George ShamblinBy Rubin E. Grant
George Shamblin had a conversation with a friend who had become confused about what she was hearing at the church she attended.
What she was perplexed about was that some of the teaching and preaching didn’t align with the teachings of the Bible.
So, Shamblin, a pastor and teacher at The Center for Executive Leadership in Birmingham, mentioned the word inerrancy to her. Once she understood what inerrancy meant, she talked to her son about it and wound up changing churches.
The encounter eventually led Shamblin to write his second book, “Inerrancy: You Better Learn This Word.”
In “Inerrancy,” Shamblin argues that the way Christians view biblical inerrancy, the infallible truth of the Bible, is the main point on which the Church will stand or fall, and that it is the most critical issue facing modern Christianity.
“There is so much confusion about what are the issues facing the church, such as social justice, climate change, gender and sexuality, and politics,” Shamblin said. “But those are downstream issues. The main thing is whether we believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and is completely true. If we change with the times, then we will abandon the Bible and what it teaches.”
The book was released at the end of April and retails in paperback for $11.99 on Amazon. A description of it says, “Inerrancy is an unashamed affirmation of the truth of Scripture and its importance to the future of God’s Church. It’s also a reminder that compromise is a slippery slope – that Christians and churches who sacrifice Scripture on the altar of cultural relevance will eventually find themselves conceding principle after principle until their reason for existence is left behind.”
Shamblin offers real-world examples and personal stories, with a bit of humor and plenty of hard truths splashed in. He shares his belief that the ultimate truth of God’s word can and should act as the ultimate filter for everything Christians face in the world.
“No more apologizing for our belief in the authority of the Bible as God’s Word,” he writes. “Christians tripping over themselves to apologize has always struck me as odd, especially considering how we’ve experienced Jesus in the realest of ways. ‘Come and see for yourself’ is what our Faith’s Founder has to say. What’s required is to take a first step towards “a far more excellent way.”
“Show me a loose-leaning, enlightened church that’s seen its membership leave in droves, and I’ll show you a Bible-believing church in the same area that’s growing by leaps and bounds.”
Shamblin published his first book, “The Relay,” in 2020. It chronicles the passage of faith through the generations. “Inerrancy” deals with more personal challenges related to the scriptures.
“As Christians, we ask ourselves questions like: ‘Why are there so many different and divergent choices, and what is the Bible?’” Shamblin said. “We have to decide what the Bible actually is before we can have these conversations and understand the answers, which is why I wanted to push people to see how the ultimate truth of God’s word impacts all that we as humans do.
“Make no mistake, how you answer the question of biblical inerrancy will define your relationship with God and what your life looks like going forward.”
English (US)