On a recent Facebook post, John Loftus encouraged people to read the various four/five views books, where scholars give various interpretations on biblical and theological issues. I would suggest these are good to read but not for the same reason as Loftus. Loftus argues that these differences in interpretations and opinions are evidence against Christianity. This is what Loftus said, “What is there about ancient documents that can be interpreted in so many different ways by people who think they are divinely inspired? If Christians cannot agree with each other inside the house of faith, how can they possibly expect the textual evidence of the Bible to lead anyone outside the faith to accept the resurrection of Jesus?”
The basic idea is that if the Bible is the inspired word of God, there should be no differences in interpretation. Everyone should just read it and walk away with the exact same theology. It is obvious that many Christian groups have different views. Does this mean there is a problem with the Bible?
This is a rather weak argument. What happens when we use this standard to other areas of study? Are there different interpretations of the data in the areas of biology, astronomy, physics, neuroscience, medicine and so on? There certainly are. Does that mean that these areas are false because if they were true there would be the same interpretation? No. All it means is that human beings are fallible and when we look at data, no matter how true it is, we struggle with how to interpret it.
The problem with differences of opinions among Christians is not that the Bible is wrong but that Christians struggle with how to interpret what is true. It is not a Bible problem, it is a human problem.
- Bible
- Differences of Interpretation
- John Loftus
