Subject: Should the Bible be taken literally? |
Bible Note: Hello, Tim..... Kay Arthur heads up what she calls "Precept Ministries" and is based in Chattanooga, Tennnessee, where I was born and lived for over 30 years. Her Bible-study method has been given the name Inductive, by which she means comparing Scripture with Scripture. Although the high sounding word Inductive conjures up images of complex mental processes such as Sherlock Holmes employed to catch his villain, the concept of inductive Bible study is anything but new. Kay Arthur dressed the method up in new verbal clothing and gave it a new name, but the formers of the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1646 promulgated essentially the same approach to biblical interpretation as Mrs. Arthur does...... Said the Westminster Confession in Chapter 1, Article 9: "The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture, is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture (which is not manifold, but one) it may be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly."..... Kay Arthur has expanded on this idea, and gussied it up somewhat, but the core of her teaching is essentially no different than what the venerable old formers of the Westminster Confession wrote more than 350 years ago.... Basically, Tim, it's all about context, a theme you and I have sung duets about time after time on this forum. --Hank |