40 SKEPTICAL ERRORS


He who charges the Bible with error, can probably find his errors in this list of skeptical errors:

1. Out of a hard heart, one denies the obvious.
2. One refuses to acknowledge the existence and propriety of figures of speech.
3. One fails to interpret a difficult passage by other passages (on the same subject) that are clear.
4. One ignores the legitimacy of God’s using humans with their human vocabulary.
5. One takes a directive given to a specific person or people (in some historic culture) and insists (a) that the directive was meant to be applied.

to everyone everywhere for all time, or (b ) that the directive was meant as God’s ideal course of action.
6. One insists that regulations limiting man's sinful conduct in the Mosaic Law express God's ideal course of conduct, as in "Love your neighbor as yourself."
7. One insists that a passage must speak comprehensively on a subject although the passage is only giving a partial revelation.
8. One claims that a rounded number is an untrue number.
9. One fails to realize that general statements may have exceptions.
10. One demands that an allusion by the New Testament to the Old Testament, must be a verbatim quote or an exact word-for-word translation.

11. One maintains that because something has not been explained, there can be no explanation.
12. One assumes that if some other ancient source disagrees with the Bible, the Bible is wrong.
13. One insists that because 2 accounts of the same event differ, one or both must be wrong, instead of complementary witnesses.
14. One takes scripture out of context.
15. One refuses to accept that the Word of God could have minor copying errors in the multitude of manuscripts, or one insists that the existence of minor copying errors invalidates our knowledge of God’s word.

16. One alleges that a multiplicity of translations indicates that the text has no integrity.
17. One assumes that what a majority of scientists teach must be correct if it disagrees with the Bible.
18. One jumps to an unnecessary interpretation of an obscure passage.
19. One refuses to validate the use of common language and insists that the text should use technical precision.
20. One insists that if the Bible is not politically correct, the Bible must be wrong.

21. One maintains that a Bible passage is in error because one does not know any proof that the Bible is right. (One finds that the Bible is guilty because one cannot prove it innocent.)
22. When 2 passages could be interpreted either as harmonizing or as in conflict, one insists that the conflicting interpretation is correct.
23. One expects that human understanding of a passage must be the same thing as what an infinitely intelligent God meant when He revealed truth.
24. One maintains that when scripture records a behavior, therefore the scripture approves of that behavior.
25. One dogmatically advocates opinions contrary to the Bible, although one has no source of ultimate truth with which to support those opinions.

26. One believes that a behavior contrary to the Bible, must be acceptable if one wants to do it.
27. One insists that God must be the way one wants Him to be.
28. One confuses a statement about what SHALL be with a statement about what SHOULD be (confounding prophecy with commandment), as if a statement predicting the death of 1,000 babies, were the same as a commandment to kill 1,000 babies.
29. One imagines that one should tell the Lord how He ought to have written His book and govern the universe.
30. One cynically lies about what the Bible says.

31. One plays the Paul vs. Jesus game & claims that Paul changed Christ's teaching, though one has not carefully compared.
32. One twists the meaning of one passage of scripture to make it seem to contradict another.
33. When two interpretations of a passage are possible, one insists on an unnecessary interpretation to try to make it contradictory to another passage.
34. One insists that ungodly interpreters are correct and the Bible is thus wrong.
35. One insists that the majority of scientists who advocate some theory must be correct vs. a minority who disagree.

36. One insists that the majority of historians must be correct vs. a minority who agree with the Bible.
37. One pretends that one has a higher standard by which one could judge God or His Word.
38. One arrogantly presumes to judge God, forgetting that God is one's judge.
39. One assumes that the "Sayings of Jesus" are superior to the rest of God's Word.
40. One exalts human tradition or demonic document over God's Word.