Inspiration: Hard Questions, Honest Answers

By Alden L Thompson

• Is the Bible historically accurate?
• Are there any contradictions in the Bible?
• If we look too closely at the Bible might we find things that will destroy our faith?
• Should I be afraid that some new archeological discovery will prove the Bible wrong?
• How much freedom do I have to interpret the Bible?

Combining history, Scripture, and an understanding of human nature, Dr. Thompson takes on the difficult questions regarding the Bible and inspiration. He goes beyond the question of whether you can trust the Bible to ask whether you can trust yourself as you study.



This unique study of inspiration uses internal evidence from the Bible text, its history, collection, and transmission to look at the way in which God works through prophets and Bible writers. As an experiential lens, he uses the experience of the Seventh-day Adventist community, of which he is a part, and its reception and use of Ellen White as God’s messenger. This provides an example of someone who produced an incredible volume of written material in her lifetime, yet maintained a great humility and understood her own spiritual experience as one of growth.

However, Inspiration: Hard Questions: Honest Answers is not just for Seventh-day Adventists. The lessons, drawn from the experience of one community, have wide applicability as we look at a range of views on biblical interpretation, experience, tradition, and contemporary claims of a prophetic word. All communities of faith would do well to ask the hard questions addressed in this book and to learn from the history and experience of others.



Ultimately, the author is addressing a question that comes to all of us: What is God’s will and how can I know it? Can I be certain? To find the answers we need, Dr. Thompson reminds us “We cannot just know Scripture, we have to know God.

In this Second Revised Edition, you will find a new “bridge” chapter, designed to invite readers outside of the Adventist tradition to join in the conversation, as well as a number of minor updates, and a set of beautiful photographs and drawings inspired by scripture, prepared for this edition by Wanda Thompson. It is not enough to determine how the inspiration of scripture works as a theological tenet or a doctrinal point. Ultimately, for God’s Word in scripture to accomplish its mission, we must each be inspired by it as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Energion Publications
• Release date: Dec 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781631994838

Book preview

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A certain buoyant gratitude marked the acknowledgments in the first edition of Inspiration. And all of that still stands: a genuine gratefulness for family; for teachers, students and colleagues at Walla Walla College (now University); for church and university in Scotland, especially during my doctoral studies (1972-74); and for the faculty and students at Marienhöhe Seminary during the year of our teacher exchange there (1981-82). In short, I don’t want to detract for a moment from the significant contributions of a host of good people who helped shape the original edition.

But I also want to express a more sober kind of gratitude to significant risk takers, first to the Review and Herald Publishing Association which undertook to publish the book in the first place, and second to the administration and board of trustees of Walla Walla University who supported my continued teaching ministry after the book made life difficult for university administrators.

I also want to express a somewhat awkward but grateful thank you to those who responded in genuine horror to the first edition. For a devout Adventist academic to declare the book to be one of the most dangerous books ever published by our denomination is more than remarkable. The clear implication is that we need to talk! It is significant that a group of Adventist scholars would collaborate in a collection of essays responding to Inspiration. Edited by Frank Holbrook and Leo Van Dolson, Issues in Revelation and Inspiration appeared in 1992, just one year after Inspiration was published. For the first time in twenty years the inspiration discussion was out in the open and we all stand to benefit a great deal.

From my perspective, Ellen White expressed a marvelous ideal in counsel to General Conference President, G. I. Butler who was finding it difficult to deal with dissidents in the church in the 1880s, particularly A. T. Jones. Here are her words:

If a brother differs with you on some points of truth, do not stoop to ridicule, do not place him in a false light or misconstrue his words, making sport of them; do not misinterpret his words and wrest them of their true meaning. This is not conscientious argument. Do not present him before others as a heretic, when you have not with him investigated his positions, taking the Scriptures text-by-text in the Spirit of Christ to show him what is truth. You do not yourself really know the evidence he has for his faith, and you cannot clearly define your own position. Take your Bible, and in a kindly spirit weigh every argument that he presents, and show him by the Scripture if he is in error. When you do this without unkind feelings, you will do only that which is your duty and the duty of every minister of Christ (EGW to G. I. Butler, Letter 21, 1888 [October 14], The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials 1:98).

As a result of the ATS essays and dialogue with the authors, I believe I understand their positions much better now. But there is still plenty of work to be done. We don’t have to agree, but we should seek to be gracious with each other. In that respect, I have always stood in awe of one of my seminary professors, Earle Hilgert. Consistently he could field a very bad question and turn it into a masterful answer without ever embarrassing the one who asked it. I covet that gift.

I am also grateful to Henry Neufeld of Energion Publications who has seen possibilities for the book beyond the narrow confines of Adventism. He and his wife Jody have contributed significantly to this edition.

Finally, a grateful thank you to my wife Wanda who has agreed to provide samples of her photo and art work, along with her unique reflections on Scripture and nature, to grace the pages of this 25th anniversary edition of Inspiration: Hard Questions, Honest Answers.

Alden Thompson

Dedicated to J. Paul Grove

You wanted us to hear Matthew and Jeremiah and Habakkuk

and we did.

But there’s more:

– You inspired us to think, believe, and worship.

– You taught us to ask questions and to search for answers.

– You showed us how to live with some questions unanswered until the Lord returns.

And we are grateful.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments iii

Dedication vii

Note on Inspiration in Art and Verse xii

Abbreviations: General Reference Works xiii

Abbreviations: Ellen G. White Publications xiv

Bridge to New Readers 1

Preface 9

Part I: Documents

1SM 21

Intro GC 31

Part II Theory:

The Case for a Practical Approach to Inspiration

1: The Skeptical and the Scared:

the Wistful and the Surprised 41

[See also Appendix A: The Inspiration Issue in Adventist History]

2: A Vision, Fire in the Bones, A Great Idea 49

[See also Appendix B: Revision of the Testimonies for the Church]

3: Canon: Which books Belong in Our Bible? 65

[See also Appendix C: The Meaning of the Word Apocrypha]

4: Manuscripts: What If Something Important Is Missing? 77

5: Translations: Are They Safe? 85

6: Heavenly Message, Earthen Vessel 99

7 God’s Word: Casebook and Codebook 113

8: God’s Law: The One, the Two, the Ten, the Many 129

Excursus A: The Biblical Basis for the Law Pyramid 156

Excursus B: Ellen White’s Commentary on the Nature of Law 162

Part III: Illustrations: The Problems Are the Solutions

The Problems Are the Solutions 167

9: Illustration #1:

Law. Acts 15: Changing Times, Changing Laws 177

10: Illustration #2:

Hymns and Prayers: Prayers of Hatred, Innocence,

and Godforsakenness 183

11: Illustration #3:

Words of the Wise: The Optimist and the Pessimist 187

12: Illustration #4: In the Archives: Research 191

13: Illustration #5:

In the Study: Secretaries, Scribes, Assistants 195

14: Illustration #6: At the Publishers:

Editing and Compiling 199

15: Illustration #7:

Old Testament Parallel Passages: Samuel-Kings and

Chronicles: Same Story, Different Message 211

[See also Appendix D: Old Testament Names for God]

16: Illustration #8: New Testament Parallel Passages:

One Story, Three Lessons 229

17: Illustration #9: Visions: Documentaries or Animations? 239

18: Illustration #10: Inspired Writers Quoting Inspired

Writers: Let the Writers Speak for Themselves 251

19: Illustration #11: Numbers, Genealogies, Dates:

Amram’s Brothers Were Really Prolific 263

[See also Appendix E: I Was to Improve Everything; Appendix F: Approaches to the Exodus]

Part IV: Results

The Christian’s Experience and the Life of the Church

Introduction to Part IV 295

20: Two Ways to Die: The Slippery Slope

or the Rehoboam Principle 299

21: It’s All So Very Plain 315

Summary 325

Appendices

A: The Inspiration Issue in Adventist History (Ch. 1) 335

B: Revision of the Testimonies for the Church (Ch 2) 345

C: The Meaning of the Word Apocrypha (Ch. 3) 349

D: Old Testament Names for God (Ch. 15) 351

E: I Was to Improve Everything:

The Implications for Prophetic Authority 359

F: Approaches to the Exodus 377

G: Disagreement: Fruitful or Destructive?

Significant Ellen White Quotes 381

Bibliography and Indices

An Autobiographical Bibliographical Note 391

Sources Cited 403

Note on Inspiration in Art and Verse

The inspiration of the Bible goes much deeper and is much broader than just historical or even theological information. It is the hope of the author and publisher that you will be inspired yourself by the inspired text and respond in your own unique way.

To help you start this journey of joy, we have included some moments of inspiration in art and verse, prepared by Wanda Thompson. She expresses the inspiring nature of Scripture in drawing, photography, and verse.

Psalm 23:1-4 (NRSV, NCV, NKJV, Adapted) xvi

Drawing: Across a Still Meadow, Liedolo, Italy

Psalm 118:24 (NIV) 20

Drawing: Long Ago, Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland

Isaiah 55:12 (NIV) 40

Photo: The Drive to Drummond Castle, Scotland

Luke 1:78 (CEV) 164

Photo: Ice Sculptures on the Beach at Jökulsárlón, Iceland

Philippians 4:8 (KJV) 294

Drawing: One Mountain Day, Monte Pelmo, Dolomites, Italy

Psalm 57:5 (NRSV) 298

Drawing: Friede Sei mit Dir, Kandersteg, Switzerland

Isaiah 49:13 (NIV) 332

Drawing: Beech Tree, Eddleston, Scotland

ABBREVIATIONS:

General Reference Works

APOT Charles, R. H., editor. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Vol. 1: Apocrypha. Vol. 2: Pseudepigrapha. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1913.

IDB Buttrick, G. A., editor. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 4 vols., plus Supplementary Volume. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1962, 1976.

HBD Achtemeier, Paul, editor. Harper’s Bible Dictionary. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1985.

NBD Douglas, J. D., editor. The New Bible Dictionary. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press; Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Incorporated, 1962, 1982.

NIDCC Douglas, J. D., editor. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. Exeter, England: Paternoster Press; Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1974, 1978.

SDABC Nichol, Francis, D., editor. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, 7 vols. Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1953-1957. Revised edition, 1976-1980.

SDABD Horn, Siegfried, editor. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary. Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1960.

ABBREVIATIONS:

Ellen G. White Publications

CT Counsels to Parents and Teachers

CWE Counsels to Writers and Editors

DA The Desire of Ages

Ed Education

EW Early Writings

GC The Great Controversy

MB Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings

PK Prophets and Kings

PP Patriarchs and Prophets

SG Spiritual Gifts, vols. 1-4

SM Selected Messages, Books 1-3

SP The Spirit of Prophecy, vols. 1-4

ST The Signs of the Times

T Testimonies for the Church, vols. 1-9

TM Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers

Psalm 23:1-4  (NRSV, NCV, NKJV, Adapted)

"The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want. 

He lets me rest in green pastures"

where dandelions and bright grasses grow,

with tiny white flowers too 

and maybe a cheerful weed here and there.

He leads me beside still waters

where only the wind ripples the surface

and perhaps a swan swims by.

He restores my soul

by showing me raindrops 

holding on to a blackberry briar,

often with a sparrow singing nearby.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

that go up past the waterfall to Coire Lagan

or through the puddles along the River Tweed 

on a rainy day.

"Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will not fear evil because he is with me.

His rod and staff comfort me"

by reminding me that the Lord is my shepherd.

A Bridge

To the Reader of the Revised Edition

of Inspiration

In this book, one Christian is speaking to the larger Christian world. The first edition was written by a Seventh-day Adventist for Seventh-day Adventists and was published 25 years ago. But this new edition now addresses serious readers who are not Adventists. This initial chapter is intended as a bridge to this new audience.

First, an explanation of my original intent for the book. Since 1970 I have been teaching undergraduate students at Walla Walla University (formerly Walla Walla College), a Seventh-day Adventist institution of higher learning. Approximately 85 percent of our some 2000 students come from an Adventist background. Among them would be a sprinkling of Adventist agnostics and atheists, those for whom an active faith in God does not make sense. That is an intriguing factor in the history of this particular book, because among Protestants, Adventists occupy a curious no-man’s land between whole-hearted believers and non-believers.

At Bible colleges and on Evangelical university campuses, overt religiosity is everywhere present. By contrast, on secular campuses, faith goes underground. Devout believers attend, to be sure, but overt evidence of their faith is hard to find. Adventist institutions are caught in the middle between those two perspectives. In many ways, the practice of our faith tends to be private, even on our Christian campus. Prayer groups? Yes, but with reluctance, and on a very small scale.

Because of our sectarian, counter-cultural heritage, Adventists have tended to stay to ourselves, though the newer generations of Adventists are much more exploratory. But because of our sectarian impulses, I know we have learned things that can be a blessing on a larger scale – hence this second edition. From the broader Christian cultural perspective, Adventists worship on the wrong day (Saturday) and celebrate – somewhat awkwardly – the prolific writings of our founding mother, Ellen G. White. Adventists accept her as one of God’s non-canonical but inspired messengers like Nathan, Gad, Elijah and Elisha, all of whom were recognized in Scripture as inspired prophets, but who did not contribute to the canon of Scripture itself.

In my classes, then, I deal with those Adventist non-believers who have already decided that neither the Bible nor the writings of Ellen White tell us anything about God. But I also deal with devout students who frequently are surprised by what they find in Scripture, sometimes with devastating results for their walk with God.

I am an incurable pietist, hard-wired for belief, I suspect, but also endowed with an intense curiosity. Imagine Moses at the burning bush, immediately taking off his shoes at God’s command, but eagerly looking for the first opportunity to ask his question: How did you do that? That’s me.

My curiosities, however, don’t come close to the anguish C. S. Lewis described as being typical of his own experience. Believe in God, he declares, "and you will have to face hours when it seems obvious that this material world is the only reality: disbelieve in Him and you must face hours when this material world seems to shout at you that it is not all" (Lewis, Christian Reflections, 41).

But if I am tone-deaf to that oscillation between belief and unbelief as Lewis described it, I do resonate with the tension he describes between the critical and the devotional, a tension that he illustrates with the example of extemporaneous public prayer. With a fixed liturgy, he notes, we know what is coming. But with ex tempore prayer, "we don’t know whether we can mentally join in it until we’ve heard it – it might be phoney or heretical. We are therefore called upon to carry on a critical and a devotional activity at the same moment: two things hardly compatible" (Lewis, Letters, 239).

Because of my natural tendency to believe, I fear that I am too quick to press the critical issues, issues that do not threaten my faith, but which could put more vulnerable people at risk. Still, if you ask, "Why did you write Inspiration? My blunt response is: I got sick and tired of students losing their faith when they found things in their Bible they didn’t think were supposed to be there. So I decided to write a book that highlights those universal principles that never change – the one great principle of love, Jesus’ two great commands, and the ten commandments – as a secure foundation for grappling with those things that do change. In short, everything else in Scripture illustrates and applies the principles outlined in the One, the Two, and the Ten."

But diversity and change in Scripture are among the most challenging topics for devout believers. At a deep, non-volitional level, many of my students believe that if God said it, it really should apply to all people, at all times, and in all places. Is it any wonder that some struggle with faith when we teach them to do exegesis, which, by definition, seeks to interpret Scripture in particular times and places? In short, the idea of universal applicability of all Scripture is constantly being subtly undermined by exegesis, thus putting faith at risk.

I don’t want my students to be fearful of turning the page lest they discover something that might shake their faith. I want them to see all of Scripture and rejoice in what God has done and is doing. And I really believe that is possible. One section of this book is entitled, The Problems Are the Solutions. There I discuss a host of examples, including differences and contradictions that strong supporters of biblical inerrancy typically want to harmonize. But harmonization can easily obscure the author’s point. And that is a great loss. We need to let all the writers speak for themselves. A plurality of voices makes the truth clearer.

I should also comment on the phrase biblical inerrancy. Basically, it simply means that the Bible is without error. In some evangelical circles where the word looms large, it can mean that the Bible is without error of any kind. But many evangelicals interpret it more broadly. Outside of evangelical circles, the idea of inerrancy triggers puzzlement, yawns and shrugs. It all depends on how much authority is seen to be vested in Scripture.

A key argument in the book involves the distinction between codebook and casebook. It was actually a student who blurted out that comparison in class one day. Almost immediately I sensed that he had clearly articulated what I was attempting to do. But that very clarity – distinguishing between that which never changes (codebook) and that which does (casebook) – lies at the heart of the stormy reception which the book has received in some circles. I the Lord do not change, declares Malachi 3:6. So what is this wicked business of Thompson declaring that much of Scripture is like a casebook that does change?

But precisely here is where I hope an Adventist author can be of service to the larger world of biblical scholarship. Our primary communities, you see, encourage us to see certain things, but to hide others. If I were to stand up in a session of the (secular) Society of Biblical Literature and testify to God’s miraculous intervention, I would reap the rich rewards of my foolishness. Similarly, if I were to stand up in a session of the Evangelical Theological Society and announce that I have found contradictions in the Gospels, I would equally reap the rich rewards of my foolishness. But I do want both the devout and the skeptical to see that it is possible to be honest with all of Scripture – and still believe.

In forty-five years of undergraduate teaching, I have discovered some things that help my students and some that don’t. And I continue to work on those things that don’t because I cannot imagine that God would want us to be anything less than honest with all of Scripture. And here is where the role of Ellen White becomes important.

In my earlier book, Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God? published originally by Paternoster Press in the UK (1988), then by Zondervan in the US (1989), and now by Energion (2011), I use no Adventist jargon at all and no quotations from Ellen White. The arguments and examples are strictly biblical. But in Inspiration I use Ellen White to help Adventists see the things in Scripture they didn’t think they were supposed to see. In short, I use her, not as an authority, but for what sociologists of knowledge describe as social support. In different aspects of life, all of us use that same rationale, drawing support from people we know and trust. In connection with Scripture, the rationale goes like this for those who accept Ellen White’s authority: If Ellen White could see what I have seen and still believe, then it must be alright! That was and is my line of thinking. Clark Pinnock, who, in his later years, departed from inerrancy – and from the Evangelical Theological Society – hinted at the same idea when he reviewed Inspiration for the independent Adventist journal Spectrum. One phrase was revealing: I almost envy him the prophet, he said, lamenting the fact that he had no one with comparable clout to help evangelicals see what he thought they should see in Scripture.

When explaining some of the obvious flaws in our Bibles, evangelicals typically declare that if we had the original autographs of Scripture – the documents which the author’s themselves wrote – we would discover that they are without error – a safe enough claim, because we have yet to come any closer than some 75 years to an autograph of a New Testament document. But how does that help harmonize, for example, the differing order between Jesus’ three great temptations as described in Matthew 4 and Luke 4? Would the autographs tell us which one is right? If so, would it mean that the other one is wrong? That’s not something I would want to say about Scripture. Furthermore, why should the Holy Spirit be so concerned with precision at the level of the autographs, but then abandon that concern once the documents are written?

If, however, we can see non-canonical inspiration operating in the experience of Ellen White, then we can claim all of her original manuscripts as the result of inspiration. And those autographs have been saved and are available to researchers. In successive editions we can see her modifying her narratives over time and can document the modifications from the autographs. All writers make modifications like that. Why not inspired ones? But only in one modest appendix (E) do I share any of that material in this book. For those who want further evidence, see my Escape from the Flames: How Ellen White grew from fear to joy and helped me do it too (Pacific Press, 2005).

Can we not see Scripture in the same way as we would a letter from a dear friend? That is such an instructive model for me. Letters give us reliable, trustworthy information from good people. And we do not insist that they give us absolutely correct information. In that connection we can cite 1 Corinthians 1 as a powerful biblical example of that very point. Here Paul exclaimed that he was glad he didn’t baptize any of the Corinthians because he didn’t want anyone to claim that they were baptized in his name. But then his memory began to improve – O yes, there was Crispus and Gaius! More improvement – also the household of Stephanas! Finally, with yet more improvement, the resigned admission of an erratic memory – maybe there were others, too; I just can’t remember!

Does this meandering treatment of the facts undermine Paul’s authority? Certainly not for me, since my (unofficial) ADD impulses often lead me down the same garden path. His very mistakes bond him to me as a true blood brother! And his point is still quite clear.

In conclusion, I want to refer to some remarkable correspondence with Meera Gargi, a devout Hindu convert to Christianity (but not an Adventist) who somehow discovered Inspiration even though she was living in India. She became an enthusiastic supporter of the book until her death at age 82 in 2007. Holding a PhD degree in economics, she maintained a remarkable network of contacts within the Christian community in India. Her comments reinforce my convictions that Adventists have a significant contribution to make, especially in the area of inspiration. Shortly before she died, I had sent her copies of Escape from the Flames and Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God? In just the few weeks before her death, she had shared Who’s Afraid? with eight evangelical pastors, the same ones with whom she had shared Inspiration.

One of the pastors who had read Inspiration, wrote these appreciative words to Meera with reference to issues connected with inerrancy: Such questions plagued me for years and I even thought of quitting the ministry since I did not want to teach something I myself did not believe. Thanks to the book on inspiration by Dr. Thompson, my faith is now really mature. I have become a more honest preacher. . . . , a more intellectually honest Christian. She described her own convictions as follows: If only the outlook advocated in your books was more common, there would be fewer cases of Christians abandoning the faith because of certain problems in the Bible. Also, fundamentalism would be less of a problem in the church and Christians would be more tolerant towards other versions of Christianity and towards other religions.

Finally, how does this edition differ from the original? Very little, actually, but some small changes are important. In the title for the chapter addressing the codebook/casebook issue, for example, I have substituted and for or yielding this title: "God’s Word: Codebook and Casebook." I made it quite clear in the chapter that some aspects of Scripture are more like a codebook, namely, the One, the Two, and the Ten, but the rest is more like a casebook. The revised title simply makes it clear that Scripture is both codebook and casebook. The conclusion is the same; the new title simply is less provocative.

One significant addition consists of the reflections on Scripture and nature by my wife Wanda, inserted throughout the book. She is an artist and photographer, and more recently a wordsmith. Her work illustrates how Scripture can inspire human beings to discover God in both Scripture and nature. In my ministry she has helped me in a host of ways. I am delighted that the publisher has agreed to include some of her artistry in this book.

As for the biblical material, my treatment remains essentially unchanged. But being honest with Scripture is not nearly as difficult as knowing how to share the Bible in ways that will build faith. That is a challenge we must all continue to explore.

I mentioned at the beginning that this book is intended for the serious reader. One of my colleagues tells me that too many examples have made the book troublesome for some. I remain mostly unrepentant, however, because I want to see a paradigm shift. For that purpose, the more examples the better! But having said that, I also want us to catch the full import of Jesus’ simplification of his message: In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12, NRSV).

Jesus was on to something. His succinct summary is not based on facts, but on relationship. Only the call to relationship can unite the church. A primary focus on information will always divide abstract thinkers from concrete thinkers. Yet even with Jesus’ focus on the relational, I have concluded that his simple one-line command is actually the most difficult one for any of us to obey.

But if I am a follower of Jesus I have no right to impose my agenda in such a way that it would lead any of God’s children away from him, whether they are simple or sophisticated. Some books are for serious readers and this is one of them. But serious readers can help produce other books for ordinary people, for those who don’t read and for those who can’t but who can hear the word of God when it is read to them. In the end, we need something like a turn-key operation for Scripture. I know very little about auto mechanics, for example, so I want a simple turn-key operation to make the car do what I want it to do. But if that is going to happen, a host of experts must invest untold time, energy, and expertise to make sure that everything under the hood is operating as it should.

By God’s grace, the Bible can become a simple/complex operation like that for today. Let us keep praying that God will point us in that direction.

Preface

If I hadn’t taken the inspiration class from Professor Grove last summer at campmeeting, said a church elder, I probably would be with the dissidents right now.

Another member said, If only you could have come six months earlier, maybe our church wouldn’t have been torn apart.

Those voices from February, 1980s, still ring in my ears. In a sense this book is a response to them. Questions over inspiration, the role of Ellen White in the church, and the authority of Scripture were taking their toll. One of the local conferences in the North Pacific Union of SDA had asked the Walla Walla College School of Theology for emergency assistance in a couple of key churches. We spent several week-ends holding seminars and discussions. Some of the material presented in this book I gave at that time. Given the crisis in the church, the members were ready to listen. But crises pass. The church goes to sleep again. Then we are ripe for another crisis.

Why must we wait? And do we not see the continuing trickle of crises over the inspiration issue? We can and should do something about it. But it is not an easy topic to present. I remember another vivid scene, this time from one of my classes. A student obviously was troubled by what he had discovered as he worked through one of my assignments. When I talked with him, I asked if our earlier discussion in class had helped any.

Oh my, came the quick response. If we hadn’t discussed it first in class, I might have gone out and shot myself. He wasn’t joking.

The troublesome assignment that triggered his agitation read: Compare the two biblical versions of the story of David’s census (2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21), making note of any differences in the two accounts.

I had sensed that this class was experiencing more than the usual difficulties with the assignment. So I had distributed half-sheet evaluation forms asking for anonymous feedback. I needed to know how the students felt in their heart of hearts if I was going to help them.

This one student in particular had caught my attention. Even though the class was large and the forms anonymous, I had already put two and two together (some vivid comments in class and an urgent scrawl on an evaluation form). After class I asked him if we could talk. He was more than ready.

I discovered that he had done the assignment with a thoroughness that uncovered more differences than I had intended – or even realized existed. I had wanted the students to evaluate for themselves the initial verses of the two accounts of David’s census. Both versions pass judgment on David for numbering the people. But the author of Samuel says that God made David do it, whereas the Chronicler lays the blame on Satan. (See discussion in Chapter 15.) If the students could discover the facts ahead of time, discussion of the why would make more sense.

That experience in class, however, raises three crucial questions. First, why do these differences that are so obvious in Scripture elicit such a strong reaction? Second, why would a teacher direct attention to them? Third, why did God allow these differences in the first place? Bluntly put, this book suggests answers to those questions. Observation has led me to conclude that many Bible-believing Christians suffer from a nagging fear that someone might come up with that one damaging piece of evidence, that one compelling argument, that could destroy the authority of God’s Word. But if, as Ellen White observed, the Lord gave His word in just the way He wanted it to come (1SM 21), we don’t need to be afraid of what we or anyone else might find in Scripture. Hard searching and many tears may follow, but God has a purpose and plan that He wants us to know.

As I have followed the debates over inspiration both inside the church and out, I have concluded that we have been held captive by the shadowy ghost of the eighteenth century Enlightenment. In that optimistic era, divine revelation was pulled from the throne and human reason crowned king in its place. The Encyclopedia was born, an appropriate symbol for a movement that sought to master the world through human knowledge and understanding. The powerful influence of the Enlightenment on Western culture has lured Christians into the fray in a such a way as to muffle the Bible’s own voice. Thus, instead of letting the Bible speak for itself, we have attempted to do battle at a theoretical level that does not reflect the practical and experiential concerns of Scripture itself. When the divine origin of Scripture has been attacked on the basis of philosophical arguments and scientific proofs, devout defenders have responded in kind, citing proofs from archaeology and science. Even proofs from prophecy have been buttressed with probability statistics.

But does our experience with God and His Word require such proof? Why must the true nature of Scripture be obscured by alien questions? I believe the time has come for us to break out of our Enlightenment prison and to shift the focus from a theoretical perspective to a practical one, one that takes seriously our experience with God, with each other, and with Scripture. To be sure, even a practical approach necessitates a theoretical framework, as I seek to establish in Part II of this book. But the focus throughout is on the practical dimension of Christian experience.

This book reflects a great deal of my own experience. In one sense, it is the easiest book in the world for me to write, for it describes a great joy, namely, how I overcame my fear that the authority of God’s Word might collapse if I examined Scripture too closely. Now that the fear is gone, God’s Word is like a precious letter from a friend – except that it is much more powerful than any letter I have ever received from a mere mortal. In the words of Hebrews 4:12, I have discovered that the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword (KJV). And I am eager to share my enthusiasm for the Word.

In another sense, however, this kind of writing is very difficult, for I realize how volatile the topics of revelation and inspiration can be. I continue to be sobered by the experience of that student who told me that one of my assignments could have cost him his life.

Nevertheless, what that student told me about his background helped me understand the intensity of his reaction. Having grown up in a home with an atheist ex-Catholic father and a Bible-believing Baptist mother, he was a relatively new Adventist struggling with the breakup of his own marriage. He recalled that day when he had come home from high school and announced to his mother that he no longer believed in Creation but had become an evolutionist. She grabbed her umbrella, he said, and did she ever teach me to believe the Bible!

Although the following chapters will examine many aspects of revelation and inspiration, the parallel accounts in Scripture are perhaps most helpful in revealing how God actually has sent us His book. When Ellen White wrote that the Lord gave His word in just the way He wanted it to come, she was speaking about the differences in parallel accounts (1SM, p. 21).

It seems to me that we face one of two basic choices. Either God planted these differences in Scripture as some final test to see if we can believe in spite of what we see on its pages, or He allowed the writers of Scripture to incorporate these differences as a means of expressing their own experience in the things of God, thus enriching our lives through what we read on its pages.

Although we must sometimes simply overlook the traces of humanity we find in the Bible, in this book I will argue for the second view: The differences are helpful, and we can be blessed because of them, not in spite of them. In the words of Ellen White, God gave His word through different writers, each having his own individuality, though going over the same history (1SM, p. 21).

Ellen White’s view of inspiration enabled her to say that there is not always perfect order or apparent unity in the Scriptures (1SM, p. 20). And she was actually speaking of Scripture when she said, Everything that is human is imperfect (1SM, p. 20).

Citing Ellen White in conjunction with the topic of inspiration raises significant issues which we also need to address as Seventh-day Adventists. Because of the variety of ways that her writings can influence our discussion, the specific role assigned her writings here requires a rather explicit explanation.

In discussions with Adventists, Evangelical Christians have tended to see her role as problematic. They ask: Is her authority equal with that of Scripture? In response to an extensive dialogue with Evangelicals, Questions on Doctrine (1957) sought to clarify and defend Ellen White’s prophetic gift. Earlier, W. H. Branson’s In Defense of the Faith (1933) responded to similar questions posed by ex-Adventist critic, D. M. Canright, as did F. D. Nichol in Answers to Objections (1952).

In the present volume, I do not attempt to defend Ellen White. Nor do I systematically cite parallels from her writings to illustrate or defend what I find in Scripture. Such an approach, while potentially interesting and helpful, would add inappropriately to the complexity and bulk of this book.

I do propose, however, that we pay particular attention to her explicit comments on inspiration in the Introduction to The Great Controversy (1911), pp. v-xii, and Selected