Tim Bonney wrote:KeithE wrote:That is just creating a context so that you can maintain the your precious view of an innerant, infallible, ever-applicable Bible.
Why not give up that view of the Bible and follow Jesus who instructed us to listen to the Spirit to garner “all truth”.
Consider the possibility that it is idolatrous to place the Bible as a higher authority than the Spirit of God.
Keith, I think you need to find some middle ground. Finding a valid interpretation for a local event in the Bible, like Paul telling women in one church to be silent while he tells other women to cover their heads while preaching, isn't about protecting inerrancy or infallibility. It is just using a good interpretative tools that I got taught in every Biblical studies class I ever attended in any denomination.
You need a matrix of authority, not an either/or approach. The Bible is authoritative, Christian experience through the Holy Spirit is authoritative, etc.
But if you go with the approach of the spirit moves me is the highest authority, you are down to an authority of personal preference.
Point is taken - riding with the Spirit can devolve into personal preference. But no one is claiming an Inerrant Spirit. And you know what - none us can rely on any “authority” without some degree of uncertainty - but we can find a sense of confidence.
The bible is authoritative in telling us about Christ - there is no better set of historical writings to tell us about Jesus. But the Gospels have differences that prevent them being classed as inerrant - and on important matters (e.g. the Resurrection accounts).
Sometimes context is clear and aids in a good interpretation / application. But really the verses that the SBC has used to say there "shall be no women senior pastors” is ridiculous - that comes from the social biases in the 1800’s.
I also like the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (scripture, reason, tradition, experience) but I’d add that the Spirit (a God given internal sense found in listening meditation) is the combiner of all these elements of authority. As a “decision scientist” (one description of my work skills) I know with value of several angles to making good decisions.
Evangelicals/Fundamentalists (both) focus so much on just Scripture (often adjusted by favored interpretations) or so they say. They do not realize how afar from what God was inspiring the writers to portray gets muddled by the very human writer.
But what is very perturbing is that very often evangelicals/fundamentalists (not all of them) employ “inerrancy” as a tool to brand all who think otherwise as heretics complete with sour feelings towards others. They belie the major command from Jesus to love their brethren/sistern. This happened to me big time while in college living at a Christian frat at a state university - about half that frat said that God struck me with ill health (4 pulmonary emboli) due to my views (the other half as well as my home church were more understanding). I have made my peace with most of those evangelicals/fundametalists and just ignore them except herein on Baptist Life which is my place to speak my mind.
On another subject, boy was this some day - we saw collusion right there on TV. I hope we will discuss this further on the PPP Forum. I want to assess it all for awhile first.
Informed by Data.
Driven by the SPIRIT and JESUS’s Example.
Promoting the Kingdom of GOD on Earth.