Posted by James 5:16 on July 27, 2001 at 19:28:46:
In Reply to: on god or gods or creator posted by Brian on July 27, 2001 at 16:33:00:
: i Believe god if there is one
: just created the world and left it up to us humans
: to control it. the many mistakes in the bible
: makes me reject the bible as the "word of god"
There are many Christian religions that believe the way you do. That a being created the universe and then left it alone to see what happened. These groups also do not believe in the perfection of the Bible. In that, you are not alone.
However, I am not in that category. But I was. When I first became a Christian and began to investigate this seemingly strange religion, I had questions about the "perfection" of a book (or really a collection of books) that was written by an imperfect being(s). It comes down to an issue of faith.
I have faith that the Bible was divinely inspired. For those of you reading this that were Math majors in college, this became axiomatic. Namely that the belief that the Bible is both perfect and divinely inspired became assumptions. We could assume them to be true.
Given that, the many "mistakes" that I found and seemingly continue to find must be ones of my lack of understanding. I do not have a perfect understanding of the Bible. No one does, save Christ (by our belief system). Anyone who claims to is foolish.
Many strive their entire lives to understand the entirety of the Word of God and yet it WILL NOT happen.
One thing that I have discovered however, is that when I look for a solution to a problem I have with a passage, or try to understand the universe, this book called the Bible provides a faithful clarity for me.
But I assumed from the start that this book was perfect. My understanding and that of others is not, but we should see that fact and continue to try for better understanding.
I hope this cleared up any issues you have. Please write again if you have any other statements.
Thanks,
James 5:16