by Jimmy Jividen

Some who claim to follow Christ are questioning that the Scriptures are an absolute, objective standard for faith and practice. They seek, under the guise of intellectual freedom, cultural conformity, and political expediency, to intimidate those who regard the Scriptures as a religious standard.

These questioners often use the correct religious terms, but they define the terms to fit what they want to believe. It is hypocritical to hide one’s own doubts under the cover of language. Truth does not fear the light.

When these doubters say they believe the Scriptures are inspired, they may mean something different from what a Bible believer regards as inspiration.

They may believe the Bible is inspired in the sense a poet is inspired to write a poem. It is true, as they say, that the Scriptures contain great spiritual literary compositions; but, so also do the Gita and the Koran.

These doubters may believe that the Scriptures are inspired for the time in which they were written, but are not relevant today. The Scriptures, they believe, are so shackled by cultural traditions that they are not applicable today.

These doubters may believe the Scriptures are inspired only if one perceives them to be so. They would suggest that a passage might be inspired to you, but not to another, and that inspiration is in the reader rather than in the text.

Unbelief comes in different forms. The above points are all popular forms of unbelief that can be found in most churches today. The fundamental religious issues confronting our times are not over doctrine, politics, and practice, but whether or not the Scriptures are the guide for faith and practice. We are in a battle for the Bible.

To call into question the inspiration of the Scriptures is to also call in question the Divinity of Christ, since only through Scripture can one know about Jesus Christ.

Thanks to The Voice of Truth International, Vol 12, p. 35.