Is the Inspiration of Scripture Important?

Browsing through my stack of readings this morning I came across a beautiful quote by A.W. Tozer that I would like to keep fresh in my mind for a while. It is taken from his book entitled Man - The Dwelling Place of God out of chapter 26, "The Wrath of God: What is it". As with most of Tozer's books, it is a great read and is presented by the irenic character of a great saint of God.

Let a man question the inspiration of the Scriptures and a curious, even monstrous, inversion takes place: thereafter he judges the Word instead of letting the Word judge him; he determines what the Word should teach instead of permitting it to determine what he should believe; he edits, amends, strikes out, adds at his pleasure; but always he sits above the Word and makes it amenable to him instead of kneeling before God and becoming amenable to the Word ...

The quote awakened me this morning to thoughts of emergence, liberalism, relativism and several other "isms" that drift in and out of the fringes of evangelical Christianity. Those that water and dilute the stance of infallibility are sure to object. The church that kicks against conservative orthodoxy and believing God to have presented Himself truthfully in scripture have little sympathy for the C&MA doctrines of Simpson and Tozer or for others who defend the infallibility of scripture. My personal interest has included watching with disdain the shenanigans of the modern United Methodist Church and how conservative evangelicals are fighting to rescue their beloved church from those who deny the plain truth of Tozer's words regarding God and His revealed Word. The "isms" continue multiplying and the big tent continues to grow opening it's flaps for any comer with a coin to drop into the plate. The church needs men to stand in the gap and be a firm resistance rather than a porous fence and yes, the inspiration and infallibility of scripture is important and a big deal. The opposing view should be treated as a cancer in our midst.

A.W. Tozer on the Christian Doctrine of Prevenient Grace

I have long enjoyed and admired A.W. Tozer, in particular his book The Pursuit of God. We have taught it in our churches and introduced its insights to those who appreciate the simple and wise introspective of one of the LORD's elders. It is a wonderful read available in several places on the internet and readily available in book form from several retailers. The following is the introduction of chapter one.

Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man.

Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.

We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. "No man can come to me," said our Lord, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him," and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the out working of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: "Thy right hand upholdeth me."

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Google Books)

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Amazon retail)