What about Errors in the Bible?

What about them?

Errors in the Bible are only a problem if one is trying to say that the Bible is God's actual words. But while such claims are sometimes made for parts of the Bible, the Bible never claims to be entirely the word of God.

What the Bible is, is humankind's witness to God - it records people's experiences of God. Some of it recounts God's acts in history, some of it is people's meditations as they have been inspired by God.

Like any record of history, it contains errors, I have no problems with that.

What we find, however, is that under God's inspiration the Bible is remarkably accurate. The Bible is both very self-consistent, and extermely well corroborated by other historical records.

If you judge the Bible by the same standards of any other text - and certainly by the standards of any other 2000 year old text - it is very reliable, and also incredibly powerful and relevant in speaking to this day and age. It is only found deficient when judged by our modern expectations of perfection in every detail.

If you have problems with me approaching the Bible in this way, you may want to read Why I believe the Bible is not inerrant, (although that article is primarily aimed at Christians).


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