It was said to me recently that God’s word was ‘written by men’. This statement is on the foot heels of an assumption that men are fallible, which is true. However, when we go to the scriptures, and we check with the faithful from generations passed, we can see how these fallible men were actually able to pen these words:
2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
It was also said that no one fully agrees in doctrine that there are more than one interpretation for doctrines. Yes, in all ages, men have attempted to lead some astray with aberrant ideas; however, when one checks history, the majority of believers have agreed.
Consider the main tenets of the faith: The Trinity and God head, How men are saved from sin, who Jesus was, the church, Leadership, the sacraments. The majority agree on these doctrines. There is no confusion here.
In regard to some of the secondary items; yes, there are differentiating ideas. However, none of these items necessarily affect soteriology.
Of the 10’s of thousands of historic men of faith and the documents written by them, the majority still agree. Those that are flagrantly aberrant are dismissed. The scriptures tell us that in the ‘counsel of many, there is security’. In this, we are confident. In the same way the HS used infallible men to pen the biblical canon, He uses men of the ages past to validate truth. Christ’s bride is the church and He protects her using these means.
Most times, men who cry foul when we claim the inerrancy of scripture, it is secondarily to the idea that these men are ‘suppressing the truth in unrighteousness’. It is their sins which press this point. If God’s word be true, then they fall short of any claim they hold fast. What they are faced with is the fact that God’s word is either infallible truth or it isn’t. If it is, then we who hold fast this fact are still dead in our sins and perishing along with the unbelieving world. God forbid! But if it be true, they are in a poor spot.
In my life, my witness is enough. It is that God had saved me at a time in my life where I worshipped self. The Lord took possession of what was His from my conception. I was not in any way, participating per se. Yea, I went to church after a friend invited me, but what occurred on that particular day was more than miraculous as I walked out of church and was not the same man any longer. It was close to schizophrenic. The man I knew had died and was buried.
The faith I have was given to me as a gift. I could not procure it. I could not wish it into being nor pray for it unless God allowed it to begin with. From that moment on, I knew the scriptures to be supernatural. I searched them daily to see if what they said was true. I looked to historic documents from the great men of faith who had gone before me. Any doubt I may have had or aberrant view of any particular doctrine fell to the ground as dead petals. God aligned this truth along with what His church held dear to my heart and I responded accordingly, according to His will and good pleasure.
Are the scriptures true? Can they be trusted? Yes. But only the HS can reveal that to us. The knowledge that men have is flawed.