In the summer of 1949, my team and I were preparing for the most intensive evangelistic mission we had ever attempted, a citywide outreach in Los Angeles, California.
Just weeks before the mission was to start, however, I experienced a major crisis of faith—the most intense of my life. Some months before, Charles Templeton, a fellow evangelist whom I respected greatly had begun to express doubts about the Bible, urging me to “face facts” and change my belief that the Bible was the inspired Word of God. “Billy,” he said, “you’re fifty years out-of-date. People no longer accept the Bible as being inspired the way you do. Your faith is too simple.” I knew from my own reading that some modern theologians shared his views.
For months doubts about the Bible swirled through my mind, finally coming to a boil during a conference at which I was speaking in the mountains east of Los Angeles. One night, alone in my cabin at the conference, I studied carefully what the Bible said about its divine origin. I recalled that the prophets clearly believed they were speaking God’s Word; they used the phrase “Thus says the Lord” (or similar words) hundreds of times. I also knew that archaeological discoveries had repeatedly confirmed the Bible’s historical accuracy.
Especially significant to me, however, was Jesus’ own view of Scripture. He not only quoted it frequently, but also accepted it as the Word of God. While praying for His disciples, He said, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). He also told them, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law” (Matthew 5:18). Shouldn’t I have the same view of Scripture as my Lord?
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Angela Buckland says
What a wonderful, thoughtful post! Gracious, loving, and full of truth, it has the evidence of the Holy Spirit throughout. Blessings!
Anita Mathias says
Wow, thank you, Angela!
Yewtree says
Many Muslims believe that every word of the Qu'ran was dictated to Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel – so the Qu'ran is more inerrant than the Bible, according to them.
I think there's a distinction between something being divinely inspired, and being dictated word-for-word.
I could inspire you to write a poem, but I wouldn't have dictaed it to you – you would have put your own thoughts and reflections in it.
Gerard Manley Hopkins' poetry is inspired by meditating on the Divine, but I am sure no-one would claim it was dictated by God.
Anyway, you have to pick and choose between the bits of scripture that promote love, and those that don't.
Anita says
Radical Believer, That's funny. So in effect, we land up telling other Christians, “I am more inerrant than you are!”
Radical Believer says
Completely with you on Divine inspiration. Part of the trouble we get into when we speak of inerrancy is that we slip into meaning “My interpretation of Scripture is inerrrant,” which is clearly a load of tosh, unless I happen to be God tha Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit.
Rhoda says
Glad you posted this 🙂 I love Billy Graham's take on it. I didn't know you went to John Piper's church – I'm jealous!
Anita says
Thanks Jo and Jennifer. Jo, I hope your meeting goes really well!
Jo Royal says
Hey Anita – great post!! How true that so many Christians say they believe the Bible to be inherent – and they can totally disagree with one another. I agree with your closing statement – about agreeing with Biblical inherrancy but acknowledging that as humans we are capable of making mistakes. I have a meeting with another church leader this afternoon to discuss how we can move forward when we both see a particular issue completely differently. We both believe the Bible to be absolutely true – and yet interpret it completely differently. Where to go from here?!! Put our 'correctness' in an open hand and ask God to reveal his truth and will in the situation I guess.
jennifer in OR says
Great post. Sorry you had a traumatic church experience. Been there. It sounds as if you're in a very good place right now. Blessings, Jen