Can faith in the Holy Scriptures be restored in the third millennium since the beginning of the Christian era? Is it possible to re-establish the belief that the 39 traditional books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament are inerrant in their original manuscripts as left by the hagiographers?
There are two schools of thought: those who believe the Bible is the word of God and those who believe the Bible contains the word of God. The former believe that the sacred writers were inspired by Almighty God and that divine inspiration is incompatible with error.
Augustine was a Church Father who was revered by Catholics and Protestants alike. If he came across an apparent discrepancy in Scripture, he didn't attribute it to the sacred writers. Instead, he concluded that it was a copying error, a translation error, or that he himself had failed to understand the passage in question.
Augustine as quoted by Leo XIII: "On my own part I confess to your charity that it is only to those books of Scripture which are now called canonical that I have learned to pay such honor and reverence as to believe most firmly that none of their writers has fallen into any error. And if in these books I meet anything which seems contrary to truth, I shall not hesitate to conclude either that the text is faulty, or that the translator has not expressed the meaning of the passage, or that I myself do not understand."
The Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIII dated 1893
ReplyDeletePaul's cataclysmic conversion is documented in Acts 9, 22, & 26. He was transformed from persecutor and executioner of Christians to an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul said, "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16
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