INERRANT SCRIPTURE, ERRATIC CRITICS – (1)
- DEBUNKING THE ACCUSATION OF BIBLICAL ERRORS AND CONSEQUENT CONCLUSIONS
BY: AUGUSTINE ANYIMADU-AHENKAE
“These were written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and
believing, you may have salvation” – St. John 20:31
NOT SURPRISED
Accusations of Biblical errors and inconsistencies are not new, nor are they privy
of unbelievers. Many are those Bible students who, on first encounter with supposed
inconsistencies, become a little embarrassed or wish things were different. However,
as they study more into what the Bible really is and stands for, they gain
understanding into it, and do not see them any more as the inconsistency or
embarrassing error an outsider may see. But that takes a little study into the
Bible’s nature and background, humility before God, and a simple faith, which the
Bible seeks to adduce in the first place. Not so for the outsider or unbeliever, and
definitely not the least so for an erratic atheistic critic waiting to pounce on the
least “proof that God does not exist”, or that “God is not omnipotent” blah blah
blah like Kwaku Ba and others before him, seeking to sow seeds of doubt in people’s
minds with the intention of weakening their faith and
drawing them away from God. Jesus was right – “the thief cometh not but to kill,
steal and destroy” the treasures of faith, life and hope the believer has, because
he himself has lost his. I know much water has passed under the bridge in recent
weeks, lots of accusations have gone on, which we will not let remain unanswered,
but alas, if only the playing field could be level! If only the responses would be
given at least the same kind of front page exposure as the attacks were given!
If I
speak in parables, forgive me, because “SE ABOA KOKOSAKYI KASA KYERE BONIKYEREFO A
OTE NO WO ABEBUO MU”.
ERRATIC CRITICS, INERRANT SCRIPTURE
Critics who claim the Bible cannot be God’s word because it is supposedly full of
errors show their gross ignorance of what the Bible really is, what it stands for,
and how it should be correctly interpreted. Such misunderstandings arise due to one
or more of the following:
- Ignorance of what genres the individual Biblical Books are written in, and
therefore the correct way to interpret them and get the intended message from them
- Wrong and false notion of the fact of Inspiration and Inerrancy, mistaking
the Bible to have been sent down in printed form from heaven or by God, without the
human messengers playing any role in the transmission of the message, which makes
the writer and first audience’s context irrelevant
- Wrong and faulty, over literalistic interpretation of many passages, not
excluding the ones they claim are errors
- Their own desire and wishful thinking, expecting the Bible to tell them
every little detail of everything on the face of the earth, whereas that is not the
purpose it was written for
- Dishonesty and failure to admit the truth even when it is shown them that
the apparent inconsistencies are resolved within scripture itself by other passages,
or by a more correct interpretation which takes the context into account
- Ignorance of Hebrew culture, or any of the original languages in which the
books were written, coupled with their stubborn refusal to accept the authoritative
interpretation of the church whose book the Bible is.
- Approaching with a skeptic mind, unbelief, and lacking the guidance of the
Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth
RIDICULING THE MIRACULOUS?
- Some of their attacks on the Bible come because they reject and ridicule
anything miraculous. They forget that the Bible details God’s encounter with humans,
and once the divine intervenes in human affairs, laws of nature are suspended,
miracles happen on our behalf, therefore if the Bible may not contain records
miracles, what else should it record?
For instance, one of the things they criticize- which Kwaku Ba did not leave out of
his own catalogue- is the incredible story of the talking donkey of Balaam. Ignorant
critics like Kwaku Ba do not understand how God can make even a donkey talk when He
needs to, and therefore claim that is an error, blah blah blah! “Ebei, Mister!” Did
you read the story at all in Numbers 22? It wasn’t as if the donkey habitually
talked so that you could call it a talking donkey! That phrase is misleading. The
story is recorded as an extraordinary event, a miracle, a spectacle, something out
of the ordinary, which was occasioned by the angel of God who stood in Balaam’s way
to prevent him from going to do what he stubbornly planned to do.
As to whether that passage should be taken literally or metaphorically is not the
issue I’m concerned with here. The issue is that even if taken literally, it is more
than possible for God to let a donkey talk to rebuke its stubborn master! Who does
not know that many animals recognize spirits? Cats and dogs are just a few examples,
but I give you a challenge: go fast and pray for quite some time, lead a holy,
prayerful life and see if the animals will not see you when they see you. So the
donkey saw the angel, which its master did not see, and the Bible says “God opened
its mouth so that it spoke….” So it was not that the donkey was a talking donkey, it
was God who opened its mouth so that it spoke, at that time, not forever, and you
have a problem with that? St. Anthony of Padua used to call stones and fishes to
come and listen to God’s word he preached, St. Francis of Assisi communicated with
the birds and animals, and the list can go on
about saints who, living in our times, used God’s power to confound laws of nature
or science. Who said God cannot do whatever He wants to do?
INSPIRED, TRUE, AND INERRANT, BUT NOT PRINTED FROM HEAVEN
As I just said, critics who claim the Bible cannot be God’s word because it is
supposedly full of errors show their gross ignorance of what the Bible really is,
what it stands for, and how it should be correctly interpreted. They think the Bible
fell down from heaven, neatly printed, like the commandments God gave to Moses on
the mountain. Even more than that, they make a more serious mistake of thinking that
since God thus supposedly dictated it, then it should have carried all future
scholarly research findings, and every line should be impeccably precise as to every
dot or iota, as if only one person sat down to write the entire book.
They are not the only ones who make that mistake though. Some Christian
fundamentalists also make the same mistake, in that whereas these atheists and
critics expect the Bible to be a Physics or History Encyclopedia, containing the
latest scholarly research, our well meaning brethren the fundamentalists on the
other hand also want it to be the detailed comprehensive guide for every little
thing they do, including even what kind of food they eat or perhaps even how to cook
those foods! We know some people who think that even going to hospital when they are
sick is sinful because it implies one’s faith in God is not strong enough. Mama mia!
Both errors come from one source: a wrong and erratic view of the Bible.
Hear Kwaku Ba:
“What is more worrying is the fact that the document is presented as the literal
spoken word of the Living God. If that is true then we would expect the Bible to
present accurate information, and be more knowledgeable than any other field of
inquiry known in the world today.”
“ However it is becoming increasingly clear that the Bible is abundant in
scientifically wrong statements, unsupported claims, as well as the condoning of
what many consider unethical behavior.”
Misleading, to say the least. Spoken word of God it is, yes, but transmitted
through human language and culture, and passed on by copying, hence the human
element in it cannot be simply wished away. That is why there is always the need for
authentic interpretation.
Wherever that wrong idea originated from, I don’t know, but I guess it has to do
with the advent and spread of Islam, who believe God literally dictated the words of
Koran to Mohammed, and he, without any other corroborating witness, put all that
“word of God” down word for word, comma by comma, an “i” for an “i”, so that the
human element played no part in it. Consequently, many who have been influenced by
this thought have mistakenly taken the Bible to be like the Koran, resulting in a
false, overly literalistic interpretation of scripture, without any regard to its
context – no exegesis, no hermeneutics, just a false, literalistic interpretation.
Their false conclusion is that since God must have verbally dictated every word of
scripture verbatim, everything in there- including even military statistics or
chronology, as well as scientific facts- should be razor-edge precise and reflect
all future scholarship! Newsflash: You have
missed the point!
BIBLICAL INSPIRATION AND INERRANCY-FROM THE AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES
Before I discuss further why this is not true, let me quote from the authoritative
source to analyze what they actually mean when they say the Bible is free from error
and inspired. Three papal encyclicals come to mind:
Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Providentissimus Deus (The most Provident God),
promulgated on Nov 18, 1893; Pope Benedict XV’S encyclical Spiritus Paraclitus (The
Paraclete Spirit), promulgated Sept 15, 1920; and Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Divino
Afflante Spiritu (Under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit) promulgated Sept 30,
1943.
A passage from Divino Afflante Spiritu explains Inerrancy:
“there is no error whatsoever if the sacred writer, speaking of things of the
physical order "went by what sensibly appeared" as the Angelic Doctor says,[5]
speaking either "in figurative language, or in terms which were commonly used at the
time, and which in many instances are in daily use at this day, even among the most
eminent men of science." For "the sacred writers, or to speak more accurately--the
words are St. Augustine's--[6] the Holy Spirit, Who spoke by them, did not intend to
teach men these things--that is the essential nature of the things of the
universe--things in no way profitable to salvation"; which principle "will apply to
cognate sciences, and especially to history,"[7] that is, by refuting, "in a
somewhat similar way the fallacies of the adversaries and defending the historical
truth of Sacred Scripture from their attacks."[8] Nor is the sacred writer to be
taxed with error, if "copyists have made mistakes in the text of the
Bible," or, "if the real meaning of a passage remains ambiguous." Finally it is
absolutely wrong and forbidden "either to narrow inspiration to certain passages of
Holy Scripture, or to admit that the sacred writer has erred," since divine
inspiration "not only is essentially incompatible with error but excludes and
rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the
supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true. This is the ancient and constant
faith of the Church."[9]
Principally, the points from this quotation are:
1- Since scripture did not intend to teach men about the essential nature of the
things universe, which are in no way profitable to salvation, there is no error
whatsoever if the sacred writer, in speaking of the things of the physical order,
went by what sensibly appeared.
My example is that if at the time of writing, the conventional wisdom was that the
earth was flat or square or oblong or whatever, and the sacred author mentioned
that, it was not, and is not an error just because today we know it is not so, since
the sacred author did not set out to teach about the nature of the universe.
2- The sacred author did not err if copyists made a mistake in copying or if the
real meaning is ambiguous.
3- All scripture is inspired- not only certain portions of it, but all of
scripture, in its entirety.
4- Divine inspiration is incompatible with error, and since the scripture is
inspired, it cannot err.
From Spiritus Paraclitus:
“The Lord's words are true; for Him to say it, means that it is."[32] Again,
"Scripture cannot lie";[33] it is wrong to say Scripture lies, nay, it is impious
even to admit the very notion of error where the Bible is concerned.[34] "The
Apostles," he says, "are one thing; other writers" - that is, profane writers - "are
another;"[35] "the former always tell the truth; the latter - as being mere men -
sometimes err,"[36] and though many things are said in the Bible which seem
incredible, yet they are true;[37] in this "word of truth" you cannot find things or
statements which are contradictory, "there is nothing discordant nor
conflicting";[38] consequently, "when Scripture seems to be in conflict with itself
both passages are true despite their diversity."[39]
Analysis:
1- Scripture cannot lie. God’s words are true. If God says it, then it is.
2- It is wrong to think the Bible errs
3- Apostles (and by extension the Biblical writers) tell the truth (about what
they’ve heard from God), whereas profane writers sometimes err
4- Even though many things are said in the Bible which sound incredible, they
are true
5- Scripture cannot contradict, discord, nor conflict with itself; where there
are apparent discords, an examination will reveal both passages to be true despite
their diversity.
Finally, from Providentissimus Deus:
"The Books of the Old and New Testament, whole and entire, with all their parts, as
enumerated in the decree of the same Council (Trent) and in the ancient Latin
Vulgate, are to be received as sacred and canonical. And the Church holds them as
sacred and canonical, not because, having been composed by human industry, they were
afterwards approved by her authority; nor only because they contain revelation
without error; but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost, they have God for their author."[57] Hence, because the Holy Ghost employed
men as His instruments, we cannot therefore say that it was these inspired
instruments who, perchance, have fallen into error, and not the primary author. For,
by supernatural power, He so moved and impelled them to write—He was so present to
them—that the things which He ordered, and those only, they, first, rightly
understood, then willed faithfully to write down, and finally expressed
in apt words and with infallible truth. Otherwise, it could not be said that He was
the Author of the entire Scripture. Such has always been the persuasion of the
Fathers. "Therefore," says St. Augustine, "since they wrote the things which He
showed and uttered to them, it cannot be pretended that He is not the writer; for
His members executed what their Head dictated."[58] And St. Gregory the Great thus
pronounces: "Most superfluous it is to inquire who wrote these things—we loyally
believe the Holy Ghost to be the Author of the book. He wrote it Who dictated it
for writing; He wrote it Who inspired its execution."[59]
Points:
1- All the books of the Bible are canonical, that is, to be accepted as
scripture. The church accepts them as scripture primarily because, written under the
Holy Spirit’s inspiration, they have God as their author.
2- We cannot say the human writers have erred in the Bible without implicating
God, because He is the primary author.
3- Process of scriptural composition explained: Holy Spirit moved them to write,
and he was so present to them, that they first understood what He wanted them to
write, and then faithfully expressed these in appropriate words and with infallible
truth.
A LIBRARY OF BOOKS
The Bible is not just one book, but a library of Books. Its name itself , from the
Greek “Biblos” (singular) or “Biblia”(plural), attests to this. And Literature
students will tell you that the different genres have their own unique approaches
and methods of appreciation or interpretation so as to get the author’s intended
meaning and apply to applicable situations. Not only do we have different books by
different human writers (God being the sole author of each) in the Bible, but we
have different forms of writing and different conventions, each type and context of
which must be taken into account in interpretation. Most of the apparent
contradictions or “errors” are resolved when these facts are taken into account. For
instance, the claim as to inconsistencies in different account of the same phenomena
is resolved easily upon a critical evaluation of those said accounts as regards the
different writers’ primary concern, audiences etc,
which brings to light why one writer will give a brief description of an event
whereas another gets into detail, or why one emphasizes one aspect whereas the
other emphasizes the other aspect more. Some examples in question are some NT
accounts like the genealogies, some of Jesus’ sermons and miracles etc. For most
part, as oral traditions which were later written down, different witnesses
emphasize or deemphasize one or another detail, and that sometimes make them appear
to conflict in terms of number or precision, but a critical study of each apparent
contradiction reveals the stark reality that both or all of them unify around the
same theme, have the same message, and the minute detail wherein they differ is not
essential to the message. However, atheists look at the non essential discrepancy
and because it is easier to see it as an error than look into it, jump at it and
declare it is an error.
CRITICS STILL MISSING THE POINT
When atheists like Kwaku Ba complain about supposed “talking snakes” in the Genesis
account or talking donkeys, or that the Bible says the earth is supported by four
pillars, they are not only showing their ignorance of what kinds of genre those
Biblical literature are, they are woefully missing the point. The point is, how does
it affect one’s salvation whether Noah took 7 birds or 2 birds into the Ark? How
does it affect our salvation whether or not a literal snake talked to Eve? Are the
intended lessons of not disobeying God, not yielding to temptation, not blaming
others for our sins, punishment existing for our sins, God’s love and salvation
promised and intended by God , and the many others- are these not clear enough from
reading the narrative? Who cares whether ten thousand or twenty thousand people
built Solomon’s temple? Is that fact that he built a magnificent temple to glorify
God not enough an inspiration for us? All those
catalogue of so- called errors- which are either numerical inconsistencies many of
which scripture itself resolves anyway, or may be some ancient scientific worldview
which was the belief at that time – how does any of them change the fact that Jesus
is the Son of God, and that faith in Him leads to eternal salvation?
LITERALLY ERRATIC CRITICS: By the way, I never knew that all Christians are supposed
to practice judo or karate. Kwaku Ba’s opening statement was:
“The Hebrew bible is the most revered document of the Christian religion and also
highly regarded in the other Judo-Christian faiths”
- You mean JUDEO-CHRISTIAN or “ judo Christian”? Are we all judo fighters? I
understand the error- it may be a typo. We all do it all the time. You may find a
lot in my own writing – probably because I’m hurrying or just that my typing skills
are not there yet. It may even be that my English is still not good enough, but all
add to the point. The point I’m trying to make is, so long as you have a human
factor added to anything, mistakes may happen – mistakes not necessarily implying
falsity or error in the sense of untrue, but sometimes non essential copyist errors
like the typos of today! Just as in spite of Kwaku Ba’s mistake of spelling the
Judeo-Christian as Judo-christian (which could possibly mean a different word) I
still understood what he was trying to say, similarly, when a copyist makes an error
or when one writer says that God created the earth before the sun and another says
the reverse, the message is still clear: God
created everything. The Bible has not erred, nor has its human author, for the
message he wanted to convey is very clear.
THE BIBLE: GOD’S WORD IN HUMAN TONGUE
Apart from Jesus, nothing is more of God’s word than the Bible. The Bible is fully
God’s word. However, to put it in a rather imperfect similitude, like Jesus, the
Bible is fully God’s word and fully human – in other words, it is God’s word in
human tongue. It is inspired by God, but God used human instruments who fully
understood what God wanted them to say and then put the message in ways their
audience could understand and appreciate. That is why one needs to discern the
intended purpose of the author, the context of the original audience, the form of
writing, among others, and under the guidance of the living Holy Spirit, apply it to
current situations. The Bible has more authenticity, veracity, authority, power, and
life than any other document human beings can ever lay our hands on - past, present
and future. As God’s word, it is inerrant, or does not err. Its message does not
change nor err: God, the Omnipotent and Almighty God who
created human beings and everything else, for His own glory, has loved us so much
that even when we disobeyed Him and lost our communion with him, condescended to
take human form (cf Phil 2:6-11, John 3:16), was crucified, died and rose again for
us, and has thus restored the union between man and God. This message is
foolishness to the world, nonsense to those who seek wisdom, yet for those who
believe, it is the power of God for salvation, (cf 1 Cor 1: 18ff) which we get by
faith in His Son Jesus, and living afterwards in his grace.(cf Eph 2: 6-8, Phil
2:12-13 etc)
DIVINE REVELATION, A GRADUAL PROCESS
However, this word and message of God, His Divine Revelation, is presented to us
gradually from the beginning, through a people God selected as his point of contact
to reach out to the rest of humanity, as he made it clear in Exodus 19:5-6:
“Now therefore if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall
be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you
shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
There! So even though God had in mind reaching out to the whole humanity to draw
them unto Himself, he decided to first select a people He could call His own, who
would bear His message to the rest of the world. What God did among them and in
them, the records of His interactions with them, His words to them, which is meant
for the rest of humanity, plus accounts of their own collective life as God’s people
and others, are what is recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible. Evidently, for
such records, it is clear that while we will have records of God’s dealings with
them- miracles, prophets’ messages etc, we will also have records of their own human
frailties, excesses, sins, wars, conquests, troubles, victories, battles, etc, which
are subject to their cultural and historical limitations etc. To that extent, the
Bible, which is God’s word, is couched in human tongue, for it contains all of the
above, and all of the above are INSPIRED OF GOD,
and the message it carries does not err. Consequently, to give them God’s message
or word over the years, the different writers from different backgrounds employed
different genres and means of communication, including direct instructions, poetry,
historical narratives, prophecy, and others. Understanding this background helps
clear a lot of air about apparent inconsistencies. In the New Testament, we have
accounts of the historical Jesus, his life, works, impact, and the beginnings of
the church he founded. By this time, the fullness of God’s revelation had come in
Jesus (cf Heb 1:1)
DIFFERENT ANGLES OF THE SAME STORIES
Because many of the Bible stories were told by different eyewitnesses reporting the
same stories or episodes, there are bound to be insignificant differences in the
details and the perspectives from which they are written. Yet they are all true,
even if minute details differ- and they do not necessarily have to contradict each
other. The community of faith which codified them accepted all of them, because
these bore testimony to the truth they had received by word of mouth. But the
unbeliever will look at it and quickly think, for instance, “Oh, the Bible has
errors – see, why did Peter say there were one thousand baskets left over and Paul
say there were five thousand baskets left over?” Whether 5000 or 1000 is not
relevant – the relevant message is that there were many baskets leftover! If the
Koran or any other book had also been a collection of people’s experiences of God
written by different writers in different ages etc, there would
certainly have been many more supposed inconsistencies than what is charged about
the Bible. As it is, the fact that all these different sources carry a unified and
same message attests to the Bible’s authenticity, and to God’s guidance in it. No
wonder it is so full of life and active, still powerful, potent, sharper than any
two edged sword, able to cut through joints and marrows, reproves, corrects,
instructs – oh what a library of God’s power!
LAUGHABLE CHARGES
The more serious charges of Biblical errors come from some Moslem fundamentalists
and of course some atheists as well. It is not like they are the only ones who see
the supposed discrepancy: they misinterpret them. Kwaku Ba’s Catalogue on Ghanaweb
are indeed very laughable, and one is tempted to ignore them on looking at them.
However, for what it’s not worth, and for all the much ado about nothing he creates,
we will have to take care of them.
Some will suffice for now till the next part:
Charge:
“NU 22:21-30 A donkey sees an angel, recognizes it as such, and then speaks in human
language (presumably Hebrew) to his master.
Comment: After talking snakes in genesis we now have talking donkeys”
ANSWER: As already answered above, this shows the questioner does not even believe
in miracles. So why are we talking about the Bible, which details God’s encounter
with humans, and therefore must necessarily record miracles? That was no talking
donkey: God only opened its mouth to speak at that moment, as the passage says
explicitly. What’s erratic about that?
As to the talking snake in Genesis, if he knows the kind of literature the account
is, he will not misinterpret it as some do. By the way, for the sake of argument,
assuming a snake talked to Eve, what is unbelievable about it since this was at the
beginning of things and man was one with nature? The most important thing is,
whether the snaked talked to Eve or not, the message is clear: disobedience to God’s
law merits death, the devil tempts us to sin, we must not yield to temptation, we
have the power to overcome sin, God in his infinite mercy and love calls us to
himself even in our sins, He forgives us and saves us. Even little children who read
the account do not miss the message – ask Sunday school children! In the end, the
Bible succeeds in carrying its message across, so why should we care whether or not
there was a literal snake who spoke to Eve, or what form of communication it took,
when we know the snake represents the devil who
tempts us?
Charge:
“DT 1:1 Moses speaks to "all" of Israel, perhaps 2,000,000 people (see EX 12:37
above).
DT 2:14 All of the "men of war"--some 600,000--who left Egypt in the Exodus were
dead just thirty-eight years later. (See EX 12:37 above.)
Comment: Ancient Israel had a standing army of 600,000 men? How? Even today the US
army is now reaching that figure and that is if you include reserves, selective
service, and school students on military scholarships”
Answer:
Kwaku Ba’s problem is not only that he makes laughable charges; like other anti
Christian writers, he deliberately falsifies facts and information. For instance
where did he get this blatant lie from, that “the US army is now reaching” 600,000
men “if you include reserves, selective service, and school students on military
scholarships?
A US army demographics flyer indicated that for the fiscal 2009, the strength of the
US army reached a total of 1,112, 7003, the breakdown being 549,015 active, 358,391
guard, and 206,297 reserve. So how did Kwaku Ba come up with his total of 600,000
which he said includes everyone?
Again, who cares the strength of Israeli army at the time of David? What part does
it play in our salvation? Nevertheless if we had space and time to delve into
ancient numerology and the process of copying etc, we would understand why certain
figures are what they are now- but again, who cares? That someone copied a number
rightly or wrongly does not limit the message in any way.
Charge:
“DT 7:15 Moses promises his people that the Lord will take away all sickness.
Comment: Did that include SARS, Bird Flu and AIDS? These diseases have become
prominent in the last few years. Small pox has been eradicated but it was by the
efforts and over 10 billion dollars of the UN and WHO, not any specific deity”
Answer:
What a childish question and what a childish charge! How does this denigrate
scripture? For your information, it is not Moses alone who promised God would take
away all sickness. Psalm 103: 1ff emphasizes that God heals all our diseases.
Isaiah 53:5 says that by Jesus’ stripes we are healed. It takes faith in God, and
once one believes and trusts in him, all things are possible. That God heals does
not mean he automatically heals everybody who does not even believe in him. Why do
you think Jesus did not work many miracles in his hometown? Because of their lack of
faith!
Charge:
“DT 25:5-9 A man has an obligation to produce a child with his brother's widow. If
he refuses, his sister-in-law is to spit in his face in front of the elders.
Comment: So you mean God requires that if you do not marry your dead brothers wife
you should be spat on in public? And by the way, what if the woman is not interested
in that person? Does she have to shut up and receive her husband’s brother’s penis?”
Answer:
There are many customs practiced by some societies that people from other places
frown upon, just as there are many foods or meat some people eat that others frown
upon. This just happens to be a Jewish custom which is not required for salvation,
nor does the Bible enjoin on us all to practice it. So what’s your problem?
Charge:
“JS 10:12-14 God obliges Joshua by making the sun and moon stand still (so that he
can finish his battle by daylight).
Comment: A big fat lie. The author of the Bible did not learn about gravity. It is
the earth that is moving around the sun and not vice versa. If the earth stops
moving right now, it will be pulled towards the sun at an unimaginably high speed
and will crash into it and be completely destroyed without a trace. The author of
the bible is an ignoramus and fool to say such a thing. Shame on him.”
Answer:
You have the nerve to call the Biblical author a fool? Do you know God is the
author? Beside the point. Kwaku, fact is, the more you criticize, the more you
reveal your ignorance. Whoever said that the event you are talking about was
recorded as an ordinary, natural event so as to follow natural laws of gravity? Did
you not read that it was recorded as a miracle? If it followed natural laws of
gravity, why would it be a miracle? Yes, the sun stood still, as recorded, but only
because God, the maker of the sun and everything else, made it stand still for that
period of time.
Another point, we all know the earth is rotating, but tell me, as you walk
naturally, do you see the earth going round? You don’t, unless you deliberately
experiment it. As you normally look up in the sky, you see the sun, clouds, moon,
stars etc moving, even if that may not be the case scientifically. For ordinary men
like Moses and Joshua, among others, all they experienced was that the sun did not
set and they had a prolonged day to win their battle. So the sun stood still for
them. The Biblical author did not err. What he wrote was true.
I will have to answer the rest in the next installment, just to keep the article
sizeable.
THE COMPLETENESS OF SCRIPTURE
That Kwaku Ba had the nerve to suggest that we should upgrade the Bible, add to it
or take something away from it is not only preposterous but reveals how hollow and
shallow his knowledge of what he condemns is. Scripture itself warns against anyone
trying to add or subtract anything from it, therefore we are sure no one will mind
him on that. Dreamers who want the Bible to be for them a one source encyclopedia
of everything will be disappointed because that is not what it is, nor is anyone
going to add anything to it.
On the other hand, those who approach it with humility of heart and mind, seeking
knowledge about God and his wisdom will find in the Bible treasures of wisdom,
knowledge and power for the victorious life God has planned for each of us.
See you in part 2.
God bless you all.
God bless our homeland Ghana/And make our nation great and strong/bold to defend
forever/the cause of freedom and of right/fill all our might with true humility/make
us cherish fearless honesty/and help us to resist oppressors’ rule/with all our will
and might forevermore.
-Augustine Anyimadu-Ahenkae
Bronx, New York
gtrabboni@yahoo.com
REFERENCES
Benedict XV Spiritus Paraclitus (The Paraclete Spirit)Rome: Libreria Editrice
Vaticana (Sept 15, 1920)
Leo XIII Providentissimus Deus (The Most Provident God)Rome: Libreria Editrice
Vaticana (Nov 18, 1893)
Pius XII Divino Afflante Spiritu (Under the Inspiration of the Divine Spirit)Rome:
Libreria Editrice Vaticana (Sept 30, 1943)
Robertson, A.T. (1930), Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman).
Robinson, Edward (1855), Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (New York:
Harper Brothers).
