40 Bicycles

The continual stream of this sort of material from the Trinity Foundation is depressing. I am not about to defend the orthodoxy of C.S. Lewis on every point on which he is challenged. I have a number of deep problems with areas of his thought. However, this constant desire to shoot down anyone who does not affirm every jot and tittle of your doctrinal shibboleths frankly irritates me. Is this material ever going to build people up, or will it just pickle them in doctrinal self-righteousness? I am annoyed by the idea that belief in the verbal inerrancy of Scripture is necessary for salvation. I am quite convinced that many believers in verbal inerrancy are hell-bound and that many who deny verbal inerrancy will be glorified with Christ. Perhaps that makes me hell-bound too. There are too many believers in verbal inerrancy who consistently deny the authority of Scripture in their day-to-day lives (not least in the way they speak about fellow Christians who don't share their convictions on this issue). I have become increasingly convinced that inerrancy is not the central issue that it is generally proclaimed to be. Sovereignty is. There are too many Christians who will affirm the verbal inerrancy of Scripture and then carefully circumscribe its realm of authority. However, there are Christians like N.T. Wright who deny verbal inerrancy and yet seek to bring God's authority to bear on every area of life through the Scriptures. I know whose side I would rather be on. I am a cautious believer in inerrancy. There are, however, questions that I see no honest way of answering. Even after close study there are biblical passages that I cannot in all good conscience see any way of reconciling. The answers that are usually presented seem forced and unnatural. The only manner in which they might carry some persuasive power is if inerrancy is a fundamental presupposition. I do not believe that inerrancy (as commonly understood) is as fundamental a truth about Scripture as many proclaim it to be. There are many people who have denied inerrancy but believe in inspiration and approach the Scriptures as authoritative. They consistently treat the Scriptures with a hermeneutic of trust. I see no reason to deny that they are true Christians. I think that comparing C.S. Lewis to the demons in James who believed in God is appalling. The sort of spirit characterizing such material actually concerns me more than many of Lewis' serious errors. I would love to see Reformed material characterized by charity, grace, respect and humility. This would, I believe, bear a powerful testimony to the sort of faith that we hold. This is the spirit that I aspire to, and so consistently fail to achieve. I will be quite busy this week with Greek revision. I might not post again until the weekend (or later). God-willing, I will conclude my treatment of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ in my next post (the third post on the subject).