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***My position remains that the scriptures self-authenticate, and if God went to all that trouble to create His word, then He would also see to it that it remained pure for His purposes***

I’m not sure that God went through much trouble to create His word. He went through a bunch of trouble to create His Church, but Scripture seemed to be an afterthought 300 years later.

***I am fine with “inspired”, but I like “God-breathed” better. I think that better describes what is actually going on.***

Inspired is like leading. It does not guarantee perfection in the following. Same with the Holy Spirit. He is perfect; we are not. If we do not frogmarch, then it is up to us to follow Him. And we will falter.

I’m not sure that God went through much trouble to create His word. He went through a bunch of trouble to create His Church, but Scripture seemed to be an afterthought 300 years later.

I freely admit that the idea of scripture being an afterthought of God is fully consistent with the treatment scripture is routinely given by Apostolics around here. :) I think I am pretty close to a decent understanding of what Apostolics really think of scripture, and how it fits within your paradigm of earthly authority.

FK: ***I am fine with “inspired”, but I like “God-breathed” better. I think that better describes what is actually going on.***

Ah, that is exactly why I like "God-breathed" better, because God IS perfect, and He gave us His word perfectly as He intended. I think the Apostolic view must be that the scriptures are fundamentally flawed because they contradict so many holdings of the Church, dogma and doctrine. The only way for the men of the Church to be right is to bring down God and say that His word is flawed.