Quote Source – Leonard on Medium

A Biblical Christian worldview perspective—This comment comes from a long-standing series of conversations with a universalist (all go to Heaven) who also believes in annihilationism (the lost are burned up). Please don’t ask me to reconcile those two points into a coherent systematic worldview.

Basically, the question he is posing (the title of this post) is a good one. This approach effectively undermines the inerrancy of the Bible by acknowledging that Biblical Christians, being human and sinful, are susceptible to errors in interpretation. I have repeatedly written my view that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and that any areas where mankind sees inconsistencies are the result of our weakness in understanding the Creator of the universe, rather than the Bible being riddled with false statements. By taking that position on the shallow nature of man’s understanding of God, unbelievers can then introduce insecurities in our faith without attacking the divinity of Scripture directly.

Below was my response to this challenge.

My Response

I would certainly agree that interpretation of God’s word is human-based. It can be nothing more, unless I am an alien or God myself. As you know, because we are human and not omniscient, I hold few beliefs as core (see below). I do hold opinions on much of the rest of Biblical systematic theology but submisively recognize that I could be wrong.

In fact, I hold the belief that no one has ever fully understood all God has to offer in His Word, just as no one is ever perfectly sanctified prior to the grave.

Biblical Christians have two things in our favor, regardless of the fact that we try to understand God through the lens of our sin-cursed humanity.

• First, we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts. He is called to be our Helper, and for good reason. The Holy Spirit provides us with wisdom that is beyond human abilities and helps protect us from our own sin nature, which attempts to steer theology toward the world (John 14:26).
• Second, we know from Scripture that it is God’s desire for Biblical Christians (His children) to understand the core of His commands (Acts 17:27).

Though we are human, with all the frailties that come with it, Biblical Christians, like myself, have a firm spiritual component to our core understanding of His Word that remains unshakable, even when accounting for our humanity.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words

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