Dear Jeff,

Ah, the age-old question: is the Bible infallible, or are we supposed to read it like the complex, ancient, human-authored text that it is?

If you grew up in certain church circles, you were probably taught that the Bible is the divine equivalent of a perfect IKEA manual – straight from God, inerrant, and clear as day (assuming you squint hard enough and don’t ask too many questions).

But here’s the problem: it’s not.

And that’s not just me saying it; that’s what some of the best biblical scholars of our time have demonstrated through mountains of research. The idea of biblical inerrancy? That is a relatively modern concept, not some divine decree that’s always been understood by the faithful.

The Bible is not one single, unified book; rather, it is a collection of writings by different authors with different agendas, written in different times and places, and (brace yourself) with contradictions all over the place. If it were inerrant, it’d be the most inconsistently inerrant book in history.

I mean:

- The Gospels can’t even agree on Jesus’ last words.

- Paul (who never met Jesus) and James (his actual brother) disagree on faith versus works.

- The Old Testament presents radically different depictions of God, ranging from smiting people left and right to telling us to care for the orphan and the widow.

Now, that doesn’t make the Bible worthless. It just makes it real.

It’s a human record of people trying to understand the divine, but it's not a direct line from heaven. And the moment we start treating it like some flawless, divinely dictated instruction manual, we end up justifying all kinds of harmful nonsense – slavery, misogyny, genocide – because, well, it’s in the Bible.

So, is the Bible infallible? Nope.

But here's the thing: that’s not the point.

The Bible isn’t supposed to be a rulebook – it’s more like a conversation. It’s people, across centuries, wrestling with who God is and how to live in response. And if we’re doing it right, we should be continuing that conversation, not shutting it down with claims of inerrancy.

So, maybe the better question isn’t “Is the Bible infallible?” but “How can we read it in a way that leads to love, justice, and wisdom instead of fear, exclusion, and control?”

Because if the Bible isn’t leading us toward love, we’re reading it wrong.

~ Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin