Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mike@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Michael I. Bushnell) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Who do you say Christ is? (and other questions) Message-ID: Date: 17 Sep 89 19:21:05 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of No Money, Albuquerque, New Mexico Lines: 40 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu While I don't want to get into a discussion of inerrance here, Dave raised a point I think I need to dispute. He said that God placed 1) into every verse at least one important truth, and 2) that God arranged every phrase in the original to be exactly what he wanted. The problem with (1) is typified by Matthew 1. While the entire chapter certainly has meaning, the difference between verses 5 and 6 seems to be nonexixtent. In fact, no single verse in that geneology carries the message that the chapter as a whole does. A holistic attitude is essential. Which brings up (2). I believe Calvin said something along the lines that every verse of the Bible, taken alone, every chapter, taken alone, every book, taken alone, each of these is meaningless. They only have meaning when viewed in the context of the whole, and, when viewed in that context, may have a meaning very different from what one would expect given only the passage alone. He said this in an attempt to stop the pointless counter- and counter-counter-proof-texting that was going on. So, whether you accept inerrancy or not, that doesn't mean that you can read a verse, or even an entire book, and expect to grasp its meaning. Just because (if you accept inerrancy), God meant what he said when he said XXX, doesn't mean that XXX in isolation has the meaning you think it does. And before you say that you understand the need for context, what Calvin and I are talking about here is broader than context. We are saying that each epistle and each psalm are all essential to undersanding the book of Joshua, in any of its particulars. We are saying that only an understanding of the bible in its whole, guided by the Holy Spirit, is our guide to religion, and that the bible in its parts is not a guide to religion. The Word is a single thing, indivisible, without meaning when dissected. -- Michael I. Bushnell \ This above all; to thine own self be true LIBERTE, EGALITE, FRATERNITE \ And it must follow, as the night the day, mike@unmvax.cs.unm.edu /\ Thou canst not be false to any man. Telephone: +1 505 292 0001 / \ Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!