Why the Doctrine of Inerrancy Contradicts the Gospels

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Many modern Christians view the Bible as the inspired, inerrant word of God. Is that what its own authors thought? Did the author of Matthew, for example, think the Gospel of Mark was infallible? If so, why did he change it? In this episode we look at the views of the Gospel writers about the inerrancy of other Gospels -- even those also found in the New Testament.

Megan asks Bart:

When someone speaks about the “inspiration” of the bible, what do they mean?

Are there any verses of the Bible that indicate it is inspired?

What, exactly, do we mean when we talk about inerrancy?

Are there ways to think about inspiration apart from inerrancy?

Does someone have to believe in inerrancy in order to be a Christian?

How to believe in inspiration without inerrancy?

Were there church fathers who thought there could be mistakes in the Bible?

What kinds of methods of interpretations developed to explain difficulties in the biblical texts?

Is there any way to know whether the biblical authors themselves believed in the inerrancy of their own works?

Let’s talk about the Gospel writers. How would we go about deciding if they themselves thought the Gospels were inerrant?

Do we have negative evidence about this?

Do you have any examples of these changes?

Are there other ways these stories get explained?

More examples of gospel writers changing accounts?

Do we even need an inspired Bible for Christianity?

What then is the point of the Bible?