To Be Continued: The Bible and Sophism

The Bible didn’t mean it like that…

Picture this situation: you’re debating a moral issue found in the Bible, and the other person says, “Well, the Bible didn’t really mean it that way.” Or, maybe you’ve heard something like, “The Bible is old, and humanity has changed, so we need to make adaptations.”

The Bible has been under attack for millennia, both from those outside and inside the church. For today’s installment of the To Be Continued series, I need to address these concerns. In my Fall post, Objections To The Bible, I explained why I believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God. However, you can believe the Bible is the word of God and still be misled.

That said, I wanna clear up a few issues. First off…

What is sophism?

The New Oxford Dictionary defines the word as, “A fallacious argument, especially one used deliberately to deceive.”

Poet and hymnist William Cowper said, “As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone, and hides the ruin that it feeds upon, so sophistry, cleaves close to, and protects sin’s rotten trunk, concealing its defects.” In case those words make zero sense to you, here’s what sophism does: it allows humans to hide our sins by pretending we’re more righteous than we are.

In Fall, I covered various fallacies (mistaken or unsound arguments) relating to Christianity and the Bible. Sophism is taking that one step further; not only are arguments based in sophism filled with fallacies, but they’re deliberate fallacies. Sophistic arguments are used to intentionally deceive people. One such method is the concept of twisting scripture.

Twisting Scripture

You probably know this, but there are countless translations of the Bible. See, there aren’t always exact Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic words that translate perfectly into the English language. Some translations try and preserve the Bible word for word, some attempt to capture the heart of the message, and some are just plain wrong.

This is why I’ve done my best to include not just the verses I reference, but the translations as well. Just saying, some translations are closer to what God intended. You’re probably all familiar with the New International Version (NIV) translation of John 3:16…

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

But you’re probably not so familiar with the Hawaiin Pidgin version, which goes something like…

“God get plenny love an aloha fo da peopo inside da world. Dass why he sen me, his one an ony Boy. Cuz a dat, erybody dat trus me no goin get cut off from God foeva! Dey goin get da real kine life dat goin stay to da max foeva!”

Now to most of us, this is a sillier example, but it does illustrate my point. When you read a book, blog post, or article, please be wary of those who twist scripture to suit their desires. Look out for references to errant translations or cherry-picked verses that suit their point.

The best way to fight sophism and false arguments is to read the actual Bible. Not just that, but read it canonically (front to back and in order). When someone references a verse, read the verses around it, the chapters around it, and the books around it. I would never open a book, read one sentence, and expect to know what’s happening. Why should we do that with the Bible?

To understand false arguments we must first know the truth.

Did God really say…

One of the most common sophisms is Did God really say? The devil used it at the very beginning of the Bible, and it worked. Here’s the deal: if God says something, it’s the truth. Period.

Numbers 23:19 (NIV) says, “God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” This passage says that God can neither lie nor contradict Himself. There is no fault in God, only in us.

I’ve heard it said that the Bible behaves like a mirror – it reflects our innermost desires. It’s why you should never answer an important question by “randomly opening the Bible and seeing what it says”. The Bible is not some magic 8-ball that will unpredictably give us answers. It’s not just about the words – it’s about the message behind the words. Don’t twist scripture in this way.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT) says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” God wrote the entire Bible, and by trying to alter or change a small part of it, you undermine the whole. Plus you call God a liar.

The Law of Non-Contradiction.

Sophisms and the twisting of scripture take many forms. When someone cites scripture to emphasize a point (like I often do), ask yourself whether that person has any reason to lie. Would tweaking a verse benefit them in any way?

For centuries humans have tried to make the Bible say things it didn’t say, or approve of things it didn’t approve of. This is a major problem because it violates the Law of Non-Contradiction. The Bible is either all true (2 Timothy 3:16), or all false; there can’t be a middle ground. Any time we try and twist scripture or say it’s not relevant, we’re twisting the very nature of God. And God cannot lie or reason unjustly, because His mind determines reason.

WARNING

God has always known that humans would twist His words for their own gain. That’s why He put an often-overlooked warning at the very end of the Bible, found in Revelation 22:18-19 (NIV)…

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”

So if you’d like to experience all the plagues simultaneously, be my guest and modify scripture.

Now that I’ve covered some of what we’re up against, you’re probably wondering, Yeah, but how do I recognize when someone is twisting scripture or presenting a false argument? It’s simple. Joshua 1:8 (NLT) declares, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”

You can only detect lies by first knowing the truth.

Be Prepared.

1 Peter 5:8 (NLT) says, “Watch out, for your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” The devil is a being of endless tricks and illusions. If I tried to extinguish every fire he placed in my path, I would go nowhere.

Sorry to say, we can’t beat the devil by continually studying every lie he puts before us. My pastor once said that lies are like counterfeit money. There will always be more fakes, and you’ll never succeed in catching counterfeits if that’s all you’re looking for. If you want to catch the fakes, you must know beyond a shadow of a doubt what the real bill looks like.

The same applies to scripture. There will always be people out there messing with scripture and presenting sophistic arguments and fallacies. No one on earth can study these arguments well enough – there are too many of them. That’s why we have apologists. Apologists don’t just study lies, they study and meditate on the truth. John 8:32 (NIV) says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Today’s takeaway is this: if you want to know the truth, study the truth. If you want to be ready when lies pop up in your face or when your silent that feels off alarm buzzes, study the truth. You can’t learn the truth from studying lies – you can only learn the truth from studying the truth: God’s Holy Bible. There are no errors in His word, and it remains perfectly relevant today. Don’t try to change it.

As Jesus said in John 14:6 (NLT)…

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”