[thechat] Mythology was comics

[deke]

On 23 May 2001, at 15:16, Ben Dyer posted a message which said:

>  From the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (http://www.lcms.org)
> The Bible is God's inerrant and infallible Word, in which He reveals His 
> Law and His Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. It is the sole rule and 
> norm for Christian doctrine.

Yes, Missouri Synod says the bible is inerrant, but the *regular* 
lutheran church, the one that is part of the Council of Churches says

http://www.elca.org/dcs/ltf5.html

 How does the Bible help us in moral decision-making? Christians give different answers to this question. Some think of the 
Bible as a kind of moral code book, a complete source of instructions about living. These people often see the Bible as 
"inerrant"--perfect in every detail because it is God's book. They give little or no attention to the human side of Scripture and 
how it is rooted in ancient history. These Christians read the Bible without asking about what lies behind the text or the 
historical situation in which the text originated. Lutherans disagree with this approach to Scripture because it remains on the 
surface level. We draw upon a long tradition of biblical scholarship that takes seriously the original setting and meaning of the 
text.

>  From the Presbyterian Church of America (http://www.pcanet.org)
> The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the only infallible 
> rule of faith and practice.

Yes. And the *regular* presbyterians say otherwise:

http://www.pcusa.org/today/believe/wpb9504.htm
What do Presbyterians believe about the Bible? We believe that through it God speaks to us--that it is inspired. For some, that 
means the Bible is inerrant. For others, it means that even though the Bible is culturally conditioned and not necessarily factual 
or even always true, it breathes with the life of God. In their limited ways, the ancients grasped something of the infinite that we 
need to hear and dialogue with today.

>  From the Church of the Nazerene (http://www.nazarene.org)
> We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we 
> understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine 
> inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all 
> things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained 
> therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.

Right. And the Nazarenes are not part of the Council of Churchs. 
 
> However, yes, these are only Protestant denominations.  Catholics, Mormons, 
> Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. believe beyond just the Bible, but even within 
> many Christian denominations, this is a common belief.

A belief that the bible is inerrant may be fairly *common* but it is 
by no means *universal* among christians. 

> >Where did he return *to*, though?  The Mormons believe that
> >when he disappeared from the middle east, he appeared in
> >upstate New York.
 
> True, but for the record, I disagree with the Mormons belief in the Book of 
> Mormon and the other texts given to John Smith:

Which is my point. Not whose beliefs are right, but which beliefs are
fundamental to christianity. We generally have consensus on the
existance of Jesus of Nazareth, and his death at the hands of
Pontius Pilate; the historical record supports that. We generally
support the notion that there was something special about Jesus
and that he brought us salvation. Beyond that, it's pretty hard to
find anything that *all* christians agree on. We cannot even agree
on how many books there are in the bible!

deke

------------------------
 "The church is near but the road is icy; 
  the bar is far away but I will walk carefully." 
                            -- Russian Proverb