Stopping to Think

                                                                           Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash    Introduction Inerrancy is the belief that the Bible is entirely inspired by God, such that each and every word proceeds from his mouth and is as truthful as God himself is truthful. ‘While the technical term inerrancy is of recent origin, the conviction that the Bible is “without error” is not.’ So state Greg Boyd and Paul Eddy in their essay on inerrancy in Across the Spectrum. The argument of this paper will be that such a view is not of recent origin because the Scriptures themselves teach that they are without error. And as Wayne Grudem writes, “ to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. ” To put it prov...

"Words of reassurance, offered or withheld, are monumental in a child's growth." Douglas Wilson Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. 

Over the past year, I spent a large amount of time thinking over the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Part of this is due to the fact that I simply love this piece of Wisdom Literature. But I'm also making my second pass through teaching it, which forces me beyond simple mulling and pondering, into actual grappling with each passage as I go. Two verses that I find fascinating upon every return are verses 21 and 22 of the seventh chapter: Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. (ESV)  The first sentence seems like a very obvious bit of advice that one might pick up anywhere in the world, perhaps even on Pinterest or Facebook. Don't take everything to heart, or you'll hear your servant cursing you. Don't absorb all that's said, because sometimes people say things that aren't all that swell. However, our line of reasoning to follow that up ...