{"id":64724,"date":"2026-04-14T00:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T04:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64724"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:14:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T04:14:32","slug":"is-god-dead-questioning-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/04\/14\/is-god-dead-questioning-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"Is God Dead? Questioning Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The crux of the matter is simply this: Is the Bible authoritative? To this stage, all of the articles in this column ultimately lead to this question. This is ground zero for the Christian and skeptic alike\u2014those like Michael. You remember Michael. He has been with us from the start of this column and the argument that began over a year ago. Michael does not believe the Bible is authoritative. Nonetheless, biblical authority is an essential question that very much sets at the heart of the debate over God\u2019s alleged death. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By \u201cauthoritative\u201d Christians mean that Scripture alone (sola scripture<\/em>) is authoritative precisely because it is God\u2019s Word \u201cbreathed out\u201d (2 Tim 3:16). We have recently argued that Jesus was raised from the dead by God the Father so that by the resurrection from the dead has divine authority confirming backward, that the Old Testament bears authority from God, and forward to the New Testament God through the apostles and associates who were eyewitnesses. Commenting on the Bible\u2019s authority, Sinclair Ferguson once wrote, \u201cThe Father does not lie to his Son. The Son does not lie to the Spirit. The Spirit did not lie to the apostles . . . and the apostles did not lie to us.\u201d For that reason, it is said that \u201cThe God of truth has breathed out his Word of truth, and the results in nothing less than a flawless<\/em> authority for the church.\u201d Even so, there is more to it than that. Michael fails to grant authority because he fails to first grant inspiration<\/em>, inerrancy,<\/em> and sufficiency <\/em>to God\u2019s Word. This is a critical juncture because if Michael can be assured of the inspiration, inerrancy, and sufficiency of God\u2019s word, then it goes a long way to helping solve Michael\u2019s dilemma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Here, it is a good idea to reflect upon from whence we come because authority logically flows from what has been cumulatively established to this point. If God created the universe and everything in it; if He created mankind with particular endowments\u2014created in His image; in order that with Him we might have a deep and personal relationship undergirded by His revelation of Himself both in nature, and in Scripture, then wouldn\u2019t we expect His revelation to be personally inspired, inerrant in its claims, and all-sufficient? After all, these are critical subcategories of authority. In other words, there is a Creator who raised Jesus from the dead. And it is not just the unbelieving Michaels of the world, Christians, and not just a few, sometimes have doubts about Scripture as well; specifically, about inspiration, inerrancy, sufficiency, and authority. Or, another way we could say that is that biblical authority is dependent upon inspiration, inerrancy, and sufficiency<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a refresher, this is how Michael answered when asked if he believes the Bible is God\u2019s inspired Word:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think it was. I think inspiration comes in many forms like artists who write songs because of inspiration. I think the Bible could be written in the same way just like any book, song, or other art. But I think it is in some ways art because it is a creation of man but it is also handpicked in certain ways because it has gone through different interpretations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we have said, Michael has an issue with inspiration. In truth, however, Michael has an issue with authority, of which inspiration is a very important component.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although at least six theories describe the mechanics of inspiration, verbal plenary inspiration<\/em> is the most commonly accepted mechanism by which the Holy Spirit interacts with the human authors of Scripture. From the Latin verbum<\/em>, which means word, and plenus<\/em>, which means full; verbal plenary inspiration argues that there is dual authorship<\/em> of Scripture. The authors were given the freedom to write as they intended, but were also superintended by the Holy Spirit \u201cso that what the human author said, God said, down to the exact words and phrases.\u201d This is not to be considered mechanical dictation; the author\u2019s particular style was allowed to manifest, but the words were God\u2019s. In this way, the author\u2019s words are without error because they are God\u2019s words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus had told His disciples; \u201cWhen the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority <\/em>[there is that word \u201cauthority\u201d], but whatever he hears he will speak and will declare to you the things that are to come\u201d (John 16:13). Again, Jesus told the disciples; \u201cBut the Helper, The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you\u201d (John 14:26). \u201cBring to your remembrance\u201d is exactly what inspiration is. This is direct, divine inspiration, not the kind of inspiration Michael was talking about. Remember, Michael had said that he thought the Bible authors were inspired \u201clike a person who writes a song.\u201d This is something altogether different; this is the dual authorship of God and man. And this is the point of all of this: surely, surely, if God can create the universe and raise Jesus from the dead, then He can \u201cbreathe out\u201d His word through inspired men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Join us again next week as we consider the sufficiency of the Bible. Until then, in the quiet and private sanctuary of your own mind, ask yourself the most important question in this life: \u201cIs God dead?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gloria in excelsis Deo!<\/em>Ty B. Kerley,<\/strong>DMin.<\/strong>, is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore, OK.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The crux of the matter is simply this: Is the Bible authoritative? To this stage, all of the articles in this column ultimately lead to this question. This is ground… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDRcL1R5LUtlcmxleS53ZWJwP2ZpdD03MzIlMkMxMDI0JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiSXMgR29kIERlYWQ_IFF1ZXN0aW9uaW5nIEF1dGhvcml0eSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.PlRMHxIWPRFaRaiu1j4BiBS1jTjFbtGzy7PnS1MjR1wMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjVcLzA0XC9UeS1LZXJsZXkud2VicCIsInR4dCI6IklzIEdvZCBEZWFkPyBRdWVzdGlvbmluZyBBdXRob3JpdHkiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.6Qy9UJ_fz_vqVc9uQB8vz5PFMO3nkT2Nst2dYo2WzfYMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[14379],"class_list":["post-64724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-is-god-dead-questioning-authority"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64725,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64724\/revisions\/64725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}