A Moderate Baptist Affirms the Doctrine of Inerrancy

[Sandy]

https://www.baptiststandard.com/opinion ... inerrancy/

[Jon Estes]

https://www.baptiststandard.com/opinion/voices/voices-came-affirm-inerrancy/

I guess he is no longer a Moderate. Wise man, he is.

[Sandy]

https://www.baptiststandard.com/opinion/voices/voices-came-affirm-inerrancy/

I guess he is no longer a Moderate. Wise man, he is.

I wouldn't say he's no longer a moderate. Virtually all of the moderate Baptists I ever associated with hold a very similar view. What makes them moderate is that they haven't ever, and still don't, support the leadership of the SBC.

[Tim Bonney]

Did you all know that no one is having this conversation outside of the SBC? Having been in two other denominations since being Southern Baptist, it gives me some interesting perspectives. One of them is that the inerrancy debate is specific to Southern Baptists. In other denominations no one would know what you are talking about, even in denominations with definite faith statements about the Bible and its inspiration.

That doesn't mean talking about Biblical interpretation is unimportant. But the going around and around in circles arguing over the one interpretative English language term "inherency" or having anxiety over if one is an "inerrantist" or not is almost exclusive to the particular politics and history of Southern Baptists as far as I am able to tell.

[Sandy]

Did you all know that no one is having this conversation outside of the SBC? Having been in two other denominations since being Southern Baptist, it gives me some interesting perspectives. One of them is that the inerrancy debate is specific to Southern Baptists. In other denominations no one would know what you are talking about, even in denominations with definite faith statements about the Bible and its inspiration.

That doesn't mean talking about Biblical interpretation is unimportant. But the going around and around in circles arguing over the one interpretative English language term "inherency" or having anxiety over if one is an "inerrantist" or not is almost exclusive to the particular politics and history of Southern Baptists as far as I am able to tell.

A few years ago, I'd probably have agreed with that. But I've encountered more Presbyterians up here in this part of the country than I ever had before, and this debate has taken place among them, and split or splintered a couple of denominations over it. For two of the more conservative groups, it is now a matter of "we're believe inerrancy more than you do," sort of thing. Identifying a specific doctrine and interpretation of inerrancy is a major deal among Christian schools of varying denominations, your choice of words identifies your whole doctrinal and denominational posture. I know of at least one school owned and operated by a United Methodist congregation that uses the ACSI statement of faith, which has a statement about belief in inerrancy, as their own.

[Tim Bonney]

A few years ago, I'd probably have agreed with that. But I've encountered more Presbyterians up here in this part of the country than I ever had before, and this debate has taken place among them, and split or splintered a couple of denominations over it. For two of the more conservative groups, it is now a matter of "we're believe inerrancy more than you do," sort of thing. Identifying a specific doctrine and interpretation of inerrancy is a major deal among Christian schools of varying denominations, your choice of words identifies your whole doctrinal and denominational posture. I know of at least one school owned and operated by a United Methodist congregation that uses the ACSI statement of faith, which has a statement about belief in inerrancy, as their own.

Do you know which Presbyterians? I can't imagine this argument going on in the PCUSA. And, yes, I'd not be surprised to run into a United Methodist that believes in inerrancy. But it just isn't a big deal question in the denomination. Conservative United Methodists speak a lot about the authority of scripture and complain that liberal United Methodist don't believe in it. But seldom does the word "inerrency" come up.

It seems to me that Southern Baptists are the most preoccupied with using the very specific term "inerrant" while I hear plenty of other conservative Christians go with infallible, unfailing, etc. Given that "inerrant" is an English word to describe a view about a book all written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, why not be satisfied with a conservative view of scripture (if you are a conservative).

It seems to me to make the English word "inerrant" into some sort of theologic shibboleth that is the pass to being in the in crowd in the SBC. Its code for, "I'm one of you." I know plenty of conservative Christians who couldn't define the difference between inerrancy, infallibility, etc.

[Sandy]

There's a group called the Evangelical Presbyterian Church which has split off of PCUSA over several issues, inerrancy among them. Several other groups which believe in the inerrancy of scripture to the degree that it was expressed by this Texas pastor would include the Presbyterian Church in America, the Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I had no idea there were that many different kinds of Presbyterians.

One of my good friends up here is, or was, a PCUSA pastor in a small town about 9 miles away. His kids went to my school. His wife was also an ordained minister, serving smaller, outlying congregations until most of those left to join the EPC. They would be among those who would describe their belief in the authority of scripture in a similar fashion to this Texas pastor. Most of the former PCUSA congregations in this area, mainly the two adjoining counties where I live, are now EPC affiliated. LGBT ordination is a factor, but inerrancy is as well.

Schools who are members of ACSI, or who go through their commission for accreditation, are required to adopt their statement of faith, which includes a statement about belief in inerrancy. The one school in our area affiliated with a Methodist church uses the ACSI statement of faith for their school, but I'm not sure about the church. Of course, most of their school constituency would be conservative Evangelical, and not necessarily Methodist.

[Tim Bonney]

If a United Methodist local church is subscribing to a statement about the Bible (or a statement of faith) other than what is in the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith of the UMC, they could actually be in violation of the Discipline if it contradicts our theology. The UMC position on scripture is sufficiency and not inerrancy. “The Bible contains all things necessary for salvation.”

However, sometimes people sign on to things without recognizing the differences in theology.

For example, we have a few churches that have AWANA even though the faith statement of AWANA contradicts the doctrines and disciples of the UMC. I had an AWANA recruiter try to get me to use their program and I pointed out that our denomination’s theology and theirs differs. His response was “we believe in the autonomy of the local church and that you can do what you want.” Which I then pointed out ALSO disagreed with our doctrine because we don’t believe in local church autonomy. He ended call rather quickly.