1.“Our basic assumption: God rules the world.” — God is a personal God, He can act in exceptional ways (“miracles”) if he chooses.
2. “God is consistent.” — God cannot contradict Himself, what He reveals through Scripture and how He chooses to act are eternally consistent.
3. “The Bible is the word of God.” — The Bible declares itself trustworthy and inspired by God Himself, we can rest on its inerrancy and authority.
4. “God gave human beings dominion, so scientific investigation is legitimate.” — Modern science was berthed in assumptions of a biblical worldview.
5. “Scientists’ formulations are not the word of God, but human reflections concerning evidence in the world.” — Unlike the Bible, science does not claim to be unchanging and even well-established theories are fallible in principle.
6. “Though the Bible is infallible, all later human interpretations of the Bible are fallible.” — There is a critical distinction between what the Bible says and what any human interpreter believes it says.
7. “Apparent discrepancies between the Bible and science are discrepancies between fallible human interpretations of the Bible and fallible scientific pronouncements, based on fallible interpretations of evidence from the world.” — Human fallibility, extends to interpreting both the Bible and scientific findings.
8. “An apparent discrepancy needs further investigation.” — When we do come across something that appears to contradict, it can be attributed either to a mistake in biblical interpretation, in scientific reasoning, or both.
9. “The Bible has a practical priority, because of its design by God.” — The Psalms speak of a real impact of the word of God on our daily lives, not just abstract theology.
10. “When there is an apparent discrepancy, we should see whether there are competing explanations from scientists or from Bible interpreters.” — Not unlike theology, science is rarely limited to a lone scientific opinion.
11. “The Bible gives us sufficient instruction for the next practical step in obeying God, even when we have many unanswered questions about the apparent discrepancies.” — Ultimately, God’s grace helps us settle into those questions we have that we do not find explicitly answered in His Word.
— Vern Poythress, author and professor of New Testament interpretation at Westminster Theological Seminary, The Christian Post, Miracles, scientific irregularities may point to biblical truth, theologian says, May 16, 2022
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Connect with me on social media:
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.
So God doesn’t contradict himself even when he does because he says he doesn’t. And scientists are fallible, and therefore untrustworthy, because they admit their conclusions are changeable.
So God is right because he says he is and we’re wrong because we can admit we don’t have all the answers.
Sounds like the all those smug, sanctimonious, self-righteous Christians who revel in the belief that they’re “saved” and you aren’t.
Or abusive parents.
Or anti-vax, science- and history-denying, homo- and trans-phobic grandstanding politicians and people who support them. All you have to do is substitute Anthony Fauci for “science,” Donald Trump for “God” and the Republican Party platform for “Bible.”
Hmmmm.
“1.“Our basic assumption: God rules the world.” — God is a personal God, He can act in exceptional ways (“miracles”) if he chooses.”
No evidence of this and hte bibel says that the devil rules the world. Which is it?
“2. “God is consistent.” — God cannot contradict Himself, what He reveals through Scripture and how He chooses to act are eternally consistent.”
the bible has that this god will damn the descendents for the actions of their progenitors and then it says it won’t. Which is it?
“3. “The Bible is the word of God.” — The Bible declares itself trustworthy and inspired by God Himself, we can rest on its inerrancy and authority.”
So, any book that declares itself true, is therefore true. Oh good, then Dianetics is true and we can get ourselves “cleared”.
“4. “God gave human beings dominion, so scientific investigation is legitimate.” — Modern science was berthed in assumptions of a biblical worldview.”
Alas, nope, not at all. Modern science came from many different cultures. Yet again, the Christian lies and is greedy.
“5. “Scientists’ formulations are not the word of God, but human reflections concerning evidence in the world.” — Unlike the Bible, science does not claim to be unchanging and even well-established theories are fallible in principle.”
yep, humans can be fallible. And we can show that the bible is bullshit.
“6. “Though the Bible is infallible, all later human interpretations of the Bible are fallible.” — There is a critical distinction between what the Bible says and what any human interpreter believes it says.”
And wonderfully, not a single human has a clue if their version is the truth, nor can show that other versions aren’t. So Chrsitians are all lunatics who have made up their god in their image.
“7. “Apparent discrepancies between the Bible and science are discrepancies between fallible human interpretations of the Bible and fallible scientific pronouncements, based on fallible interpretations of evidence from the world.” — Human fallibility, extends to interpreting both the Bible and scientific findings.”
ROFL. Again, Christians are just lunatics with baseless opinions, per this Christian.
“8. “An apparent discrepancy needs further investigation.” — When we do come across something that appears to contradict, it can be attributed either to a mistake in biblical interpretation, in scientific reasoning, or both.”
So, since not one Chrsitan can know if their version is true, then they cannot know if they’ve made a mistake since they have nothing to compare it to. Alas, there is no “original” bible. It’s also amusing that this god can’t keep such shit from happening. Three choices: impotent, malevolent, imaginary.
“9. “The Bible has a practical priority, because of its design by God.” — The Psalms speak of a real impact of the word of God on our daily lives, not just abstract theology.”
Hmmm, other religions make the same claim, still not true.
“10. “When there is an apparent discrepancy, we should see whether there are competing explanations from scientists or from Bible interpreters.” — Not unlike theology, science is rarely limited to a lone scientific opinion.”
Ah, so it’s admitted that theology is fallible nonsense, and isn’t the truth it claims to be at all. Good to know!
“11. “The Bible gives us sufficient instruction for the next practical step in obeying God, even when we have many unanswered questions about the apparent discrepancies.” — Ultimately, God’s grace helps us settle into those questions we have that we do not find explicitly answered in His Word.”
Since Christians don’t agree and there are dozens, if not far more, sects, the bible demosntrably doesn’t give sufficient instruction at all. “Ultimately, God’s grace helps us settle into those questions we have that we do not find explicitly answered in His Word.”” Aka we all make our shit up.
I second what MJ and Club said. Pretty much my Fundamentalist Christian experience can be summed up as “if it doesn’t seem to make sense, that’s because you are fallible and incapable of understanding; now shut up and submit to the Bible/pastor/church teachings”.
Know what really pisses me off about this big bowl of word salad? The guy who wrote it gets PAID to spout this shit.
Holy crap.