Biblical Inerrancy?! Is it for real?

Friend,  

What is the Word of God?

There are Christian preachers and believers who declare that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. They quote scriptures from here and there to prove that there are no errors in the Bible. One of the most often quoted scriptures to prove their point is:

Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Psa 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Those who quote such scriptures have seen only the scriptures they like to see. They have not seen the scriptures they don't want to see at all. Such scriptures are inconvenient and uncomfortable to them.

To those who claim that the Bible is inerrant, this is my challenge:

Can you name the sons of Benjamin, the youngest son of the patriarch Jacob? The answer has to be coherent and has to have at least two sets of scriptures.

Please keep your Bible handy while reading this.

I have exercised a lot of lenience while preparing the list of Benjamin in the following table, like, ignoring the places where one’s son is mentioned as grandson or someone’s name is misspelled (see the names of Muppim / Shupham / Shuppim in the table below). I also have shown some lenience while taking the names of Shuppim and Huppim from 1Ch 7:12, though the verse is an orphaned one, containing a couple of names of the sons of Dan (please note that the children of Dan find no explicit mention in 1 Chronicles.) Even then the list of children of Benjamin is standing as a big testimony against those who claim of Biblical inerrancy.

Name of Benjamin’s Son.	Gen 46:21	Num 26:38-40	1Ch 7:6-12	1Ch 8:1, 2
Belah	✔	✔	✔	✔
Becher	✔	✘	✔	✘
Ashbel	✔	✔	✘	✔(as grandson)
Gera	✔	✘	✘	✔(as grandson)
Naaman	✔	✔ (as grandson)	✘	✔(as grandson)
Ehi	✔	✘	✘	✘
Rosh	✔	✘	✘	✘
Muppim / Shupham / Shuppim	✔	✔	✔	✘
Huppim / Hupham	✔	✔	✔	✘
Ard	✔	✔ (as grandson)	✘	✘
Ahiram	✘	✔	✘	✘
Jediael	✘	✘	✔	✘
Aharah	✘	✘	✘	✔
Nohah	✘	✘	✘	✔
Rapha	✘	✘	✘	✔

Wherever it is given “as grandson” it means that person is a son of Belah. If we look into the sons of Belah, it's a bigger mess.

Please don’t tell me that God has permitted these errors to happen. God is not into any such permitting business. These errors are man made, says the Bible (a verse that you won’t like or even try to explain away.)

Jer 8:8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. (KJV)

Couldn’t get it? Read it from ESV:

Jer 8:8 "How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.

Jer 8:8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely. (ASV)

God is not the author of confusion, scribes are. You may say that this is trivial issue and doesn't affect doctrines. Who says there are no errors in the scriptures that affect doctrines?

Have you heard of another inconvenient scripture? Be prepared to explain it away!

Jer 7:22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

Jer 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Read it again, if you like:

Jer 7:22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: (ASV)
Jer 7:22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.(ESV)

Read again and again, the LORD did not command any of the burnt offerings or sacrifices. Now, tell me, what happens to all those sacrifices and burnt offerings in the first 5 books of the Bible?

What/Who is the Word of God?

Even you lift up your favorite King James Version and shout full throated that the Bible is the Word of God, it won’t become, because the Word of God is pure (Ps 12:6, 7) and we have seen the glaring errors in the Bible.

Word of God is a person and not a book:

Rev 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

Rev 19:12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

Rev 19:13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

I am sure that it wasn't the Bible that was sitting on the white horse, be it KJV or ESV or any other __V.

I am sure you will not read the following scriptures with “Bible” replacing “word”:

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

It is Jesus Christ that is the Word of God and not the Bible in your hand.

Your brother in Christ,

Tomsan Kattackal