Dr. Gene Kim and the KJV.

Here we have interesting video where Dr. Gene Kim offers a brief argument answering the argument that anyone can say any Bible is the inspired preserved word of God. I have a few comments but first let’s watch the video.

1.) All evidence has holes in it or potential defeaters which are employed by opposite sides of an issue. For the Young-Earther starlight stands to prove God created the world with age while the Old-Earther says that starlight stands to prove the universe is very old. Some argue the number of manuscript readings is most important while others argue that the age of the manuscript is more important. This is most pronounced in a court case where the prosecution emphasizes some evidence while diminishing other evidence only for the defense to do their own emphasizing and diminishment.

2.) The teaching of the Bible about the Bible is indeed the most potent reason why a Christian comes to believe the Bible they hold in their hand is the perfect word of God. It is important to note here though that this belief is one that can only come through the Spirit of God speaking through the words of God to the people of God who then accept said belief by faith.

3.) Near the end of the video Dr. Kim makes the observation that all intellectuals exercise faith. Here I believe there is a fair bit of equivocation. That is, Dr. Kim is using the same word [i.e., faith] but the meanings are very different. Now it is very possible that Dr. Kim is not equivocating at all, but simply did not have the time to make delineations or as operating under the assumption that nuance was unnecessary. Either way, let’s take a moment to separate Christian faith from common human belief.

First, Christian faith is a gift from God which is not possessed by all. Only those to whom God gives faith via the act of regeneration can exercise divinely ordained faith. As such, it cannot be that all intellectuals exercise faith of the Christian sort unless it is first argued that all intellectuals are Christians which seems quite false.

Second, it is true that in large systems the probability that one person knows all the pertinent intersecting elements, properties, systems, contingencies etc is very low. As such there is almost always a measure of belief or “faith” in that person’s understanding of that large system. Thusly construed, God given faith is a unique gift of God while epistemic belief is a common feature of human noetic structures.

Overall I thought Dr. Kim’s observations were good and that he hung the greater weight of his argument on the right hooks and he did so in a handful of minutes. Thanks for the presentation.