[Elijah Craig]

JimE:

Gotcha. Good point. Chesterton has a way with words but I can't help but suspect his eloquence hides a good number of logical errors.

R

(02-04-2011, 12:08 PM)JimE Wrote: Chesterton said:

(02-03-2011, 11:40 AM)JimE Wrote: "The Bible by itself cannot be a basis of agreement when it is a cause of disagreement; ..."

(02-03-2011, 09:33 PM)Elijah Craig Wrote: So which part of your argument contradicts what Chesterton said?

Move the adverbial clause to the begining if you must.

When it [the Bible] is a cause of disagreement, the Bible [it] by itself cannot be a basis of agreement.

I'm not sure if we are in contradiction. Chesterton seems to be implying that the Bible text, not the interpretation of it, causes disagreement. My understanding of his statement could be wrong. I do not believe that the Bible text causes disagreement. I believe that differing interpretations of the text causes disagreements.

I hope this clarifies my previous post

[Jordan M. Poss]

Chesterton's point is that a book--especially a book as difficult as the Bible--does not interpret itself. So the text can cause confusion because, frankly, the Bible can be confusing at times. This is the Fundamentalist error--believing that the Bible will manifestly teach the same things to everyone if they will just take the trouble to read it. That's obviously not the case.

Chesterton's overarching point, of course, is that there must be some authority outside the individual believer to help them interpret correctly.

[Elijah Craig]

(02-05-2011, 08:40 PM)Jordan M. Poss Wrote: Chesterton's point is that a book--especially a book as difficult as the Bible--does not interpret itself. So the text can cause confusion because, frankly, the Bible can be confusing at times. This is the Fundamentalist error--believing that the Bible will manifestly teach the same things to everyone if they will just take the trouble to read it. That's obviously not the case.

Chesterton's overarching point, of course, is that there must be some authority outside the individual believer to help them interpret correctly.

Yes, I got that and I agree.

[Miss TTU Runner-Up]

That is a really interesting quote.