Inerrant fundamentals

Peter Enns does a little linguistic poking at Albert Mohler Jr. and the biblical inerrancy crowd in a recent Patheos post.  Enns translates a panel "discussion" by Mohler and other Southern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty on why the biblical inerrancy folks are theologically superior to the rest of us. The list of 34 arguments made by the panel serves as a great introduction to the linguistic and rhetorical flourishes used by the godly inerrant warriors against the ungodly traitors of scripture that claim every word is not literal truth.

I do not disagree with the points made by Enns. It is a great exercise in how issues and ideas are framed by Mohler and others. It is meant to help those struggling with the strictures of biblical inerrancy to find an experience of Christ that will given meaning and purpose to their spiritual lives.

It is of no concern of mine whatsoever what Mohler thinks about how the Bible has to be. Mohler and his faculty are absolutely free to believe as they wish, and my purpose in this life is not to change their minds, ridicule them, crush them, mock them, or whatever. My concern is to help those who feel trapped by Mohler’s way of thinking, people with whom I have had many conversations over the years.

They need to hear that the boundaries drawn in panel discussions like this do not reflect all or the best of the Christian tradition. Rather they sell God and the Bible woefully short by placing burdens on the text–and its readers–that neither should, or can, bear.

While I found myself nodding and smiling at the points made by Enns, I have two more fundamental quarrels with Mohler and company.

Mohler is a big proponent of the cultural and political warrior mode of Christianity. What is missing in the writings of these glorious warriors for orthodoxy is the teachings of Christ. You will never understand and appreciate what the Lord taught by reading or listening to Mohler and the other leaders of the culture war movement. There is an enormous gulf between the inerrant culture warriors and other Christian scholars. If you read or listen to someone like N. T. Wright, Christ is all but resurrected in your mind.

Here is a simple illustration. N. T. Wright was asked to succinctly summarize the chief political concern of the bible.

“The chief political concern of the Scriptures is for God’s wise and loving ordering of his world to be operative through humans who will share his priorities, especially his concern for the poor, the weak and the vulnerable. This concern was embodied by Jesus in his inauguration of ‘God’s kingdom’ through his public career and especially his self-giving death, which together set the pattern for a radically redefined notion of power.”

God's love, our obligation to attend to those in need, and the servant example of Jesus are front and center. Wright and others keep us grounded in the ministry of Christ and God's love. If you want to discover what it means to follow Christ, there is no question. Even a cursory reading of the Gospels will affirm your obligation to emulate Jesus in demonstrating the love of God to all you come in contact with.

The culture warriors are offering a different meal altogether. Their fundamentals consist of following them in defining morality narrowly as regulating sexual behavior and reproduction. As long as you profess faith in Jesus as the messiah and keep the commandments they deem fundamental, you win the golden ticket to heaven. That may be a hostile way to frame it, but look closely at the writings and public statements of Mohler and others.

The religious authorities encountered by Jesus often played the same game as the culture warriors. They were good at telling others what rules to follow but missed the underlying meaning of the scriptures. Jesus took them to task time and time again for missing the forest for a few trees.

The other fundamental objection I have with the inerrancy crowd is that they do not really believe the scriptures are to be taken literally. If they did, they would have to follow the 613 commandments that make up the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy). True orthodoxy is not an a la carte menu for you to pick and choose the rules to follow. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said he did not come to abolish the law, which then forces the inerrant fundamentalists to look to the Apostle Paul for a few excuses for what rules can be ignored.

Christ promised following him will be simple (Matthew 11:28-30):

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Those words make sense when the rules boil down to loving God and loving others as the two guiding principles. Jesus said you cannot go wrong by putting God and others first. Whether you consider that easy is another story. Lifting the crosses of others may not be your idea of a light burden.

Therein lies the rub. There are more than 2000 verses that instruct us to care for the suffering of others. Yet, the culture war fundamentalists ignore those strictures while raising up a few verses as immutable. And all too often these same fundamentalists preach the glory of materialism and the virtues of capitalism as part of their political creed. It is the sort of fundamentalism that reeks of hypocrisy with a capital H.

The inerrant fundamentalists really want to you ignore your own conscience and meekly follow their authority. What that means is that you should not let the Holy Spirit guide you because you cannot be trusted. Only they know what the Holy Spirit really wants and you better acquiesce to their authority. Thanks, but no thanks.