Parchment & Pen Blog

Without the infallible declaration of the Church, there would be no way of knowing what books belong in the canon of Scripture. Since there is no inspired canon of Scripture, the “Scripture alone” is not even enough to establish what Scriptures are truly Scripture. Therefore, the doctrine of sola Scriptura is self-defeating. This is true. [...]

This post accompanies the more informative post: King James Bible: Historical Timeline. Click on one of the blue markers to learn about the location’s significance in the story of the King James Bible. Hint: zoom in on locations like Oxford and London, they have multiple locations within a close proximity. View King James Bible: Historical [...]

Many of you know this is the 400 year celebration of the King James Bible. Here’s a timeline of the people, places and events that led up to and include the publication of this great English Bible. 130 B.C. – The Hebrew language stops being used by the masses.  Only the highly educated can read [...]

Theology in three minutes.

I don’t know about yours, but the copyright date on my Bible is 2002 (I usually read from the ESV). What does that mean? It means that the Bible that I read from, study from, and teach from has a nearly 2000 year gap between it and the original. How do we know that errors [...]

First off, I write this as one who is theologically conservative with respect to the divine inspiration and authority of scripture.  I believe that scripture was originated by God concerning his self-revelation and it is inerrant in its original autographs. So with that I will say, the more I learn about Biblical criticism, the greater appreciation I have [...]

I have heard on numerous occasions that the Holy Spirit is needed to understand the Bible.  That is to say, the Bible will only make sense to Christians and requires the Holy Spirit’s interpretation.  Why?  Because it contains a spiritual message, as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 2:6-14.  It is a mystery, that requires spiritual [...]