that goes, then everything goes. Liberals and some left-wing
evangelicals don’t see it that way, but that is in fact the way it is. It’s either full
belief or unbelief. Therefore — The Bible must be God’s inspired, infallible,
perfectly preserved word.
A bit unsettling b/c the problem posed by the rationale forces your answer if you
are already a Christian. There is too much at stake to be objective. Boice does
try to be objective, but it really is impossible. It comes down to presuppositions.
The believer's presupposition: The Bible is never wrong, only I am wrong, if it
today — if it is in fact somehow, full of errors, or not reliable, if it has mistakes
— then all of Christianity falls. Christianity is built upon the authority of God’s
Word, and if that goes, then everything goes. Liberals and some left-wing
evangelicals don’t see it that way, but that is in fact the way it is. It’s either full
belief or unbelief. Therefore — The Bible must be God’s inspired, infallible,
perfectly preserved word.
A bit unsettling b/c the problem posed by the rationale forces your answer if you
are already a Christian. There is too much at stake to be objective. Boice does
try to be objective, but it really is impossible. It comes down to presuppositions.
The believer's presupposition: The Bible is never wrong, only I am wrong, if it
looks like an error, continue to wait, continue to study until a plausible solution arises. This
presupposition puts the Bible in control, the Bible at the center.
The unbeliever's presupposition: The reader is at the center and not the Bible. I look into the Bible and I
determine what is true and what is not. If I see a potential error, the assumption is that the document is
wrong, not the reader of it. Boice believes that all perceived error in the Bible will be resolved. Just wait,
and over time the answer will come, through science or archeology or whatever. The downside of his
optimism is that he takes only a tiny stab at actually addressing some of these alleged errors, and the
Bible's vindication over them. Twenty pages in a nearly 200-page book is all he dedicates to the task of
dispelling alleged errors. For me that is not enough. This is were the battle is. Lets spend some time
looking at the problems! In particular the perceived moral problems (God ordained genocide and
infanticide in the Bible) for me are the most unnerving. He uses only two pages to address these
issues. His conclusion: everyone who was ever born deserves brutal punishment for sin; therefore,
when bad things are recorded in the Bible and when bad things happen to us, we should not ask “why?”
but thank God we are still living and have not been sent to hell — because this is what everyone
deserves anyway. To me this was a blunt and unsatisfactory answer to a very huge dilemma.
He mentions other confidence builders for strengthening the position that the Bible is God’s word.
Things like the impact it has made on people. Logical progressions like “Bad people would not have
wrote it, nor would have good people wrote it, “thus saith the Lord” would not have come from a good
person's mouth, because they would have been lying, so it must have come from God.”
In the end Boice presupposes that the Bible is inerrant, because he is a Christian, and that is what
authentic Christians must believe. It is not blind faith. There are plenty of good reasons to believe it is
true. But at the core, it must be faith.
presupposition puts the Bible in control, the Bible at the center.
The unbeliever's presupposition: The reader is at the center and not the Bible. I look into the Bible and I
determine what is true and what is not. If I see a potential error, the assumption is that the document is
wrong, not the reader of it. Boice believes that all perceived error in the Bible will be resolved. Just wait,
and over time the answer will come, through science or archeology or whatever. The downside of his
optimism is that he takes only a tiny stab at actually addressing some of these alleged errors, and the
Bible's vindication over them. Twenty pages in a nearly 200-page book is all he dedicates to the task of
dispelling alleged errors. For me that is not enough. This is were the battle is. Lets spend some time
looking at the problems! In particular the perceived moral problems (God ordained genocide and
infanticide in the Bible) for me are the most unnerving. He uses only two pages to address these
issues. His conclusion: everyone who was ever born deserves brutal punishment for sin; therefore,
when bad things are recorded in the Bible and when bad things happen to us, we should not ask “why?”
but thank God we are still living and have not been sent to hell — because this is what everyone
deserves anyway. To me this was a blunt and unsatisfactory answer to a very huge dilemma.
He mentions other confidence builders for strengthening the position that the Bible is God’s word.
Things like the impact it has made on people. Logical progressions like “Bad people would not have
wrote it, nor would have good people wrote it, “thus saith the Lord” would not have come from a good
person's mouth, because they would have been lying, so it must have come from God.”
In the end Boice presupposes that the Bible is inerrant, because he is a Christian, and that is what
authentic Christians must believe. It is not blind faith. There are plenty of good reasons to believe it is
true. But at the core, it must be faith.
| Nov. 3, 2008 |
Standing on the Rock
