Inerrancy – You Can’t Get There From Here

There’s an old joke – you’ve probably heard it – about the lost motorist who stops to ask a local hayseed for directions.  “How do I get to Carlinville?” he asks.  The hayseed thinks for a moment and then says, “well you go on down the road here till you get t' the first intersection then you turn right… no…. that won’t work.  You go on down till you come t' a bridge then you … no that won’t do neither…”  The hayseed thinks for a moment longer and then says, “Mister, if I were goin’ t’ Carlinville, I wouldn’t start here.  You can’t get there from here.”

Last night I had a brief discussion online with a few fellow members of my denomination about the question of biblical inerrancy.  Inerrancy is not a part of our doctrinal statements, but there were some in the discussion who insisted upon it as the only proper way to interpret and understand the Bible.

Setting aside all the other arguments against inerrancy, our denomination sits pretty firmly on the Wesleyan-Arminian side of the free-will/predestined debate.  And like the old joke, if I were headin’ for Inerrancy, I wouldn’t start from free-will.  You can’t get there from here.