Small branches may support the ladder for a while, but when a wind or an extra weight comes along, the ladder becomes unstable and possibly dangerous. They are useful, but not always in the way we assume. They were inspired for one purpose, and we go wrong if we try to make them serve a different purpose. We need to focus on the purpose. Authority of Scripture So far, I have shown that Scripture has limitations, in particular the fact that it was written in and for other cultures.
Some people use that fact to dismiss large portions of the Bible, perhaps Scripture itself.
It is easy to show that biblical authority must be qualified in some way, but we do not jump from there into the opposite ditch, to say that it has no authority at all. We are not forced to choose between all or nothing. Let me mention some evidence that supports biblical authority. First, Scripture itself claims to be inspired by God. Writers such as Paul claimed to write with authority derived from his commission from God.