I published a review of Christian Smith's book, "The Bible Made Impossible" and the author himself has chosen to attack my review:

Here is my review:

This review is not a comprehensive review, of which there are many, but will focus on two items of weakness in the book, weaknesses, that, in my opinion, undermine the rest of the book.


The first weakness is the straw man which Doctor Smith sets up for himself and labels 'Biblicism'. It is always a straw man when you define your opponents, but it is doubly a straw man when you do so with a list of ten items which they believe... a list written by you.


Doctor Smith offers us such a list. On page 4 he lists ten things that make up, in his opinion, 'Biblicism'. Now, the interesting thing is, taken literally, Doctor Smith now has no opponent. I doubt there is one person on the face of the planet who, reading that list, would say, "Yes, that is what I believe." I myself am a radical of probably the exact type that Doctor Smith hopes to oppose, and yet I would not claim to believe even one of his ten points as he wrote them.


He himself lists dozens of authors and slogan writers and, again, I doubt that even one of them would agree to all ten of his points, and most would probably object to the wording of all of them.


If Doctor Smith had truly intended to engage real opponents instead of straw ones, the task would have been easy. He could have quoted the London Baptist Confession, the Westminster Confession, the Chicago Statement on Biblical inerrancy or any of a dozen other confessions and took them on point by point. Instead he decided to create his own list, a list that defines no one.


The second great difficulty with this book is that its founding thesis is, in a word, false. He proposes a theory, which he entitles Pervasive Interpretive Pluralism, which is self-evidently untrue. He states it on page x as, "Even among presumably well-intentioned readers-- including many evangelical Biblicists-- the Bible, after their very best efforts to understand it, says and teaches very different things about most significant topics." implying that, if the Scriptures were truly inerrant, sufficient, and the like; this could not be.


If he had studied the works of prominent Biblicists, such as the apostle Paul, Calvin, RC Sproul and the like, he would have understood just how this assumption is categorically false. He would have understood how it is that an inspired, inerrant word could still manage to 'say and teach' different things about significant topics. In a word, "sin". You see, the Scriptures teach, and Godly Biblicists throughout the ages have always taught, that the perfection of our understanding God's Word is marred, not by the work of the author, not by the perfection of the result, nor by any imperfection in the Holy Spirit; but by the stubborn and pervasive sin of 100% of the hearers.


You see there are no 'well-intentioned' readers, and there is no one who uses his 'best efforts' to understand the Scripture. We may use those words, in a light way, to describe ourselves and others, but we must never ignore that the heart of man is desperately wicked. Even redeemed men sin, and sin grievously. One of those sins is to deliberately misunderstand the Scriptures; another is to do so ignorantly... either due to our own laziness of not studying, or a lifestyle of other sins that blocks our ability (and desire) to understand what Scripture so plainly says.


So there is, actually, nothing at all confusing or contradictory about having an inerrant, sufficient Scripture and a church which preaches a hundred contradictory things. It's called 'sin'.


2Pe 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.


2Pe 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2Pe 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 2Pe 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

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