www.freethoughtperspective.net

A. J. MATTILL, Jr.

In this paper we are questioning the inerrancy of the Bible. One article in The Sword of the Lord, May 28, 2010, says this: “There are no mistakes or errors in the Bible. The Bible is the infallible Word of the eternal God.” Another writer in the same issue of The Sword declares: “I have complete confidence in what God says in the Bible. For example, everything God says about the Great Flood reported in Genesis is informative, correct, and true. The Bible is true; it is trustworthy. I can rely on what it says. Pure, unfiltered truth reaches out from the pages of the Bible, and that is good news!” Now let us ponder a number of verses which skeptics regard as erroneous.

Error 1. The Bible teaches that “the earth is set firmly in place and cannot be moved” (1 Chronicles 16:30; Psalms 93:1, 96:10; 104:5). Astronomy, on the other hand, teaches us that the earth moves around the sun. Yet Joshua 10:12-13 assumes that the sun, not the earth, stood still.

Error 2. The Bible errs when it presents as historical facts the account of Noah’s Flood in Genesis 6-8. Such a catastrophic deluge finds no place in the history of the rocks. Geologists account for the present status of the earth satisfactorily without the hypothesis of a worldwide flood.

Note that when we disprove the Flood of Genesis 6-8 we are at the same time destroying the inspiration of the biblical writers who mistakenly endorsed belief in Noah’s Flood: Isaiah 54:9; Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26:27; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5: 3:5-6. If these statements from Matthew and Luke are to be trusted, Jesus himself was also taken in by the story of the Flood.

Error 3. Elijah raises the widow’s son (1 Kings 17:17-24). Error 4. Elisha raises the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:32-37). Error 5. A corpse thrown into Elisha’s grave revives and stands up the instant it touches the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:20-21). Error 6. Jesus raises the ruler’s daughter (Matthew 9:23-25; Mark 5:35-42; Luke 8:49-55). Error 7. Jesus raises a widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11-15). Error 8. Jesus raises Lazarus, four days in the tomb, and stinking. Lazarus comes floating out of the tomb (John 11:43-44). Error 9. God opens tombs in Jerusalem and raises many of the corpses to life, whereupon they come out of their tombs and appear to many people (Matthew 27:51-53). Error 10. Jesus rises from the dead (Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-9). Error 11. Peter raises Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:36-42). Error 12. Paul raises Eutychus to life (Acts 20:9-12). Once dead, always dead! Dead persons never live again!

Error 13. The Chosen People. The doctrine of Israel as God’s chosen people is a a cardinal teaching of the Bible and hence of Judaism and Christianity. The basic doctrine means that God has elected one people, Israel, from among all the nations of the world, to receive his Word and to preserve his worship. The God of all creation has established a close, exclusive, and everlasting relationship between himself and his chosen people.

Needless to say, this doctrine is unacceptable to many thoughtful people because it means that God is partial to one nation. A partial God is as distasteful as partial parents, or partial judges, or partial teachers.

This doctrine is also unacceptable because it promotes imperialism on the part of the chosen people, for it encourages them to conquer, rule, and even exterminate other peoples (Deuteronomy 7:1-4). God gave Abraham and his descendants the land from the Nile to the Euphrates, which would include all or part of modern Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq (Genesis 15:17-21). Israel’s enemies will come begging for mercy, but Israel will trample them down (Deuteronomy 33:29). A psalmist predicts that the king of the chosen people will have dominion over all the earth, that his enemies will lick the dust, pay tribute to him and serve him (Psalm 72:8-11).

Error 14. The Bible errs on the ages of early humans (Genesis 5:1-31 and 9:29). Adam died at the age of 930 years, Enosh at 905, Kenan at 910, Mehalalel at 895, Jared at 962, Methuselah at 969, Lamech at 777, and Noah at 950. By way of contrast, the prevailing view among informed persons today is that the life span of humans has been increasing during the course of evolution. Evidence unearthed so far indicates that forty was a ripe old age for prehistoric man.

Error 15. Genesis 6:4 errs in reporting that in those days there were giants on the earth who were descendants of supernatural beings and human women.

Error 16. Genesis 17:11-12 mistakenly approves God’s command to Abraham and his descendants to circumcize every baby boy when he is eight days old—a painfully cruel and senseless procedure, all too widely practiced to this day.

Error 17. Matthew 10:23 reports one of Jesus’ major blunders: He sends the twelve disciples on a speedy mission to the towns of Israel, assuring them that the world will end in a few weeks before the disciples complete their mission. Likewise in Matthew 16:27-28 he assures his followers that some of them will not die before they see the Son of Man come as King.

Error 18. Jesus alerted the people: “This generation (the people then living) will not pass away before all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32). The endtime events will happen before the people then living had all died. If Jesus had had his way, the first century would have been the last.

Error 19. In John 3:16 Jesus gives us the most famous verse in the New Testament, “God so loved the world . . . ” There is a caring God who loves the world unconditionally and unendingly. Yet neither Jesus nor anyone else can explain why people and animals suffer so much and so pointlessly in a world created and governed by an all-loving, all-powerful, and all-wise God. No God of unlimited love would have designed a world which is a slaughterhouse, brutal, gory, and vast, ruled by the law that creatures must eat and be eaten, find food until they become food. No beneficent designer would have designed a violent universe of exploding stars, killer stars, cannibalistic black holes, colliding galaxies, and erupting galaxies. Jesus would have been closer to the truth if he had informed us that the world, far from being created and controlled by a loving God, is governed by blind, unfeeling physical forces. In short, Jesus’ teaching about God’s love is one of the least credible of all his teachings.

Error 20. Jesus erred egregiously when he preached these words: “Whosoever shall say, ‘Thou fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:22). The following persons called certain people fools: David (Psalms 14:1 and 53:1). Solomon, the traditional author of the book of Proverbs, delighted in calling people fools (Proverbs 15:2,5; 26:11). Paul called his opponent a fool (1 Corinthians 15:36). Paul addressed the Galatians as “You foolish Galatians!” (Galatians 3:1). Peter called his critics ignorant fools (1 Peter 2:15). Jesus called the person a fool who does not obey his (Jesus’) teachings. Jesus called the Pharisees fools (Luke 11-40). He called the scribes and Pharisees “blind fools” (Matthew 23:17, 19). Jesus addressed two of his disciples as fools (Luke 24:25). God often called people fools (Jeremiah 4:22; 5:21; Ezekiel 13:3). Look who’s condemned to hell: David, Solomon, Paul, Peter, Jesus, and God. What an amazing series of errors!`

Conclusion. Are there errors in an errorless Bible? I say, “Yes, the Bible is chock-full of errors.” What do you say?

Keep on reading. For more on these subjects see my The Seven Mighty Blows to Traditional Beliefs, Second Edition, and the three volumes of my Sweet Jesus, published by the Flatwoods Free Press, 750 Lum Fife Road, Gordo, AL 35466-3357

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