Who’s Grading Whom?

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“One day the schoolmarm in the one-room schoolhouse of modernity gave a test to all the kids in her class. The schoolmarm’s name was Mrs. Enlightenment, and one kid was named the Bhagavad Gita, another was the Koran, another was the Book of Mormon, and of course, a test was also given to the best student in the class, the Holy Bible. When the tests were graded and returned, it turned out that the Bhagavad Gita scored a 38, the Koran a 52, the Book of Mormon a 17, and our Scriptures scored an impressive 97.

What does this make us want to do? It makes us want to get to the teacher’s desk pronto and argue for three more points, that’s what. We have fallen for the trap of thinking that inerrancy requires us to be grade nerds — always the best student in the class, but one who cannot abide making a mistake and who will argue with the teacher over every last point. But something is more fun damentally wrong with this picture than that unfair grading process.

The problem is that the Bible never enrolled in that class and never agreed to be tested by Mrs. Enlightenment. The Scriptures do not take these tests; the Scriptures administer tests. The Bible is not that which meets the standard; the Bible is that which sets the standard” (From With Calvin in the Theater of God, pp. 89-90).

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