Is the Bible Scripture?

Rev. Don Welch wrote an article in the recent Seven Lakes Time, a local mini-newspaper in our area. In his article, he makes the claim that the Bible contains the Word of God and is limited by the knowledge of the "fallible human beings" who wrote it. This was my refutation of that article:

Rev. Welch,

While I admire your honesty regarding your view of the Bible, I must also say that I disagree with it.

First, you state that the Bible contains the Word of God. This seems to indicate that it is up to scholars to determine which parts of the Scriptures are the Word of God and which parts are not. Instead, I choose to believe 2 Timothy 3:16 which literally says that “All Scripture is God-breathed...”

Secondly, though the Bible was recorded for us by “fallible human beings,” they were writing as the Holy Spirit moved them (2 Peter 1:21).

Thirdly, you mentioned that the Bible is not scientifically accurate. Galileo lived when science and the church believed that the sun revolved around the earth. Galileo showed scientifically and Biblically that the earth moved instead. He was dismissed by the church with the statement, “The Bible was written to show us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.” Long story short, science was wrong and had to catch up to the accurateness of the Bible.

Replaced this with:
Thirdly, you mentioned that the Bible is not scientifically accurate. Did you realize that the ancient world believed that the earth rested on something else (i.e. pillars), but the Bible said it hangs on nothing (Job 26:7)? Also, many believed that the stars were a finite number, but science and the Bible agree that they are too numerous to be counted (Jeremiah 33:22). These are just a couple of examples. Many still believe the old line: “The Bible was written to show us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.” However, oftentimes science had to catch up to the accurateness of the Bible.

Fourthly, though parables could be fiction used to make a point, nothing says that Jesus’ parables were not true stories. I’m not sure about you, but I will oftentimes use true stories to illustrate a point of a sermon.

I am thankful to God that He gave us the Word of God, all of which is Scripture, true and accurate.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Bill Cooper

Calvary Baptist Church