The Highway Forums General Discussion Devotional Quotes Verbal inspiration of the Bible

Surrender the dogma of verbal inspiration and you are left like a rudderless ship on a stormy sea-at the mercy of every wind that blows. Deny that the Bible is, without any qualifications, the very Word of God, and you are left without any ultimate standard of measurement and without any supreme authority.

~ Arthur Pink

"Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers." - John Owen (1616-1683)

That woulkd apply only to the originals themselves though

IF that was true, and since we do not possess the "original themselves", then doesn't that mean we today do not have an inspired, infallible nor inerrant Bible? Methinks you should be far more concerned about the myriad faulty and corrupt translations, e.g., those based upon the "Dynamic Equivalence" theory vs. the "Formal Equivalence" theory. What we do have are so close to the originals that it is an exercise in futility to try and prove they are unreliable. That argument is the favorite of the unbelievers of this world in order to dismiss the Bible as having any, never mind, absolute authority that comes directly from God.

We have in reliable translation infallible scripture but inerrant and inspired affirmed only to the originals themselves

So, in "reliable translation infallible scripture" BUT they are not inerrant and not inspired? This doesn't resolve the incontrovertible problem your view has but only exasperates it. No one has the "original manuscripts" so what are you left with if only they are inerrant (no error) and the direct communication from God? Any perfect copies of the originals are therefore not the inspired, infallible and inerrant word of God? And secondly, how can a 'reliable translation' of a fallible unoriginal copy retain any authority or confidence that they are in fact the unassailable truth of God? If they contain some truth, or even the majority of truth, how do YOU discern and choose what is truth and what is false? Be honest. What you are left with is sinful fallen men deciding upon what, if anything, is actually from God and binding upon the heart, mind and soul. Did Jesus actually rise from the dead? How do you know if you don't have in your own hands the original manuscripts penned by the Apostles who were guided by the Holy Spirit to record everything God ordained they saw, heard and were given supernaturally? Methinks you have an insurmountable and critical problem upon which Christianity itself rests.

The ONLY ones who ever held that any translation would be either perfect or inspired has been those holding to KJVO position though