“Second, the verbal inspiration theory has the increasingly obvious difficulty that it is unable to deal with facts gained both by research into the Bible and the world around us. For over two hundred years now it has demonstrated its inability to cope with truths established by scientific and historical research. In the face of the mounting knowledge of the world, the verbal inspiration method has had no constructive counsel to give, but can only advise one to retreat from the world and refuse to face those things which one finds uncomfortable. One does not need to go outside the Bible itself to show the inability of this method to cope with the facts. Clearly the belief that there are no mistakes of any sort in scripture simply is not true. The many discrepancies within the Bible itself – where the Bible disagrees with itself – demonstrate this fact.” [1]
[1] Forde, “Law and Gospel as the Methodological Principle of Theology,” in A Discussion of Contemporary Issues in Theology by Members of the Religion Department at Luther College. Decorah, Iowa; Luther College Press, 1964, p. 56, emphasis added.