The Bible does not Merely Contain the Word of God

When I was a small buckaroo, my father was a pastor in a liberal denomination. (As a general guideline, be wary of denominations with the word "united" in the name. They tend to have poor theology.) Being raised in the United Methodist Church, it was a challenge for me to attend a Christian school that was operated by Fundamentalists. There were so many things that I did not know about the Bible in my mid-teens despite being a pastor's kid. What was this stuff about the Bible being the Word of God?

Bible and pathway, Unsplash / Aaron Burden

Churches with liberal theology compromise on many biblical teachings, and that seems to start by rejecting the infallibility of Scripture. It has errors but contains the Word of God. So how do they know what to believe? Although my father rejected evolution, he seemed to accept deep time. Liberal theologians compromise on those details as well. When the Bible is a flawed guidebook, it can mean all sorts of things whenever convenient. No wonder much of Christianity is a shambles!

Can you recognize liberal or progressive theology? Do evolution and liberal/progressive theology go hand-in-hand? Well, let me answer this question with an illustration from several decades ago.

In Australia in 1977, the Uniting Church of Australia was formed. This involved the union of three churches: the Congregational Union of Australia, the Methodist Church of Australasia, and the Presbyterian Church of Australia.

I remember my father showing me the wording used to explain the foundation for this union of denominations. And part of that wording stated that the Bible “contains” the Word of God. But does the Bible only “contain” the Word of God?

It would be in your best interests to read the rest. To do so, click on "Does the Bible Just 'Contain' the Word of God?"