mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (10/06/84)
[Byron:] > Why is it that most fundamentalist CHristians claim the NT as authority > by the direct word of G*d? [and] > ... I do find the often-stated assumption of Biblical inerrancy to be > extremely suspect. Fundamentalism, like most pre-20th-century sects and religious movements in America, arose from a people who were completely cut off from their religious roots, with the sole exception of their King James Bible. Now it is amazing the amount of misinformation that persists about the KJV; there still are a lot of people who are simply unaware that there is something else to the Bible other than the KJV. Since the Apocgrapha (pardon my spelling) and the notes are omitted from every modern printing I am aware of, its theological background is largely unknown as well. WHat the fundamentalists did was create a new framework based upon the the inerrancy of the only theological document they had. Now, a reading of the KJV discloses a number of places where the text contradicts itself, and there are numerous mistakes. For instance, John 5:39 should actualy begin "YOU study the scriptures...". It is simply out of ignorance that fundamentalism condemns as modern heresy things which are actually quite ancient church tradition. C Wingate