First of all, all orthodox Christianity is based upon the doctrine that the Bible is the supernaturally inspired, infallible word of God. Upon this Bible as the sole authority, every doctrine, creed, dogma and ecclesiastical practice is based. Take away this doctrine of Biblical infallibility, and orthodoxy crumbles to dust. As long as it is held to be infallible truth, every creed in Christendom can find abundant material in it to prove every point it claims. Every one knows that among the many Christian denominations which fully agree with each other the Bible is an infallible revelation from God; yet the doctrines and conclusions they deduce from it are as diametrically opposed to each other as midnight and noon.
As I have already said, I never had any doubt, up to this time, of the divine inspiration and infallibility of the Bible, except a very slight one about the method of inspiration, which I have already detailed of my student days. As a Methodist I had become fairly proficient in my ability to defend every detail of my church doctrine. I could repeat almost every passage of scripture from Genesis to Revelation in support of each of the Twenty-five Articles. My only trouble was when I would occasionally run across some sceptic who would question my authority,—the Bible. Of course I would tell him the Bible was the word of God; and he would demand proof, "detailed facts," in support of my assertion. While perfectly satisfied in my own mind, these "detailed facts" were not in my possession. But now I was going to get them.
In the last year of my conference course of study, one of the books prescribed was "Harman's Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures." Dr. Harman was Professor of Greek and Hebrew in Dickinson College. I was told that in this book I would find "completely detailed, uncontrovertible proofs of the divine authenticity, inspiration, and infallible truth of the Bible." This was just what I had long been looking for, and just how I found it will soon appear.
APPROACHING THE CRISIS
The first one-third of this book of 770 pages is devoted to proving the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, its inspiration and infallible truth. On the subject of inspiration generally the author follows the ideal rather than the verbal theory. His theory of the necessity of inspiration is based upon the idea that the Bible contains records that could not otherwise have been known at the time they were written; for example, the account of Creation "must have been divinely revealed to Moses, as he could not otherwise have known it." The extent of inspiration he limits to those matters that were "not otherwise known" to the writers. Things of which they had personal knowledge were therefore not the subjects of inspiration. For example, the advice of Jethro, concerning the division in the burdens of the government, was not inspired, because Moses got it directly from the mouth of Jethro himself. Nevertheless the author was "divinely guided" in writing of matters of his personal knowledge, in order that the "sacred record" might be preserved from error. As to the proofs of inspiration, I quote verbatim: "The inspiration of the Bible is evident from its sublime doctrines concerning God, the purity of its moral precepts, and from the wonderful fulfillment of its prophecies." When I read this I confess I felt a little disappointed. I had understood this before. I wanted something more specific, material, tangible.
Then follows a lengthy treatise on the Hebrew language, the original characters in which the Pentateuch was written, without vowels or punctuation marks; how it was preserved by copying from generation to generation; how errors crept into various copies; an account of the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Septuagint; how these all differ the one from the other in many details; of the ancient manuscripts that are still extant, and how these all differ more or less from each other,—not in anything fundamental, but in many minor details; and finally winds up with the statement that "the original text is uncertain"!
This was all new to me. I had naturally supposed that not only the original text was divinely inspired and infallibly correct, but that by some sort of divine supervision, it had been so preserved and kept down thru the ages. And now I was not only disappointed, but alarmed. I wondered what would come next. And I soon learned.
Before this I had never discovered, nor had any one pointed them out to me, the many discrepancies and contradictions in the early Biblical records,—the two stories of creation, the two accounts of the flood that are so intricately woven together, the changes in the law in Deuteronomy from those in Exodus and Leviticus; and others. My simple, blind faith had completely obscured all these until now. It is true the author pointed them out only to explain or reconcile them. But in practically every instance, the explanation failed to explain, or reconcile, and was only an apology or an excuse; and I was left with a clear vision of the discrepancy, and with no adequate explanation. The differences between some parts of the law, as recorded in Deuteronomy and in the earlier books, was explained as a "progressive development according to the changing conditions and needs of the Hebrews." From a purely human viewpoint, I considered this explanation satisfactory. But from that of "divine revelation," I wondered why God did not reveal it correctly at the first; or why he found it necessary to change his own law.
Concerning the ritual law of the tabernacle and the priesthood, the author confesses that, in all probability, Moses was educated at Heliopolis, in Egypt, for the Egyptian priesthood, and was therefore perfectly familiar with all the priestly regulations of the religion of Egypt; and that the tabernacle service, its priesthood, their dress, sacred utensils, etc., were doubtless all patterned after Egyptian models, but devoted to Jehovah instead of the gods of Egypt; and he cites this as a proof of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.
And in support of this view, he quotes the opinion of the Abbé Victor Ancessi! And I had always been taught that the tabernacle, the priesthood, and all that pertained to both, were divinely revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai! "According to the pattern shown thee in the mount."