"Isn't the Bible Full of Errors?"

"In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared 
to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason 
for the hope that you have." --1 Peter 3:15, NIV

by R.C. Sproul Jr.

 While oftentimes such platitudes make it into our common perception because they
 reflect reality, this is not one of them. The only two words in the above quote that are
 true are "The Bible."

 I know it is not true that everybody knows--or even believes--that the Bible is full of
 errors, because I am a body, and I do not believe it. 

 And I am not alone. There are millions of others around the globe who believe with great
 fervor that not only is the Bible not full of errors, but the Bible has no errors at all.

 The argument, however, will not be won by counting up my "millions" or the skeptics'
 "everybody." We do not discern truth through a democratic process. To try to do so is
 to fall into what logicians call the ad populum fallacy, where we seek to support a
 notion by how many people believe it. Centuries ago everybody "knew" that the world
 was flat. But the earth did not morph into a sphere in 1492 when Columbus sailed the
 ocean blue.

 So how can we know? We can examine the Bible and its purported errors. When
 someone claims biblical error, I begin with this challenge: "Show me one error. If the
 Bible is full of them, they ought to be easy to find."

 The answers I receive are varied, but never have I received a bushel full. Most of the
 claims arise out of a patently unfair reading of the text, reading it in a way that it was
 not intended to be read. The Bible speaks of the sun rising and setting, when in fact the
 sun stands still. But no one suggests that the weatherman is "full of errors" when he
 tells us, "The sun will rise tomorrow at 6:00 a.m." (They may of course have plenty of
 other reasons for affirming that the weatherman is full of errors.) 

 One critic argued that the Bible says that Jesus was from Bethlehem, from Egypt and
 from Nazareth. Surely a person cannot be from so many places.

 But Jesus was born in Bethlehem; as a Baby, He and His family fled to Egypt; and He
 was raised in Nazareth. I am from Pittsburgh and Ligonier in Pennsylvania and from
 Virginia and from Scotland. I was born in Pittsburgh, grew up in Ligonier, and now live in
 Virginia. And my ancestors came to the United States from Scotland. I speak the truth
 when I claim each of these places as my origin.

 Other critics simply fail to apply basic logic. One resurrection account in the Bible
 mentions two angels at the tomb, another account mentions one. How could there be
 two angels when there was one? It's simple enough. How could there be two without
 one? The text does not say "only one," it says "one." If there were two, we can be sure
 there was one. 

 Still other critics insist that the Bible errs because it presents miracles as facts. Such an
 objection merely begs the question, and it starts with an unproven premise that
 miracles are impossible. If miracles are impossible, the Bible is full of errors. If, however,
 they are possible, that bushel full of errors "disappears," as if by magic.

 If the Bible is true, it has absolute claim on our lives. We not only must believe what it
 teaches, but we must also obey what it teaches. This is what drives "everybody" to
 deny its truth. It is neither intellectual sophistication, nor sincere study, that causes
 people to deny the truth of Scripture, but a refusal to acknowledge the God who has
 made Himself known. It is for this reason that no other book has been prodded and
 plowed as the Bible has. It has been assaulted from every direction, but the Bible
 truthfully teaches: "The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands
 forever."*