The idea that the Bible is completely without error in everything it says.

Whether it speaks of geographical, historical or theological details, it is completely trustworthy.

Now some folks have a problem with the idea of the Bible's inerrancy.

They think they've spotted errors in scripture and very often it's because they've not

understood some important common sense clarifications of what an error actually is.

Firstly, it's not an error if it's not in the original documents.

Especially where numbers are concerned, there are some errors in every Hebrew and Greek copy of the Bible.

Unlike the original writers of scripture, the copyists weren't guided into all truth by the Holy

Spirit.

Copy out the 40 chapters of Exodus, and chances are you'll have introduced one or two

errors into the text.

Hopefully it wouldn't be a major blunder, like the 1631 edition of the King James Bible that commanded

its readers, thou shalt commit adultery.

Thankfully, comparing the truly vast number of surviving copies of scripture enabled textual critics to reconstruct

with tremendous accuracy what the original document said before they were copied. Inerrancy relates to what the biblical authors actually wrote,

and we're able to discern what that was, even though all we have are copies of what they wrote.

Second, it's not an error if we misunderstand the author's intention. When you open up a newspaper you'll see many

different kinds of writing.

Appearing alongside factual reports of world events, there may be celebrity gossip, infographics, stock

market gains and losses, football statistics, book reviews, cartoons and weather forecasts.

Now instinctively few of us read a cartoon in the same way we read a war correspondent.

In the same way, biblical authors write in a number of different genres and they expect

...