In Genesis chapter 3, the serpent asked the insidious question: “Did God really say?” Down through the annals of history, the enemy has continued his relentless assault on the Word of God.

In the early 1900's the inspiration of God's Word was under attack in America. The philosophy of higher criticism sowed seeds of doubt about the inspiration of the Bible among many mainline denominations. While liberal Christianity bought into the enemy's frontal assault on the Word of God, conservative Christians continued to uphold the doctrine of inspiration.

Today, the enemy's attack has changed its focus to the doctrine of inerrancy. Harold Lindsell wrote the book The Battle for the Bible which defends the inerrancy of God's Word. That battle continues today as even conservative Bible scholars pay lip service to inerrancy yet claim that there are errors in the original manuscripts of God's Word. Craig Blomberg, New Testament Professor at Denver Seminary, wrote a book entitled Can We Still Believe the Bible ? He says we can still believe the Bible, but only if we learn to distinguish between inspired fiction and inspired history. In other words, parts of the Bible contain fictional stories which were inspired by God. It is true that Jesus used parables to communicate truth. But according to Blomberg, the story of Jonah is fictional. He also considers Genesis 1-3 to be fiction with a little bit of history behind the inspired myth. According to Blomberg, there were two people named Adam and Eve, but they were not directly created by God. This type of thinking is all too common at even conservative seminaries in North America.

We reject all such teaching that calls into question the word-by-word inspiration and the inerrancy of the Bible in the original manuscripts.

Recommended reading:

• Can We Still Trust New Testament Professors by Bob Wilkin