-Rorschach, Watchmen
I'm a philosopher who likes comic books, or perhaps more precisely the comic book heroes in them. The actual medium has never seemed all that attractive, perhaps because a 20-page installment of a story shouldn't cost $5. Regardless, I've always been attracted to the heroism depicted by comic book heroes.
Oddly, it's not the fighting evil part that I'm drawn to, it's the principles by which the heroes live. Anyone can go out and punch criminals, and while few people do (probably due to lawsuits and other assorted recriminations), it doesn't take a cape. What makes superheroes heroic isn't their fighting prowess, it's their refusal to back down when things aren't going their way.
In the world we live in, everyone loves a comeback kid, people who fight on despite grevious wounds. That's not what I'm talking about. No, what I'm talking about is when a superhero refuses to compromise his or her principles.
I think Captain America said it best in Amazing Spiderman #537. This is the panel, but I'll put the text below it.
"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — 'No, you move.'"
Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man #537
See, when the truth is known, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to give in to anyone who says "It's not the truth", no matter what convoluted reasons they come up with. When the truth is known, one can never compromise it, or it's lost forever.
I've heard it said once that if a politician takes a bribe even once, he's forever bought. That small compromise not only opens to door to further compromise, but it becomes leverage against future principled stands. A once-bribed politician will forever fear the knowledge that he once took a bribe coming out, and it becomes easier to take the second bribe than to refuse it.
I'm hardly the first guy to have said this. It's conventional wisdom, there aren't many folks out there who will say that resisting compromise becomes easier the more one compromises.
So, why then do Christians allow even that smallest of first compromises when it comes to the authority and inerrancy of the Bible?
It's easy to start with the small things, things that don't have much bearing on the "major" doctrines like Salvation or who Christ is. So the Church ends up taking small step away from Truth and decides to compromise on the Creation. It's not really relevant, they say, and they don't realize that they've just compromised the authority of the entire book by weakening one part of it.
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is a marvel of engineering. It's massive, beautiful, and made up of thousands of separate parts, all riveted, welded, and bolted together.
If you were to ask an engineer what would happen to the integrity of the entire bridge if one a minor structural member was to be cut in half with a blowtorch, but left attached on both ends, he would probably be able to tell you that the bridge would still hold, but wouldn't be quite as resilient in an earthquake.
But the Church doesn't stop with one compromise on the Bible, does it. That wasn't a question, these days it's hard to find a church that's never allowed politics to influence the sermon of the day. For example, there's a pesky pair of verses in the New Testament that say women should not be allowed to speak in church. 1 Cor 14:34 and 1 Timothy 2:12, specifically.
Surely they can't mean what they actually say? That sort of attitude is soooo 2,000 years ago. Church tradition values women in leadership, after all.
Now, go back to the engineer, and ask him what happens when a second structural member is blowtorched in half, but left attached at both ends. That dead weight, pulling on the bridge, but giving no strength, is going to start causing trouble when the winds pick up, or if an earthquake strikes, he'll say.
And the winds of change will pick up, won't they? It's 2011. We've got a dozen kinds of contraceptives, cheap and easy STD testing, most of which are now curable anyways, and hundreds of experts who will line up to talk about the liberating aspects of open sexuality. We've advanced as a culture, sex isn't something we're afraid of anymore, we don't have to speak about it in hushed tones.
Surely all those verses that talked about sexual purity were just the result of a misogynistic culture that oppressed women, hated sexuality in every form, and was afraid of disease and women bearing children out of wedlock, right?
Go back to the bridge, cut up a third piece.
Homosexuality can't really be an abomination before the Lord, right?
Go back to the bridge, cut up a fourth piece.
Abortion's okay under certain circumstances, right?
Go back to the bridge, cut up a fifth piece.
Casual drug use is fine if you're responsible, right?
Go back to the bridge, cut up a sixth.
Those lists of qualifications for positions of authority in the Church are just too much for anyone to live up to, right?
Go back to the bridge, cut up a seventh piece.
The Bible can't really mean that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, right?
Go back to the bridge, cut up a few of those cables that holds up the road.
The Bible wasn't really written by God, it was collected by men, right?
Go back to the bridge, cut a few more of those cables that hold up the road.
Jesus wasn't really who he said he was, right? He never came right out and said "I'm God, Israel. Bow to me!"
Go back to the bridge, cut up one of those big cables that goes end to end.
And about this time, along comes a big storm or an earthquake, in the form of a particularly rough patch of life. How long is that bridge going to hold? How strong can faith be when it's been compromise so many times? How strong can anything be when it's been chopped up every time it's inconvenient to keep it strong?
It is for that reason that I will never compromise my belief that the Bible is the inerrant, authoritative Word of God. I will not allow that first compromise, no matter how minor, to degrade the structure of the whole book.
Not even in the face of Armageddon.
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