Alward Explains Why

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I'm going to take this opportunity to explain to list members who are
unfamiliar with me why I have joined Farrell's errancy list.  

My principal reason for joining is to improve the set of skeptical essays I've
prepared for reading by young believers who have only a casual acquaintance
with inerrancy.  Christian students at a local university believe every word
in the bible comes from God, but they didn't know what "inerrancy" meant when
I asked them if they were inerrantists; students in high school were even more
ignorant.  I was thrilled with The Skeptical Review the first time I read it,
but was sorely disappointed to find that these Christian students didn't find
it easy to read; they had no inclination or incentive to wade through tens of
thousands of words from Till and Price debating the exegetical esoterica.
What kind of nut (like me) would want to read such boring stuff?  These
students need something SIMPLE to read, so I decided to prepare simple
arguments--arguments which do NOT anticipate every possible debate
point--which they might read, and perhaps even find interesting.

I joined the list to ask willing list members to help me create a set of
essays which will be shown to young Christians who have no intention of
becoming die-hard, debate-hardened inerrantists.  I have already written
several such essays, but many need some improvement.  I'm mainly interested in
making skeptical points quickly so as not to lose the reader's attention; thus
I'm focussed on making the essays shorter, but better if possible.  If anyone
on this list thinks that this is a worthy goal and is willing to help me
accomplish it, for the good--I hope--of everyone, then please feel free to
offer any criticisms or suggestions.

Some members on this list resent my asking for help, and somehow feel that I
have been playing games with them or being disceptive, and they have explained
their reasons why they think that.  While I can assure readers that I'm not a
game-player or a deceiver, I will not try to defend myself further.  I
nevertheless value insight of these members and feel no shame when I take
their ideas and incorporate them on my page and into my essays.  Already this
week I've taken comments by three different list members and put them on my
page on in an essay.  I continue to benefit and so do my young readers from
the accumulated knowledge of errancy list members.  I hope the somewhat jaded,
more accomplished errantists on this list will not continue to rail against me
for perceived past and present wrongs and just let me do my job; if I irritate
them, all they have to do is trash every posting from JAlw without reading it.

Interested readers will find thirty-five of my essays and links to dozens of
the best from other authors, many references resources, and other material on
my web site at 

http://members.aol.com/JAlw/joseph_alward.html


Joseph Alward

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