Subject: Who is the Source of Inspiration? |
Bible Note: Greetings Jim! I too had the impression that you were trying to say one thing, but it was sort of coming out a different way. I'm glad that you have had to opportunity to come back and clarify your position. This is an excellent leason for all of us on the Forum. We must be very careful how we say things. We must also define our terms. For instance, in this particular thread there were two definitions (or more) of literal being used. The result was that communication wasn't really taking place. Concerning my definition, it is a simple definition that I have worked out over the years which I think most who believe in inerrancy would agree with! The word 'literal' has a lot of baggage associated with it in our day. It is hard to pin down. Even in your example, you said that if someone "had the manners of dragon," taking that literally would mean that someone has draconian manners. However, you could also make the case that taking that literally means the person is a dragon. I like my definition (no bias here :-).) It is simple and gets to the heart of the matter. We need to read Scripture for what it is. If it's history, we read it as history. If it's poetry, we read it as poetry. If it's a parable, we read it as a parable. To me, that is taking Scripture literally. Thanks for your response! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |