by Siya Khumalo

Created on: January 03, 2011   Last Updated: January 05, 2011

There is a book that is widely believed to be the direct, dictated revelation of God, without alteration or error. Its teachings are non-negotiable, its teachings binding, its commands immutable, and its claim on human obedience, overpowering.

Most people think that this book is the bible. It's not. It's the Koran.

The bible doesn't claim to have been dictated by God; rather, it claims to have been breathed by God. This is a subtle difference, but it explains why errors and contradictions are a fundamental part of its communication. Theologian Walter Wink once suggested that the bible provides the tools required to correct and confront the mistakes within it, and maybe that’s part of the spiritual exercise and curriculum. How are we supposed to understand and integrate change, unless we practise on a true-to-life platform like the bible?

A lot of people say that the bible teaches conflicting views on whether there is an afterlife or not. They quote from passages like Ecclesiastes 9.10: ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.’ Then they point out that Jesus graphically spoke of an afterlife in which people are very aware – sometimes, painfully aware – and refer to this contradiction as proof that the bible is unreliable.

Well, it seems that the many times that God wants to reveal something to humans, the bible says, ‘And the Word of the Lord came to –’ before it says what God had revealed to that prophet.  Ecclesiastes doesn’t begin with, ‘And the Word of the Lord came to Solomon, the son of David,’ because Solomon isn’t among the prophets. His words are in the bible to enrich our understanding of life, but they aren’t necessarily bible truth. They weren’t meant to be. We can’t trust what Solomon believes about the afterlife, but we can believe what Jesus (whose words are in red to call for attention, I suppose) says about the hereafter. Jesus is the point and truth of the bible; Solomon isn’t. When Jesus speaks, we can be assured that ‘One greater than Solomon is here.’ (Matthew 12.42) Every other revelation is partial and maybe incorrect; Christ’s is total and perfect (Hebrews 1). The gradient from imperfection to perfection is as much a part of the message as anything else.

This brings to mind a similar incident when

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