Expert: Eric Christy - 11/29/2006

Question
Hello Eric, I don't get what you are trying to say right here:

Many Christians are not aware that actual errors are in our Bible. However, even with the errors, the Bible may be still God's Word (for the most part). It is important to know what is likely God's Word, and what is not. The question regarding if whether doctrines based on non-inspired text are still valid, facinates me.  

Answer
Hi Rachel,

I have a sister with your name! Well, to answer your question about errors in the Bible:

Yes, there are errors strewn about our Bible, here and there, enough to make even the casual reader understand that our Bible is not the pristine, inerrant Word of God so many less knowledgeable Christians have been told it is. While I believe that the majority of the Bible is God's Word, and hence worthy of obedience and usage as our doctrinal source for spiritual matters, that is only my belief. With all the errors it has, I can see why others might not have that belief. But I do believe that the majority of the Bible has been inspired by God, minus the errors, of course.

There are three basic kinds of errors. They are: Copyist, Doctrinal, and Logic. Of the three, Logic is the worst kind, while Doctrinal is bad, but not too destructive to the text it is found in, and Copyist is bona fide error, but doesn't affect doctrine so it is the least damning, but still proves our Bible is not inerrant. As I said, Logic errors are the worst, completely negating large portions of scripture doctrine. I will cover all three kinds here, demonstrating the actual passages they are found in. After I reveal all the problems within our Bible, you got to promise me you won't drop the faith, okay? Don't throw in the towel on Jesus and God just because our Bible has errors. I haven't, I have vast knowledge of the scriptures. The reason I haven't, however, isn't due to vast knowledge, but due to the supernatural experiences I have had over the years which demonstrate more than adequetely that there is a God, and His Son Jesus Christ *IS* the Savior.

Copyist Error: And example of Copyist error would be the little known story of King Ahaziah. In 2nd Kings 8:26, his age is given as 22 years old when he began to reign. But in the parallel passage of 2nd Chronicles 22:2, his age is given as 42 years old when he began to reign. This error is found in the text of the King James and New American Standard Bible's while the New International Version admits the error in their margin notes, but 'corrects' the error in the text. The error is in the discrepancy between the differing ages given for the same king, King Ahaziah. Now you can tell that ignorant blowhard in your church who keeps saying that the Bible is without error. This will shut the ignoramous up.

Doctrinal Error: These are more serious forms of error because they negate prior doctrines and/or demonstrate textual tempering having occured...not a good thing. An example of Doctrinal error would be the infamous story of the woman caught in the 'act' of John 8:1-11. This is a lie, a fabrication. It never happened! Here's why. All copies of John's gospel prior to 400AD do NOT contain this story. That's right, some scribe for some reason just decided to insert it at John 8:1-11. Some time after 400AD, this story begins to appear in John's gospel where it never was prior to 400AD. That's not good. It proves textual tampering having occurred. But that's not all. It did appear in Luke's gospel, but was removed. We ask, why? And it did appear in Mark's gospel, but again was removed. And again, we ask, why? And finally, it appears in John's gospel where it NEVER was. You guessed it...we ask, why? And no one knows why! But, there's more. Not only has blatent textual tampering occurred with the text, but doctrinal errors abound in this ridiculous story. For example, Jesus never asked for the man to be brought forward. They caught the woman...in the act...so where was the man? The Law required that both the man and the woman be brought forward for judgement, and if found guilty, to be put to death immediately. How come Jesus didn't ask for the man to be brought forward? By the way, Christian doctrine assumes that the God of the Old Testament was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ dealing with Moses in the giving of the Law. If so, then Jesus is seen CHANGING the Law that He gave Moses while in His pre-incarnate state as God of the Old Testament. Yet there are scriptures in the Old Testament stating that the Law was NEVER to be changed. How did Jesus change the Law, I hear you ask? Here's how: Jesus required that only those that are without sin cast stones at the guilty woman caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Jesus gave to Moses, Jesus did not require those carrying out the punishments the Law demanded to be "without sin". If so, then no one could carry out the Law as all are sinners. So Jesus really makes error after error *IF* this account actually happened. Thank God that it is a lie, a fabrication from stupid lying scribes who thought they would get away with their foolishness.

Logic Error: This form of error is the worst, the most damning of the three kinds of error found in scripture. Here is an example: Throughout the Bible, there are prophesies regarding what the Devil, and his two evil men, the Antichrist and False prophet, will do when they finally come into the world. But if the Devil can read, and gets Internet down where he's at, he'll realize how he can finally defeat God and Jesus Christ when he reads this. Let me preface this as follows: If God told you that tomorrow you would go shopping at store A and buy product B, you could defeat His prophecy by choosing to go shopping at store X and buy product Y. Or, you could choose to not go shopping. Or, you could choose to still go shopping at store A, but buy product X,Y,Z etc and choose NOT to buy product B which God said you would buy. As you can see, there are any number of ways you can defeat God by choosing to do something different from what is prophesied about your yet future actions. You could defeat God because God gave you free will. The point here is that, because the Bible has written down specific things the Devil will do in his yet future, this gives the Devil the ammunition to shoot down God's prophecies! The Devil defeats God and Jesus by choosing NOT to obey the prophesies about his yet future actions! And this the Devil will do, providing the prophecies have their source in God and Jesus Christ. The Devil has longed all his miserable life to find a meaningful, legitimate way to finally defeat God and Jesus Christ. Well, here's his chance. If the prophecies are inspired by God, then God is a complete moron because God just gave the Devil the very ammunition the Devil needs to shoot down God's credibility, thus FINALLY(!) defeating God!

But of course, God is *NOT* the complete moron the Bible forces us to believe He is if the prophecies regarding the Devil's yet future actions have their source in God. Instead, complete morons who claimed to speaking for God, are the source of these obviously ridiculous prophecies. And people for the past 3000 years have been believing these ridiculous prophecies simply because they are written in book we call, the Bible. Who says everything in the Bible is God's Word? Who? What, are the errors His Word too?

The only way that the Devil would still be so stupid as to obey the prophecies regarding his yet future actions is if he is a puppet on the Puppet Master's strings. But if a puppet, then by extension, it is God not the Devil, who is the true Devil! And I cannot accept that God is *ALSO* the Devil. But if in fact the Devil does 'obey' Bible prophecies regarding his yet future actions, then I'm afraid our God is also our Devil. In such a case, who needs a Devil, when you've got a God!

You can pretty much throw out orthodox Christianity, Rachel. The orthodox require of all their adherents two things: Complete acceptance of their fallacious doctrines, and mindless unquestioning obedience to their teachings. They teach for the doctrines of God the traditions of men. They are mindless, themselves. I have created a theology that not only adheres to the Bible's teachings, but admits the truth about the errors it also contains. My theology is as true a doctrine as I can create. It does something novel, some call heretical. It makes sense.

It's the TRUTH that matters, Rachel. All else is just tradition.

Eric