[Cal]

It's sort of like discussing football rules, guys. If several people are trying to figure out what the rules mean, it defeats the purpose if one of them keeps saying "I don't think that's a rule."

Suppose I cite the holding penalty. Several people suggest what they think it means. But one person says he doesn't think holding is or should be in the rulebook. Or worse, he doesn't think the rulebook should be the rulebook.

Whether the rulebook is the rulebook is a whole different discussion and is NOT the purview of this site. You can see how it short-circuits any legitimate discussion of what the Bible means as the word of God.

On this forum, the presumption is the whole Bible is the inspired word of God. Within that context we are free to discuss what passages in the Bible mean.

In certain cases, we can discuss whether declarations in the Bible amount to truths. For example, when David's baby died, he lamented his loss and declared, "I will go to him" (2 Sam 12:23). We can discuss whether this amounts to a truth that deceased infants go to heaven. But it's useless if someone chimes in that this verse isn't really inspired.

I hope this makes sense.