The following is a very thought-provoking post by the late Farrell Till (1933-2012) from the Errancy Discussion list from May 2, 1997. I will be posting a lot of the comments of Farrell Till from the Errancy Discussion list and elsewhere. Till was a former Church-of-Christ preacher; and being a former member of the Church of Christ myself, I appreciate his perspective on the errancy of the Bible. I hope to preserve many of his scholarly, insightful thoughts on this blog:
The postings I have been sending about absurdities in the stories of the
The postings I have been sending about absurdities in the stories of the
exodus and subsequent wilderness wanderings have not been intended to
establish contradiction but to show that the stories are so obviously
unreasonable that no rational person can believe that they actually
happened. Since ancient literature in particular is characterized by
widespread references to miraculous events, the only reasonable way to
assess the events is to critically examine each one in terms of how likely
it is that such events did indeed happen. When this principle is applied to
the conduct of the Israelites throughout the exodus and the wilderness
wanderings, rational people must conclude that it is not very likely that
most of these stories happened as recorded in the Bible.
establish contradiction but to show that the stories are so obviously
unreasonable that no rational person can believe that they actually
happened. Since ancient literature in particular is characterized by
widespread references to miraculous events, the only reasonable way to
assess the events is to critically examine each one in terms of how likely
it is that such events did indeed happen. When this principle is applied to
the conduct of the Israelites throughout the exodus and the wilderness
wanderings, rational people must conclude that it is not very likely that
most of these stories happened as recorded in the Bible.
A detailed analysis of Israelite behavior during and after
the exodus may
take as many as two or three postings, but before I begin them, let's first
make a comparison that will help illustrate the problem. [Note: Please find
under the label, *How Likely Is It?*, a 13-part series entitled *Tall Tales of
Wilderness Wanderings*, kwh] On this list, we have seen that biblical
inerrantists will cling to their belief in their god and the inerrancy of the
Bible no matter how much compelling evidence to the contrary is presented.
When confronted with glaring biblical inconsistencies or discrepancies,
they will simply fabricate some how-it-could-have-been interpretations and
stubbornly insist that biblical errancy has not been proven. Not a one of
them has ever seen their god, talked to him, or seen him perform miracles
like the parting of the Red Sea, bringing water from rocks, sending manna
from heaven, and such like, yet despite the absence of such convincing
evidence as this, they still maintain their belief that this god exists and that
he verbally inspired the Bible.
take as many as two or three postings, but before I begin them, let's first
make a comparison that will help illustrate the problem. [Note: Please find
under the label, *How Likely Is It?*, a 13-part series entitled *Tall Tales of
Wilderness Wanderings*, kwh] On this list, we have seen that biblical
inerrantists will cling to their belief in their god and the inerrancy of the
Bible no matter how much compelling evidence to the contrary is presented.
When confronted with glaring biblical inconsistencies or discrepancies,
they will simply fabricate some how-it-could-have-been interpretations and
stubbornly insist that biblical errancy has not been proven. Not a one of
them has ever seen their god, talked to him, or seen him perform miracles
like the parting of the Red Sea, bringing water from rocks, sending manna
from heaven, and such like, yet despite the absence of such convincing
evidence as this, they still maintain their belief that this god exists and that
he verbally inspired the Bible.
Only very rarely is the faith of an inerrantist shaken badly enough to cause
him to reject his belief. On the other hand, we have the Israelites who had
their god going before them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night,
coming down and speaking to them, and performing all sorts of wondrous
miracles. Despite these amazing demonstrations of their god's presence
in their midst, they were constantly bellyaching and rebelling. My postings
that follow this one will be designed to show that it is not at all likely that reasonable people would have behaved as the Israelites did; hence,
it is not at all likely that these stories happened as they are recorded in
the Bible.
Farrell Till
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