Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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.





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