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Late to the party here, but my take is this:
Technically they are right, the Bible can be twisted and was twisted even by Satan when he used verses, therefore to call it infallible is often misleading. It is not God even if God is in it and uses it.
However the heart of what God has spoken to mankind corporately -- his Word to us as a group -- is in the Bible. Mankind's error and need for God, and God's very personal response, the Gospel.
Wilkinson cites doctrines and verses that offend the world's sensibilities and human-centered value systems. Presumably these are his reasons for demoting the authority of the Bible. These are the wrong reasons. It is fine to point out the humanity of the Bible and how then, as now, people can misinterpret and misapply. It is vital to point out the need for humility, compassion, and real love towards neighbors and enemies.
It is not okay to use the humanity of the Bible as justification to mix in worldly teachings. "I don't understand this or am offended by this, therefore I will improve it by adding something the world at large will find easier to stomach." Absolutely not from the Holy Spirit. In the spiritual realm, the world's system and God's system are built on different values and cannot coexist. So to mix them is to expand the world's system.
The world by default worships the human experience and gives authority to the human experience in how it defines its values. That, and, modern western culture is somewhat oblivious to the cost of life and the privilege it enjoys relative to most other humans throughout history. This is why they are offended by a God that did not treat all human life the way they pretend to treat it. This is also why they're in a terrible position to project ethics onto ancient scenarios.
When this website says, above all, love, I wonder if they are putting love above the truth. In God, love and truth are vitally interdependent. Love requires trust, but dishonesty destroys intimacy and creates distance. So you have to have truth to provide a framework for real love. If you put love above all, even above truth, you are not talking about God's love, but a worldly form of love, which becomes code for 'love humanity above all (even above God)'. Yes you can idolize the bible, but you can idolize love too, if you separate it from God's truth, it becomes man's love and not God's true love.
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This is very interesting about what God is doing with Muslims! In seminary for World Religions, our professor was a missionary on sabbatical from Indonesia, where he shared the gospel with head hunters and Muslims. The head hunters were not that hard to share with. They would change the shrunken heads in their pouches on their waists, for portions of the Bible which were translated into their language! He said, before they were saved, they thought the heads of people they had killed were their "power." After that, they realized that the Bible was their power, because they learned about Jesus in it.
The Muslims were quite different. He would make friends with them, talk about Jesus a bit, try and steer them away from the Isa concept of Jesus as a good man. But he said, it usually took about 2 years, and then they would come to him, saying God had given them a dream about Isa, and that he was more than just a man, would he explain what that meant.
He would share the gospel, and then God would truly save them. Then he would teach them from the Bible, and they would start witnessing to other Muslims. (You can do this in Indonesia, not so much the Arab countries!)
I read a book a few years after I took that class, and it said the same thing. God would send dreams and visions, but he would also always place a Christian in their path, to explain the gospel.
The name of that book is "Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World?" By Tom Doyle. Interesting read!
PS. That professor went back to Indonesia, where he continues to bring the gospel to Muslims and various tribal people! Oh, that professor had a Ph.D in anthropology, just in case anyone thinks you can't bring people to Christ if you are educated. And his theology was very conservative, from all the class discussions we had!
The Muslims were quite different. He would make friends with them, talk about Jesus a bit, try and steer them away from the Isa concept of Jesus as a good man. But he said, it usually took about 2 years, and then they would come to him, saying God had given them a dream about Isa, and that he was more than just a man, would he explain what that meant.
He would share the gospel, and then God would truly save them. Then he would teach them from the Bible, and they would start witnessing to other Muslims. (You can do this in Indonesia, not so much the Arab countries!)
I read a book a few years after I took that class, and it said the same thing. God would send dreams and visions, but he would also always place a Christian in their path, to explain the gospel.
The name of that book is "Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World?" By Tom Doyle. Interesting read!
PS. That professor went back to Indonesia, where he continues to bring the gospel to Muslims and various tribal people! Oh, that professor had a Ph.D in anthropology, just in case anyone thinks you can't bring people to Christ if you are educated. And his theology was very conservative, from all the class discussions we had!
Thank you. But that statement sure does make a mess out of the clear statements of scripture. Concerning His resurrection, it ain't complicated. Three days after Jesus was crucified (to death) and buried in a tomb (sealed and guarded), He was raised from the dead.
I'll go with the word of God's messengers angels and the record of their statement found in Matthew 28.6 - in the bible. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Can't be any plainer. Body there. Body not there. Risen. Just as He said. Look for yourself.
I'll go with the word of God's messengers angels and the record of their statement found in Matthew 28.6 - in the bible. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Can't be any plainer. Body there. Body not there. Risen. Just as He said. Look for yourself.
