Survey of the Belief of biblical inerrancy in the U.S.:
On 2007-MAY-25, Gallup reported the results of a national poll on Biblical inerrancy. Those polled were asked which of three statements comes closest to describing their personal views about the Bible. The average of polls taken during MAY of 2005, 2006 and 2007 were:
- 31% believe that “The Bible is the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word.” This would imply acceptance of biblical inerrancy.
- 47% believe that “The Bible is the inspired word of God, but not everything in it should be taken literally.”
- 19% believe that “The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man.”
- 3% were uncertain or didn’t answer.
- Margin of error was ±3 percentage points. 3
An identical poll taken during 2011-MAY showed little change:
- 30% believe that “The Bible is the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word.”
- 49% believe that “The Bible is the inspired word of God, but not everything in it should be taken literally.”
- 17% believe that “The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man.”
- 4% were uncertain or didn’t answer. 4
Formal education can have a devastating effect on a person’s belief in inerrancy. 46% of persons with high school education or less believe that the Bible should be interpreted literally. This dropped to 22% for persons with some college education, and to 15% among college graduates.
Topics dealing with inerrancy in this section, provided by Religious Tolerance:
Most of the following essays deal with inerrancy from a Christian perspective
 |
A brief overview; quotations; historical impacts of belief in inerrancy | ||||||||
|
A more detailed introduction to inerrancy |
||||||||
|
What is the impact of biblical inerrancy, authority, etc. on North American culture? |
||||||||
|
More material on biblical inerrancy:
|
||||||||
|
Why belief in inerrancy can be hazardous to one’s faith. Problems with inerrancy: Part 1 Part 2 | ||||||||
|
An analysis of apparent errors and inconsistencies in Jesus conception and birth | ||||||||
|
Biblical inerrancy: beliefs, references:
|
||||||||
|
Is inerrancy important?: Arguments yes and no |
|
What the Bible says about its own inerrancy | ||||||||
|
Inerrancy, as interpreted by:
|
||||||||
|
Why we cannot prove biblical inerrancy or errancy | ||||||||
| * Theories of Inspiration By M. James Sawyer (PDF Version) | |||||||||
|
Twelve tests of biblical inerrancy/errancy:
|
||||||||
|
Did the Holy Spirit inspire the authors of the Bible? | ||||||||
|
Books on biblical errancy, inerrancy, reliability, etc.
Defining theopneustos
|
The Role Of Men In The Making Of Scripture (As according to Jason)
What role did men play in the making of Scripture? Is Scripture a Divine production, or a human production? The answer is that Scripture is both a Divine production and a human production.
It seems to be the idea of some that the Divine inspiration of Scriptures means that God somehow overrode the personalities and wills of the men He used when He gave Scripture to us. Is this so? I think not, and it seems to me that the Scriptures disagree with that assessment as well.
So it was with the men God used in the making of the Scriptures.
God-Breathed + Man Written = God’s Inerrant Word
That’s a bit of a surprise, isn’t it? After all, we are often presented with something similar to the following:
Men make mistakes.
Men wrote the Bible.
Therefore the Bible has mistakes in it.
