The Bible. The infallible word of God?

Bible Highlighter · Dec 17, 2018

There is power in the Word of God.

Bible Highlighter · Dec 17, 2018

gordonhooker · Dec 17, 2018

Neostarwcc said:
Well okay I'll give an example. In Leviticus 11:5-6 there are two animals listed as unclean the rabbit and the rock hyrax because they chew the cud. But these animals do not chew the cud. Did these animals chew the cud when this was written and then later change? If not than it's an example of a contradiction.

I mean I believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God but for a book that is inerrant it sure has a lot of problematic passages specifically in Leviticus and Numbers. You're right that these are unprovable claims but you'd think the word of God that was basically written by the Holy Spirit would be completely without fault or error and all of it would be proven by modern science. Instead we have a book that claims that everything was created in six days around 6,000 years ago and science seems to point to evolution billions of years ago. I mean I believe the Bible but it sounds unbelievable when you examine it. So much that so many Christians don't believe in the Bible at all and our faith seems like a blind faith. See what I'm getting at?

I wasn't expecting that one...

Lev. 11:5-6 is one of the passages the skeptics use from the Skeptics Annotated Bible, but I would not have thought we would see that one in the forum. I would suggest the author/s of Leviticus would not have even known what a ruminant was, they would have simply seen an animal that did not have a cloven foot that appeared to be chewing well after a meal.

Using the Bible as a modern science textbook is simply not the thing to do.

DennisTate · Dec 17, 2018

Neostarwcc said:
It's commonly taught and believed by many Christians that the Bible is a book that is without error. Yet there are many contradictions and errors in the Bible. Why is this? Why do so many Christians (myself included) believe that the Bible is without error when it in fact contains many errors? It makes us not only look stupid to atheists but to other religious groups as well. Is this belief just given to us by the Holy Spirit or is there a reasoning to this?

After 28 years of studying near death experience accounts I can now see hidden meaning in many scriptures that were pretty confusing to me when I was a teenager.

For example.... how can fir trees rejoice????

Isaiah 14:8

Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

Near death experiencers were shown that plants in heaven have emotions and praise G-d continually.

All of this fits with:

The Secret Life of Plants - Wikipedia

Bible2+ · Dec 17, 2018

Neostarwcc said in post #15:

In Leviticus 11:5-6 there are two animals listed as unclean the rabbit and the rock hyrax because they chew the cud. But these animals do not chew the cud.

Rabbit-like animals chew the cud in the sense of re-chewing food that they had already chewed sometime earlier. But unlike with ruminants, they do not vomit up food from their stomach into their mouth to chew some more, but instead eat their own droppings to chew some more.

Also, we cannot apply the modern English definition of "chew the cud" to Leviticus 11:5-6 because it was not written in English, but in Hebrew, and in the fifteenth century BC. So we have to go with the ancient meaning of the Hebrew words, which include both ruminants and rabbit-like animals.

Neostarwcc said in post #15:

I believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God but for a book that is inerrant it sure has a lot of problematic passages specifically in Leviticus and Numbers.

Can you give another example of a purportedly problematic passage in Leviticus or Numbers?

Neostarwcc said in post #15:

. . . we have a book that claims that everything was created in six days around 6,000 years ago and science seems to point to evolution billions of years ago.

Note that an old earth and evolution can be true without contradicting Creationism, because evolution per se (random mutation and survival of the fittest) can coexist with miraculous creation, just as an automated process created by a human (for example, a computer program which makes random, colorful pictures which can be seen as art) can coexist with that same human sometimes performing a task himself directly (painting some pictures by hand). That is, evolution per se can be a process created by God to allow new, adaptive species to arise naturally over time. And this process can coexist with God Himself sometimes creating new species miraculously and instantaneously. So with regard to evolution and Creationism, it does not have to be either/or, but can be both/and.

Some people ask why would God wait millions of years for something to evolve from a one-celled organism when He could just create it miraculously and instantaneously? God could do that for the same reason that He has every human start out as a one-celled organism: a zygote in its mother's womb. God then has a human zygote only gradually develop through natural means into an embryo, and then into a fetus, a baby, a toddler, an adolescent, and an adult. And God has other animals develop gradually in a similar way. And He has plants start out as seeds. So it must give God pleasure to see organisms develop naturally over time, just as it must give Him pleasure to also sometimes create plants and animals miraculously, instantaneously, already fully-formed, like He did in Genesis 1:11-13 and Genesis 1:20-27, during three of the seven, literal, 24-hour days of Genesis 1:3 to 2:4.

Creationism can include what could be called a Double-Gap Theory, meaning that there could have been two gaps of time in Genesis chapters 1-2, the first gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, and the second gap between Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 2:5. Genesis 1:1 could have occurred some 4.5 billion years ago, when God first created the planet earth and its atmosphere (the first heaven, in which the birds fly: Genesis 1:20b). Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, some 4.5 billion years could have occurred, in which God could have allowed His own created process of evolution to serve as a mechanism by which new species arose naturally on the earth. During those same 4.5 billion years, God could have also gone outside of evolution and created some new species miraculously and instantaneously, whenever He wanted to (compare what evolutionists call "punctuated equilibria").

Genesis 1:2 could refer to the condition of the earth only about 12,000 years ago (at the end of the Paleolithic period), after some cataclysm like a comet-strike had killed off all life on the planet (both evolved and miraculously created), had submerged all land areas in water (comets contain huge amounts of water), and had ruined the atmosphere. The impact of the comet could have also knocked the earth out of its orbit around its original star, so that the earth was sent hurtling into the darkness of interstellar space as a "rogue planet" (astronomers estimate that rogue planets in our galaxy could outnumber the stars in our galaxy). Genesis 1:3 to 2:4 could then refer to God, over a period of six, literal, 24-hour days (some 12,000 years ago, at the start of the Neolithic period), miraculously restoring to the earth light, a good atmosphere, dry land, and life, including a race of male and female homo sapiens sapiens, after God had miraculously restored land plants (Genesis 1:11-13) and land animals (Genesis 1:24-25) to the earth.

Then, only about 6,000 years ago, God miraculously created on the earth an individual male homo sapiens sapiens named Adam in an uninhabited desert land (Genesis 2:5-7; there the original Hebrew word translated as "earth" can refer to a certain "land": e.g. Genesis 2:11). After that, God created the plants of the local Garden of Eden in that desert land (Genesis 2:8-9), and God placed Adam in that garden (Genesis 2:15). Then God miraculously created the animals of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:19). Then He created an individual female homo sapiens sapiens (Genesis 2:22) whom Adam named Eve (Genesis 3:20).

Because Adam was created only about 6,000 years ago, based on Biblical chronology, yet there are homo sapiens sapiens fossils said to be as old as 200,000 years, God could have first created homo sapiens sapiens, or it could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, as far back as 200,000 years. Also, all of the different hominid forms the fossils of which long predate, or are as old as, the earliest fossils of homo sapiens sapiens, and which preceding or coexisting hominid forms we do not consider to have been fully human like us, such as homo sapiens neanderthalensis, could have all been miraculously created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, over millions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth.

And this does not get into the possibly trillion other inhabited planets in the universe on which homo sapiens sapiens or similar or far more advanced life-forms could have been miraculously created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, billions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth. For the universe could be about fourteen billion years old, and it contains about a hundred billion galaxies, each containing about a hundred billion stars. So even if only one star out of every ten billion stars has an inhabited planet, there would still be a trillion inhabited planets. And on most of these, God could have begun His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, billions of years prior to His beginning of His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, on the earth.

Sm412 · Dec 18, 2018

I am a new Christian, so I certainly am not educated enough on the topic to comment, but I will say this question leads many to inflexible literalism. Dive too deep in and you'll be hanging out over at the creation museum watching Jesus ride a dinosaur. If you've actually been there...... sorry. Lol.

I like the responses regarding the overall message about God. That's what's really important. Keep in mind the Bible is very complex and contains many layers of meaning. Spiritual texts are often this way. Except the Quran. Man, what a terrible read that was. Skip right past that one.

Sm412 · Dec 18, 2018

Bible2+ said:
Rabbit-like animals chew the cud in the sense of re-chewing food that they had already chewed sometime earlier. But unlike with ruminants, they do not vomit up food from their stomach into their mouth to chew some more, but instead eat their own droppings to chew some more.

Also, we cannot apply the modern English definition of "chew the cud" to Leviticus 11:5-6 because it was not written in English, but in Hebrew, and in the fifteenth century BC. So we have to go with the ancient meaning of the Hebrew words, which include both ruminants and rabbit-like animals.

Can you give another example of a purportedly problematic passage in Leviticus or Numbers?

Note that an old earth and evolution can be true without contradicting Creationism, because evolution per se (random mutation and survival of the fittest) can coexist with miraculous creation, just as an automated process created by a human (for example, a computer program which makes random, colorful pictures which can be seen as art) can coexist with that same human sometimes performing a task himself directly (painting some pictures by hand). That is, evolution per se can be a process created by God to allow new, adaptive species to arise naturally over time. And this process can coexist with God Himself sometimes creating new species miraculously and instantaneously. So with regard to evolution and Creationism, it does not have to be either/or, but can be both/and.

Some people ask why would God wait millions of years for something to evolve from a one-celled organism when He could just create it miraculously and instantaneously? God could do that for the same reason that He has every human start out as a one-celled organism: a zygote in its mother's womb. God then has a human zygote only gradually develop through natural means into an embryo, and then into a fetus, a baby, a toddler, an adolescent, and an adult. And God has other animals develop gradually in a similar way. And He has plants start out as seeds. So it must give God pleasure to see organisms develop naturally over time, just as it must give Him pleasure to also sometimes create plants and animals miraculously, instantaneously, already fully-formed, like He did in Genesis 1:11-13 and Genesis 1:20-27, during three of the seven, literal, 24-hour days of Genesis 1:3 to 2:4.

Creationism can include what could be called a Double-Gap Theory, meaning that there could have been two gaps of time in Genesis chapters 1-2, the first gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, and the second gap between Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 2:5. Genesis 1:1 could have occurred some 4.5 billion years ago, when God first created the planet earth and its atmosphere (the first heaven, in which the birds fly: Genesis 1:20b). Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, some 4.5 billion years could have occurred, in which God could have allowed His own created process of evolution to serve as a mechanism by which new species arose naturally on the earth. During those same 4.5 billion years, God could have also gone outside of evolution and created some new species miraculously and instantaneously, whenever He wanted to (compare what evolutionists call "punctuated equilibria").

Genesis 1:2 could refer to the condition of the earth only about 12,000 years ago (at the end of the Paleolithic period), after some cataclysm like a comet-strike had killed off all life on the planet (both evolved and miraculously created), had submerged all land areas in water (comets contain huge amounts of water), and had ruined the atmosphere. The impact of the comet could have also knocked the earth out of its orbit around its original star, so that the earth was sent hurtling into the darkness of interstellar space as a "rogue planet" (astronomers estimate that rogue planets in our galaxy could outnumber the stars in our galaxy). Genesis 1:3 to 2:4 could then refer to God, over a period of six, literal, 24-hour days (some 12,000 years ago, at the start of the Neolithic period), miraculously restoring to the earth light, a good atmosphere, dry land, and life, including a race of male and female homo sapiens sapiens, after God had miraculously restored land plants (Genesis 1:11-13) and land animals (Genesis 1:24-25) to the earth.

Then, only about 6,000 years ago, God miraculously created on the earth an individual male homo sapiens sapiens named Adam in an uninhabited desert land (Genesis 2:5-7; there the original Hebrew word translated as "earth" can refer to a certain "land": e.g. Genesis 2:11). After that, God created the plants of the local Garden of Eden in that desert land (Genesis 2:8-9), and God placed Adam in that garden (Genesis 2:15). Then God miraculously created the animals of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:19). Then He created an individual female homo sapiens sapiens (Genesis 2:22) whom Adam named Eve (Genesis 3:20).

Because Adam was created only about 6,000 years ago, based on Biblical chronology, yet there are homo sapiens sapiens fossils said to be as old as 200,000 years, God could have first created homo sapiens sapiens, or it could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, as far back as 200,000 years. Also, all of the different hominid forms the fossils of which long predate, or are as old as, the earliest fossils of homo sapiens sapiens, and which preceding or coexisting hominid forms we do not consider to have been fully human like us, such as homo sapiens neanderthalensis, could have all been miraculously created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, over millions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth.

And this does not get into the possibly trillion other inhabited planets in the universe on which homo sapiens sapiens or similar or far more advanced life-forms could have been miraculously created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, billions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth. For the universe could be about fourteen billion years old, and it contains about a hundred billion galaxies, each containing about a hundred billion stars. So even if only one star out of every ten billion stars has an inhabited planet, there would still be a trillion inhabited planets. And on most of these, God could have begun His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, billions of years prior to His beginning of His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, on the earth.

Thank you for this.

Garyb3278 · Dec 18, 2018

Neostarwcc said:
It's commonly taught and believed by many Christians that the Bible is a book that is without error. Yet there are many contradictions and errors in the Bible. Why is this? Why do so many Christians (myself included) believe that the Bible is without error when it in fact contains many errors? It makes us not only look stupid to atheists but to other religious groups as well. Is this belief just given to us by the Holy Spirit or is there a reasoning to this?

You really are concerned about looking stupid to atheist? The only way you can't look stupid to an atheist is adopting their stupidity

Garyb3278 · Dec 18, 2018

Secondly there are no contradictions in the bible at all If you understand it in its proper context

marineimaging · Dec 18, 2018

Neostarwcc said:
It's commonly taught and believed by many Christians that the Bible is a book that is without error. Yet there are many contradictions and errors in the Bible. Why is this? Why do so many Christians (myself included) believe that the Bible is without error when it in fact contains many errors? It makes us not only look stupid to atheists but to other religious groups as well. Is this belief just given to us by the Holy Spirit or is there a reasoning to this?

I don't allow my faith in God to be judged nor dictated by people who don't even believe in God in the first place. But as for the Bible, think of all that God did to create all that we know to exist, including the gasses and matter and energy and time and space..., and then try to condense all of that, plus the reasons Satan and one third of the angels left heaven with him, plus all of mans history into one book. Is God's word in error, or is man's text and translation fallible and full of errors? Is the Catholic bible full of books that were written by people who the church sainted, or is the Baptist bible missing books that were written with the blessings of the Catholics? Does the fact that the word murder and kill was mixed up cause us to want to throw the whole Word of God out?

The entire reason for the written word as we know the Bible is not to convince you that God exists. Rather, it is to point to the redemptive authority and power of Jesus Christ. Period. Only. No other reason. I find joy and peace in that we even have a written Word of God to lead us to that understanding because I believed in God before I even knew 1/100th of the Bible. I committed to Jesus Christ in my baptism before I could quote any chapters and verses expect for John 3:16. Knowing the Bible is not my reason to believe. The rock is not the written Word, but the sacrifice that Jesus made.

puttingothersfirst · Dec 18, 2018

Neostarwcc said:
It's commonly taught and believed by many Christians that the Bible is a book that is without error. Yet there are many contradictions and errors in the Bible. Why is this? Why do so many Christians (myself included) believe that the Bible is without error when it in fact contains many errors? It makes us not only look stupid to atheists but to other religious groups as well. Is this belief just given to us by the Holy Spirit or is there a reasoning to this?

Hey,

You are right the bible is not the infallible word of God, Jesus is. If you read (John 1:1 and Revelation 19:13) you will see who it says the word of God is. In the four Gospels you have 4 witnesses to what Jesus taught his followers to do, the first 3 books Matthew, Mark and Luke are so close to each other that its almost impossible that they are not very very very close to what Jesus actually taught, they had to be led by the holy spirit on what to remember and write. Remember the job of the Holy spirit is to remind us of what Jesus taught (John 14:26 and John 16:13-14) So the spirit reminded them of Jesus' teachings so they could write those books.

As far as fallible parts of the bible, look what Paul says in( 1 Corinthians 7:12) Paul actually says, "I give the charge not the Lord" so he says himself that what he is saying is not from God. Also, in (2 Corinthians 11:17) he says, "he is boasting" so that means he is stretching what God says if it was from God.

So, in conclusion the bible is fallible but the teachings of Jesus are not. Read the 4 Gospels for yourself, like you have never read them before. Try to put Jesus' teachings into practice.

Peace and Love

Root of Jesse · Dec 18, 2018

Neostarwcc said:
Just do a Google for bible contradictions and errors there are plenty of them. But anyway I forgot that Paul said that scripture was inerrant too. I mean like I said its something I believe but why do we believe it?

These 'contradictions and errors' are sort of like what people claim are Trump's lies. Many times it is our own misunderstanding of what the passage says or means(or what the President says or means) that creates the contradiction or error.
For example, Jesus said in John 6 "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you." Earlier in the same chapter, he says that the flesh is of no importance. Is there a contradiction? Catholics believe not. Jesus was speaking of His divine flesh in the first example, and human and animal flesh in the second.
Another is the apparent contradiction between the two creation accounts. Personally, I think they convey the same important thing: That God created everything.

dysert · Dec 18, 2018

mark kennedy said:
You do know there is such a thing as text variation right?

Right.

Bible2+ · Dec 18, 2018

Garyb3278 said in post #28:

The only way you can't look stupid to an atheist is adopting their stupidity

That brought to mind Romans 1:20 and Psalms 19:1-4, which mean that people can know that God exists simply by seeing everything else that exists. For the universe could not have created itself from nothing by physics, because of the first law of thermodynamics. So something outside of physics had to have created the universe. The term spirit is used to refer to something which exists outside of physics. So what created the universe was a spirit (John 4:24, John 1:3). And this had to be an uncreated spirit, because nothing, not even a spirit, can create itself from nothing. For to create itself, it would have to already exist. So just by being able to see the universe, people have no excuse for denying the existence of an uncreated spirit, who is known as God (Romans 1:20, John 4:24, Psalms 19:1-4). And God must have eternal power (Romans 1:20), for the first law of thermodynamics requires that even the physical energy in the universe is eternal.

Because knowing that God exists is the only reasonable response to seeing the existence of the universe (Romans 1:20), when educated and intelligent people refuse to admit that God exists, this is only because they are intentionally choosing to be unreasonable (2 Thessalonians 3:2), choosing to be foolish, regarding God's existence, because of their human pride, their unthankfulness to God, and their desire to continue in sinful actions (Romans 1:21-22, Psalms 14:1). But there is no salvation in simply believing that God exists (James 2:19). Believing in Jesus Christ, the human/divine Son of God, and His suffering and dying on the Cross for our sins, and His rising physically from the dead on the third day, is the only way for people to have their sins forgiven, so that they will not have to go to hell when they die (John 3:16,36, Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

yeshuaslavejeff · Dec 19, 2018

Sm412 said:
I am a new Christian, so I certainly am not educated enough on the topic to comment, but I will say this question leads many to inflexible literalism. Dive too deep in and you'll be hanging out over at the creation museum watching Jesus ride a dinosaur. If you've actually been there...... sorry. Lol.

I like the responses regarding the overall message about God. That's what's really important. Keep in mind the Bible is very complex and contains many layers of meaning. Spiritual texts are often this way. Except the Quran. Man, what a terrible read that was. Skip right past that one.

Remember that the testimony in Scripture of Ekklesia is that they burned their ungodly books - they did not try to sell them (many thousands of dollars worth) at all,
nor try to get nor suggest that anyone read them (they should not).

As for as thinking it is "very complex", see in the New Testament if it was very complex or not to the disciples following Jesus. (hint: I believe it wasn't/isn't complex).

What is the key ? How to gain understanding ? The same as Simon bar Jonah knew that Yahshua is the Messiah, the Son of Yahweh -- as Jesus says: blessed are thou because flesh and blood did NOT teach this to you, rather the FATHER in HEAVEN REVEALED THIS ..... as also noted throughout Scripture - REVEALED by the FATHER.

yeshuaslavejeff · Dec 19, 2018

Garyb3278 said:
Secondly there are no contradictions in the bible at all If you understand it in its proper context

Permit it to be put this way also: IF the FATHER explains it , if the FATHER in HEAVEN gives the understanding/ wisdom of His Word,
then it is known.

If not, then it is not known.

i.e. if you agree with the Father, His Meaning, good. If not, wait.

Bible2+ · Dec 19, 2018

yeshuaslavejeff said in post #35:

What is the key ? How to gain understanding ?

Regarding the Bible, the best way to gain understanding of it, as a whole, is simply to read every word of it (Matthew 4:4), over and over again. It ends up explaining itself once what it teaches has become engrained in your memory, and you see the connections between verses regarding something in one place in the Bible and other verses regarding that same thing in other places in the Bible. It is by comparing and combining related verses in different places in the Bible that we arrive at correct doctrine (Isaiah 28:9-10; 1 Corinthians 2:13).

It is also a good practice to always start and end each Bible-reading session with a prayer for understanding and remembrance of the whole Bible.

One great way to read the whole Bible, over and over, is to think of it as seven volumes:

1. Genesis to Deuteronomy
2. Joshua to Esther
3. Job to Song of Solomon
4. Isaiah to Malachi
5. Matthew to Acts
6. Romans to Philemon
7. Hebrews to Revelation

You can read a chapter in each volume every day. This will keep you current in every part of the Bible. After a while, there will not be any part that you have not read recently enough to remember what it teaches. When you reach the end of a volume, simply start again at the first chapter of that volume. In this way, you will be cycling through smaller volumes like #6 and #7 much more often than larger volumes like #2, but the smaller volumes are so much more dense with doctrine that it is profitable to read them over and over more often.

Also, you can listen to recordings of people reading the Bible out loud whenever you need to keep your eyes on something else while you listen (such as keeping your eyes on the road while you are driving, or on a cutting board while you are preparing food, or on your clippers while you are trimming a hedge). In this way, you can listen to the Bible throughout the day, whenever you do not need to be thinking about something else (such as at your workplace or school). Also, you can listen to the Bible even while you are going to sleep, so that it will become part of even your subconscious mind.

*******

yeshuaslavejeff said in post #36:

. . . if the FATHER in HEAVEN gives the understanding/ wisdom of His Word, then it is known.

Exactly right. And He gives it only to His elect.

That is, the elect are those individuals, whether Jews or Gentiles, who were chosen (elected) and predestinated by God before they were born (Romans 9:11-24), and even before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13), to become initially saved by faith in Jesus Christ and His Gospel at some point during their lifetime (Acts 13:48b; 2 Timothy 2:10; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). This initial salvation is possible only because of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross for our sins (Romans 3:25-26), which was also foreordained by God before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:19-20).

Everyone on his own is wholly corrupt (Romans 3:9-12). And so it is impossible for people on their own to ever believe in Jesus Christ and His Gospel and be initially saved (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, John 20:31; 1 John 5:13) through their own will (Romans 9:16, John 1:13, John 6:65) or their own intellect (1 Corinthians 1:18 to 2:16). Unsaved people cannot comprehend the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 1:18), because only initially saved people, who have received the miraculous gift of some measure of God's own Spirit, can comprehend it (1 Corinthians 2:11-16).

Nonelect people can never believe in Jesus Christ and His Gospel and be initially saved, even when they are shown the truth (John 8:42-47, John 10:26, Matthew 13:38-42). For the ability to believe in Jesus and His Gospel comes only to elect individuals (Acts 13:48b) wholly by God's grace as a miraculous gift from God (Ephesians 2:8, John 6:65; 1 Corinthians 3:5b, Romans 12:3b, Hebrews 12:2) as the elect read (or hear) God's Word the Holy Bible (Romans 10:17, Acts 13:48, Acts 26:22-23), just as the ability to repent comes only as a miraculous gift from God (2 Timothy 2:25, Acts 11:18). Satan blinds the minds of non-Christians so that on their own they cannot repent and acknowledge the truth of God's Word (2 Corinthians 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:25-26).

Paul G West Sr · Feb 19, 2019

Neostarwcc said:
It's commonly taught and believed by many Christians that the Bible is a book that is without error. Yet there are many contradictions and errors in the Bible. Why is this? Why do so many Christians (myself included) believe that the Bible is without error when it in fact contains many errors? It makes us not only look stupid to atheists but to other religious groups as well. Is this belief just given to us by the Holy Spirit or is there a reasoning to this?

Jason,

This is from my unpublished book "It Seems To Me":

What I am inferring above, is that the Bible has many apparent contradictions and confusions for a logical mind. Yet, it is only our language (English), small minds, and ignorance of Him, that does not allow us to accept God and the Bible, just as they are. There are truly no clear, complete descriptions of God. But, more than that, it is our language, our mental limitations, and our logi-cal minds, that are not equipped to deal with the apparent contradictions in the Bible and our so-called "religion".

Much in the Word of God, does not make human sense! It is not clear to me, but neither is it necessary for me to make sense of it all, and make it all clear. I am perfectly at peace with the non-clarity of God's Word and with the totality of our beliefs. The trouble is that it forces me to give up one of the very foundations of who I am as a human being, and to totally rely on some-thing that I do not understand. That is an affront to my logic; my psyche, as a human being!

Perhaps, this is part of my own personal, picking up my cross and following Him, each day. That is, I must deny myself (my personal logic/self-psyche) and pick up my cross and follow him each day. My self says that the whole thing is preposterous, and that fact is largely because my mind is logical. My logic is a detriment to following Christ. Jesus says that we must become as little children to enter the kingdom of God. And it occurs to me that little children do not have logical minds, therefore part of my personally becoming like a child, is throwing off the chains of my logical mind.

And, from another section of the book:

Another reason I felt directed to write this book is to reveal the purposeful obfuscations in the Word! The reason for these purposeful misdirections/confusions in the New Testament, are the same reason today, as was the reason for Jesus' speaking in Parables, during His earthly ministry. Had Jesus spoken the truth, in clarity from the very start of His earthly ministry, He would not have lived even the three years that He needed, to accomplish all that He, God and Holy Spirit decided that He/They needed to accomplish prior to His crucifixion!

Today, those two reasons become one; to give man a chance to deny Him! God gives man plenty of rope to hang Himself. He does not want robots for a family, He wants faith-filled lovers of Him/Them, and man is just dying to deny Him; so determined are men to become gods unto themselves!

The Trinity decided, before the foundations of the earth, that Jesus would fulfill all the Messi-anic prophesies of The Old Testament, before going to the cross, and He needed three years to accomplish all of the dozens of Old Testament Prophesies that God, through the Prophets, had promised the jews that their Messiah would do.

UnprofitableServant · Feb 20, 2019

One interesting thought to ponder...
Does the Bible claim to be the Word of God? Is that term given to anything/anyone within the Bible? bit.ly/SecretName
The video above can help answer some of these questions.
This will help put things into the right perspective as we look at what the OP is saying.

In peace

Bible Highlighter · Feb 20, 2019

UnprofitableServant said:
One interesting thought to ponder...
Does the Bible claim to be the Word of God? Is that term given to anything/anyone within the Bible? bit.ly/SecretName
The video above can help answer some of these questions.
This will help put things into the right perspective as we look at what the OP is saying.

In peace

Yes, the Bible refers to the "Word of God" as the Scriptures.

"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him." (Proverbs 30:5).

"Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." (Mark 7:13).

"f he called them gods, unto whom the word of Godcame, and the scripture cannot be broken;" (John 10:35).

The Bible. The infallible word of God?

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Franciscan tssf

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simple truth, martyr, disciple of Yahshua

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Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

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