In 2017 I wonder if the leaders in the CoG would come up with the same statement of faith that they did in 1886 and shortly thereafter? For one thing, in my study of the church’s history I cannot think of one man whose scholarship stands out. They were good men seeking, in a few short paragraphs to set down the essence of the bible and what mankind should believe about it but there was information others had that they either dismissed or didn’t know about.
None of those who worked on the original doctrines seemed to be aware of the timeline of the bible nor who wrote the various books. For instance Moses didn’t write the pentateuch or that Isaiah was written by three different men over a period of 250 years. The fact that Psalms was written over a period of 1000 years, might well change how we look at that portion of scripture.
When we get into the N T, I was never told that neither Matthew, Luke, Mark or John did not actually write the gospels. Greek writers ( whom we do not know ) did that task. When it comes to Revelation, no one mentioned that three men on the King James committee thought that Revelation shouldn’t be included in the cannon. They thought that John ( in his 90’s ) had slipped into senility and thus his dreams and visions were probably influenced by his condition.
Discussion
12 comments
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Who the authors were and when the books were written shouldn’t take away from the Bible’s inerrancy, or subtract clauses from the statement of faith. Or would it?
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The bible seems to teach that the earth was flat and that it had four corners, that slavery was acceptable and that women are inferior to men. How do you see it?
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If the Bible says the earth is flat then the earth is flat! if it is a matter of what it “seems” to be saying is indicative of the lack of knowledge of the person seeking understanding.
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So Charles, do you think that the world is flat?
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no
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I do believe that there was light after the first day of creation and that the sun moon and stars were created on the third day.
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Bro Jim Price, I am unsure exactly where you received your information? First of all, your post is to broad and general. You should address each issue on its own. Biblical scholars had come to realize that the earth was not flat as many people of that era had thought. They came to understand that the earth was round due to the Holy Bible. Women inferior to men? Why God used many women, both in the NT & OT, example of Deborah being a Judge over the people. In God’s eyes, there is no male or female when it comes to spiritual matters. And the Book of Isaiah being written by three different men over a time frame of 250 years. I do believe you must have been reading books with liberal authors. The only thing I had ever studied was the question of the latter part of the Book of Isaiah being written by 2nd writer, never a third. Any by the way, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John did write their own books. Again, you make an assumption that is simply not true. Even Luke mentions “the former treatise have I made” gives reference to the Gospel of Luke.
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Melvin, The first 39 chapters of Isa. was written by an Isa. who was from the southern kingdom and the next several chapters by someone who lived in the northern kingdom, while the remaining chapters were written by someone who can be dated many years later. I spent about a month studying this and don’t have the references in front of me at the moment and don’t think that it weakens the validity of Isa. at all. You and I and many others have come to understand that women are equal with men in God’s eyes but historically they have been pushed to the back, even our founding fathers didn’t include them, to vote or to own property etc..How could M. M. L & J have written their books when they didn’t know greek? They may have supervised and approved but Mark and Matthew were probably deceased when their stories first came out.
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So far no one has addressed my original question; would today’s church leaders set down the same doctrines as the founding leaders.
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No they wouldn’t
It would be seeker friendly -
It would be simple, clear and wouldn’t require faith
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