2. Since God is a Spirit, there is no final authority that can be seen, heard, read, felt, or handled.

3. Since all books are material, there is no book on this earth that is the final and absolute authority on what is right and what is wrong, what constitutes truth and what constitutes error.

4. There WAS a series of writings one time which, IF they had all been put into a BOOK as soon as they were written the first time, WOULD HAVE constituted an infallible and final authority by which to judge truth and error.

5. However, this series of writings was lost, and the God who inspired them was unable to preserve their content through Bible-believing Christians at Antioch (Syria), where the first Bible teachers were (Acts 13:1), and where the first missionary trip originated (Acts 13:1-52), and where the word “Christian” originated (Acts 11:26).

6. So God chose to ALMOST preserve them through Gnostics and philosophers from Alexandria, Egypt, even though God called His Son OUT of Egypt (Matthew 2), Jacob OUT of Egypt (Genesis 49), Israel OUT of Egypt (Exodus 15), and Joseph’s bones OUT of Egypt (Exodus 13).

7. So there are two streams of Bibles. The most accurate—though, of course, there is no final, absolute authority for determining truth and error; it is a matter of “preference”—are the Egyptian translations from Alexandria, Egypt, which are “almost the originals,” although not quite.

8. The most inaccurate translations were those that brought about the German Reformation (Luther, Zwingli, Boehler, Zinzendorf, Spener, et al.) and the worldwide missionary movement of the English-speaking people: the Bible that Sunday, Torrey, Moody, Finney, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Wesley, and Chapman used.

9. But we can “tolerate” these if those who believe in them will “tolerate” US. After all, since there is NO ABSOLUTE AND FINAL AUTHORITY that anyone can read, teach, preach, or handle, the whole thing is a matter of “PREFERENCE.” You may prefer what you prefer, and we will prefer what we prefer. Let us live in peace, and if we cannot agree on anything or everything, let us all agree on one thing: THERE IS NO FINAL, ABSOLUTE, WRITTEN AUTHORITY OF GOD ANYWHERE ON THIS EARTH.

This is the Creed of the Alexandrian Cult.

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Source: AV1611.COM Newsletter

2Ti 3:16-17 KJV  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  (17)  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

These verses are rather self explanatory and point out that not only is there a great deal of value in God’s words, but that they are DIVINELY INSPIRED.

Psa 12:6-7 KJV  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.  (7)  Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Here we see that His words will be PRESERVED FOREVER. Now when we consider the fact that the “original manuscripts” that the scholarly theologians always refer to don’t even exist anymore, how did God preserve His words? I suggest that the King James AV 1611 was God’s mechanism for doing so.

Pro 30:5 KJV  Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

And lastly, in the book of Proverbs we’re told that EVERY WORD is pure; not just some of them, ALL of them are pure.

So what can we glean from these scripture references with regards to the doctrines of Inspiration and Preservation?

Inspiration of the bible has to do with the authority and authorship of the bible. The bible holds itself to be divinely inspired by—authored by—God, which naturally implies that its words, being His words, hold sole authority over everything.

Preservation of the bible relates to the accuracy of the bible as we know it today, to the original text given by God to man. It contends that if God took the time to share His words with us that He would certainly see to their preservation from a viewpoint of accuracy. It seems illogical that God would share His plan with mankind then fail to preserve it for future generations; especially since He says that He will (Psa 12:6-7).

The doctrine of inspiration and the doctrine of preservation stand or fall together. If the bible was not divinely inspired then it would not matter if it were accurately preserved because it would hold no authority. If the bible is divinely inspired—which it is—then it must be divinely preserved because if we could not rely on its accuracy then we really wouldn’t care who inspired it. Therefore, these two doctrines are both true; the bible is divinely inspired and divinely preserved.

Having recognized the authorship, authority, and accuracy of the bible we must now realize that every single word in the bible is there for a reason. Any word that God speaks is not only important, but invaluable. Recognizing this we must also recognize the dangerous practices of the many publisher’s–whose goals, I believe, are not inspired by God, but rather by the almighty dollar–that keep pushing the myriad of “modern” translations that we have today.

As soon as we walked in the door to the Bluegrass Shack I recognized Chris Talley from some of her YouTube videos. Our friend Doug, who told us about the shack, said she was a very cool person and I couldn’t agree more with his assessment. I have never in my life gotten such focused attention of a store owner. We took Michelle’s banjo to have some work done to it and Chris saw to it personally. She took the time to explain, in detail, the nature of the repairs and upgrades and pointed out both the good and bad aspects of Michelle’s banjo. That gal sure knows what she’s doing because that banjo sounds MUCH better now.

While Chris worked on Michelle’s banjo and tended with other customers and the store’s needs we had the opportunity to meet with two young siblings, Lucas and Katarina Worthington, 14 and 18; their father a pastor. They were both excellent musicians and so much fun to talk with. They come from a family of 10 kids that all form a bluegrass band of their own. Katarina has only been playing guitar for a couple months and just screams through the chord changes… I swear, I’m so jealous. She picked up a vintage Martin guitar while Lucas played a Gold Tone banjo. They pounded out a cool gospel tune with which they both sang. Man, if Michelle and I could only play that good. Katarina, Lucas, keep up the good work.

We ended up spending a little over 3 1/2 hours at the shack talking with the Chris and the two Worthington children. What makes them even cooler, at least in my book, is that they are all solid KJV Bible believers. I dropped a couple of DPBC‘s cards off and invited them to listen to some of Dan Schmidt’s sermons. I hope they do.

Now, at this point we’d been hanging around the shack for over 2 1/2 hours and then Chris takes Michelle and I to one of her private classrooms and spent some one on one time with us. She listened to Michelle play and gave her several pointers. She also gave me some great pointers for the guitar. It was a fantastic time to get to know our new found friend and sister in Christ as she even shared some of her own struggles with us. To top it off, bless her heart, she even wrote about our visit in her personal blog.

The whole day was absolutely fantastic, thanks to Chris, Katarina, Lucas, the employees, and even some of the clientele that we met. Chris Talley’s love for music is evident from the very moment you meet her and her faith in Christ evident in the genuine care that she extends to others. Even though it’s about an hour and a half from our house, I am fully committed to give The Bluegrass Shack as much of my personal business as I possibly can. We’re actually hoping to go back next Saturday to watch the Fiddle, Banjo & Flattop Guitar Contest. If you’re within a few hours of New Athen’s Illinois, do yourself a favor… drop in and visit the Bluegrass Shack.

Learn more about The Bluegrass Shack and The Chris Talley Trio.

Chris and friends, thanks very much for a GREAT day.

Finding my relationship with Christ totally revitalized since joining Dardenne Prairie Bible Church in January of 2009, I’ve been spending a great deal more time in Bible study which, in my estimate, is the most productive and rewarding thing that I could possibly allocate time for. This month also marks my first year as an apprentice “guitar player”, and while I use that term rather loosely, Michelle and I are playing with a group from church. So, in a nutshell… my life, were it stacked from top to bottom is Christ, work, and music. It goes without saying that family and friends are deeply embedded in all those activities.

So, in a nutshell, this site hasn’t seen much activity because I’m just not spending as much time on it as I used to. I still have an ongoing interest in keeping the site up but rather than just posting a bunch of hodge podge of articles I intend to shift the focus of the site to line up with where I’m at in life. I’ll leave work at work but my postings will now focus more on things I’ve learned through bible study and stuff that’s related to my musical interests, which by the way, are also Christ centered–Michelle and I are playing Bluegrass Gospel with a group from church.

I’m sure that I’ll still post some tech related  articles as too and I’ll eventually get around to changing the site theme to match the new mood but at this point I’m just not sure how to theme Christ, bluegrass gospel, and technology. Should be interesting… or totally lame.