Bible, the Whole Bible and Nothing but the Bible

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REGENT UNIVERSITY BIBLE, THE WHOLE BIBLE, AND NOTHING BUT THE BIBLE: AN ESSAY SUBMITTED TO PROFESSOR BRIAN WILLIAMS, PhD. FOR PRINCIPLES OF THEOLOGY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE BACHELOR OF ARTS DEGREE IN THE REGENT SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDIES BY PENNI MCCONNELL SACRAMENTO, CA DECEMBER 2012 INTRODUCTION The title of this paper is taken from a book entitled, Whose Bible Is It? A Short History of the Scriptures by Jarsolav Pelikan. I came across this book as I was performing research for this paper and was drawn in by the author's quest to assist us in determining how to approach scripture in light of its different editions (i.e. Book of Mormon, Roman Catholic Bible) and the various translations and traditions surrounding the books in the Christian Bible. The best example of the importance of viewing the scripture as authoritative writing is given by Pelikan when he says that the two words we must use to explain the authority of scripture are testament and prescription. The word testament, regardless of the Old or the New Testament, should be viewed as one does a last will and testament which is an agreement between the living and the deceased; and the heirs of the deceased are confident that its terms will be fulfilled. The word prescription because just as the pharmacist must fill a prescription exactly as the physician intended when he wrote it, the patient can find comfort in that knowledge and can trust what the physician and the pharmacist deliver to them. Both of these words are used in matters of life and death such as the words that make up the scripture. In 2009, the Barna Research Group released that only 55% of respondents, who considered themselves to be Christians, believed that the Bible was "accurate in all of the principles it teaches." With statistics such as this, those of us who are pursuing an

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