Wednesday, March 28, 2012

O Christians, shake off the influence of the higher critics of the Bible, it's all the devil's smoke and mirrors

I've come to believe that Chris Pinto's films should be seen by all Christians -- they've been feeding my own concerns in my blogs for a couple weeks now, from American politics to the Bible disaster of 1881 to End Times developments in general, and especially have illuminated the horrifically evil involvement of the Roman Catholic Church in these things.

CHRISTIANS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS.

Some of his radio shows should be heard too (I don't know what a "podcast" is, as opposed to a broadcast, but apparently that's what they are). His recent radio shows (March 26 and 27 at least) cover important information about the "higher criticism" of the Bible and how it can undermine the faith of Christians.

A GREAT MANY CHRISTIANS INCLUDING PASTORS ARE DECEIVED ABOUT BIBLE SCHOLARSHIP AND THE NEW TRANSLATIONS.

I was very happy to hear Pinto quote the first Psalm as an admonition to those who accept the counsel of unbelieving critical scholars such as Bruce Metzger:

Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Walking in the counsel of the ungodly is exactly what Christians are doing who accept the judgments of a Bruce Metzger. Sure, the ungodly may be great scholars in some ways, but on this subject which involves all kinds of subjective judgment calls about the history of Bible manuscripts, definitely not to be trusted.

This issue is very much like the evolution-creation issue, in which the evidence is also soft, largely a matter of mental gymnastics asserted as if it were fact, and when an unbeliever promotes such evidence it should NOT be accepted by believers.

Chris Pinto discusses Bart Ehrman on the recent radio programs, who claims to have been turned away from his original Christian belief in the inerrancy of scripture by this sort of evidence, evidence which gives an early date for a corrupt manuscript which, if accepted as valid, casts doubt on the traditional view of scripture as God's word. Ehrman was trained by Bruce Metzger. He's quite convinced, but such evidence is easily counterfeited.

Pastors and teachers who accept the judgments of a Bruce Metzger may think they are just being intellectually honest but this kind of work undermines the faith of many in the churches and can't help but do so. If they are convinced that all God's word is not all God's word, the faith of honest Christians WILL be shaken, and that undermines the power of witness in the churches.

This is the devil's work for sure.