Question Regarding The Holy Bible

TKA_TN

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If this post is not in the right place, please forgive me and move to the appropriate forum.

I was watching a video about Orthodoxy (specifically from a Greek Orthodox priest) and he was speaking of the Bible, he stated that it is "our book, we can do with it what we want. We wrote this thing and we can do with it what we want."

It didn't go further, in the clip, but does the Orthodox church believe that the Bible is the Divinely Inspired Word of God and without error?

I don't ask this from an argumentative point. I've mentioned previously that I'm interested in attending a Greek Orthodox Church (currently LCMS Lutheran) and just would like a better understanding of the Orthodox point of view.

Thank you for any responses. God bless.
 
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~Anastasia~

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If this post is not in the right place, please forgive me and move to the appropriate forum.

I was watching a video about Orthodoxy (specifically from a Greek Orthodox priest) and he was speaking of the Bible, he stated that it is "our book, we can do with it what we want. We wrote this thing and we can do with it what we want."

It didn't go further, in the clip, but does the Orthodox church believe that the Bible is the Divinely Inspired Word of God and without error?

I don't ask this from an argumentative point. I've mentioned previously that I'm interested in attending a Greek Orthodox Church (currently LCMS Lutheran) and just would like a better understanding of the Orthodox point of view.

Thank you for any responses. God bless.

I can't quite speak to what the priest might have meant by his comment. It's not as though we can choose today to remove books that were agreed upon by the fathers in council.

And there are nuances to your question. We do NOT believe that God somehow "possessed" a person and moved his hand to write. I don't think many denominations would teach this anyway. You can clearly notice the "voice" of different people in different books of Scripture.

Is it inspired? That's actually an interesting question. It's sort of "yes, but ..." There are differing tiers of importance to Scripture, and differing levels of inspiration. Some of the OT books are more along the lines of "beneficial to read". (Remember too that our OT canon is not the same as the Protestant one or exactly the same as the Catholic one either.)

The Gospels, for example, are of prime importance.

As far as error ... several things. The entirety of Scripture is TRUTH. But of course there are charges of such things as contradictions, and they aren't difficult to find (for example some slight variation in the dating of events leading up to and surrounding the Crucifixion, and other differences in accounts). Sometimes these differences can be simply a different point of view or wanting to emphasize a particular event or truth. Sometimes WE might be in error, thinking two similar events are the same and picking up on the differences. And of course translation errors or contextual errors are sometimes an issue. We don't discount the possibility of minor historical discrepancies existing though. They do not take away from the TRUTH of the Holy Scripture.

So ... it kind of depends on what you mean by "inerrant". We do not believe as some Protestants do though - which would mean contradictions could not possibly exist. Because clearly some do, though mostly those are easily seen not to be an error on the part of those who wrote. Some cases could be though.

I welcome correction if anyone else has been told otherwise within Orthodoxy. I've looked into this a bit and several times, but it's not a high priority for me in terms of "working out my salvation." :)
 
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Dansiph

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You can clearly notice the "voice" of different people in different books of Scripture.
I just wanted to add that noticing the different voices is still accepted by those who believe the Bible was written by God and man. Not looking for an argument or anything.
 
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TKA_TN

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I can't quite speak to what the priest might have meant by his comment. It's not as though we can choose today to remove books that were agreed upon by the fathers in council.

And there are nuances to your question. We do NOT believe that God somehow "possessed" a person and moved his hand to write. I don't think many denominations would teach this anyway. You can clearly notice the "voice" of different people in different books of Scripture.

Is it inspired? That's actually an interesting question. It's sort of "yes, but ..." There are differing tiers of importance to Scripture, and differing levels of inspiration. Some of the OT books are more along the lines of "beneficial to read". (Remember too that our OT canon is not the same as the Protestant one or exactly the same as the Catholic one either.)

The Gospels, for example, are of prime importance.

As far as error ... several things. The entirety of Scripture is TRUTH. But of course there are charges of such things as contradictions, and they aren't difficult to find (for example some slight variation in the dating of events leading up to and surrounding the Crucifixion, and other differences in accounts). Sometimes these differences can be simply a different point of view or wanting to emphasize a particular event or truth. Sometimes WE might be in error, thinking two similar events are the same and picking up on the differences. And of course translation errors or contextual errors are sometimes an issue. We don't discount the possibility of minor historical discrepancies existing though. They do not take away from the TRUTH of the Holy Scripture.

So ... it kind of depends on what you mean by "inerrant". We do not believe as some Protestants do though - which would mean contradictions could not possibly exist. Because clearly some do, though mostly those are easily seen not to be an error on the part of those who wrote. Some cases could be though.

I welcome correction if anyone else has been told otherwise within Orthodoxy. I've looked into this a bit and several times, but it's not a high priority for me in terms of "working out my salvation." :)

Thank you so much for your answer. I tend to agree with what you've said regarding Holy Scripture. I just had never heard someone use the phrasing the priest did.
 
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~Anastasia~

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I just wanted to add that noticing the different voices is still accepted by those who believe the Bible was written by God and man. Not looking for an argument or anything.
Right. I don't think many would support the idea of God sort of possessing a person.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the Scriptures being written by God and man. But essentially, we believe the Holy Scriptures to be inspired, so we would say that also. I didn't want to leave it as sounding like we believe they are totally man-made or something, in case anyone misunderstood.
 
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~Anastasia~

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Thank you so much for your answer. I tend to agree with what you've said regarding Holy Scripture. I just had never heard someone use the phrasing the priest did.
Yeah I really don't know what he might have meant by that, so I'm cautious to comment.
 
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Dave-W

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he stated that it is "our book, we can do with it what we want. We wrote this thing and we can do with it what we want."
I would be curious how he squared that with this:

Romans 3:1
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.
 
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ArmyMatt

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I would be curious how he squared that with this:

Romans 3:1
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

why does that need squaring (aside from saying we can do with it what we want)?
 
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Dave-W

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why does that need squaring (aside from saying we can do with it what we want)?
the "aside" is what I am wondering about.
 
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Dansiph

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Right. I don't think many would support the idea of God sort of possessing a person.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the Scriptures being written by God and man. But essentially, we believe the Holy Scriptures to be inspired, so we would say that also. I didn't want to leave it as sounding like we believe they are totally man-made or something, in case anyone misunderstood.
By God and man I just mean man was involved. I'm trying to be careful how I word it but I believe God is the author and man wrote it down.
 
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GreekOrthodox

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If this post is not in the right place, please forgive me and move to the appropriate forum.

I was watching a video about Orthodoxy (specifically from a Greek Orthodox priest) and he was speaking of the Bible, he stated that it is "our book, we can do with it what we want. We wrote this thing and we can do with it what we want."

When I was at seminary, one of the conclusions of my OT professor is that the Scriptures and what is accepted and taught is really up to the community that believes it. Catholics will always find Petrine supremacy, Lutherans will find justification by faith alone, Baptists will always find believers baptism, yet we're all reading the same Scriptures. So in a sense, yes, it is our book and we are going to interpret it through some self-defined lens. FYI, I was born and raise LCMS and served as an elder for 10 years so I can help answer questions from that perspective.
 
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TKA_TN

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When I was at seminary, one of the conclusions of my OT professor is that the Scriptures and what is accepted and taught is really up to the community that believes it. Catholics will always find Petrine supremacy, Lutherans will find justification by faith alone, Baptists will always find believers baptism, yet we're all reading the same Scriptures. So in a sense, yes, it is our book and we are going to interpret it through some self-defined lens. FYI, I was born and raise LCMS and served as an elder for 10 years so I can help answer questions from that perspective.

What made you leave the LCMS? I enjoy the fellowship and my pastor is truly a shepherd. There's just still something missing for me, and I can't figure that out.
 
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~Anastasia~

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By God and man I just mean man was involved. I'm trying to be careful how I word it but I believe God is the author and man wrote it down.
No problem. I just wanted to prevent any misunderstanding of what we believe. :)
 
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GreekOrthodox

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What made you leave the LCMS? I enjoy the fellowship and my pastor is truly a shepherd. There's just still something missing for me, and I can't figure that out.

This was back in late 90s to 2001. Basically our suburban parish was trying to be more "contemporary". We had praise bands and "Bible" studies on classic Scriptural classics such as "Who Moved My Cheese". One morning, the praise band finished their set with "Shine Jesus Shine" for the first half of the service and the organist started playing the Agnus Dei from the 1940 hymnal for communion. It was SO jarring that my wife and I both looked at each other, got up and never went back. I had studied the Orthodox church for my religious studies degree (I have a BS in Chemical Engineering and a BA in Religous Studies) so I suggested Orthodoxy. The first time we went we walked into this church, and my wife turned to me and said, "that's it, we're home". and we attended GO, OCA, ROCOR, and Antiochian churches. We didnt convert at this parish but a small GO parish near our house, but our journey home started here.
7443972652_a1b622f576_z.jpg
 
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If this post is not in the right place, please forgive me and move to the appropriate forum.

I was watching a video about Orthodoxy (specifically from a Greek Orthodox priest) and he was speaking of the Bible, he stated that it is "our book, we can do with it what we want. We wrote this thing and we can do with it what we want."

It didn't go further, in the clip, but does the Orthodox church believe that the Bible is the Divinely Inspired Word of God and without error?

I don't ask this from an argumentative point. I've mentioned previously that I'm interested in attending a Greek Orthodox Church (currently LCMS Lutheran) and just would like a better understanding of the Orthodox point of view.

Thank you for any responses. God bless.

Just a word of advice... How I ended up LCMS was in part to the local Greek parish not responding to my inquiries. If you read Peter Gilquists book, he got a less than warm welcome in Constantinople. If it wasn't for the efforts of Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) he may not have led his parish in.

I would suggest the Antiochian, the ROCOR, the OCA as initial points of inquiry first.

The other thing you can do is start with some baby steps of Orthopraxy. Put an orthodox calendar on your phone and keep the fasts. Get a Jordanville Prayer Book and use it for your morning and evening devotions. Get an idea icon or two and a prayer rope to help focus your mind. I do all these things.

For me, this is as far as it will go for now as there are no other orthodox parishes nearby.
 
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TKA_TN

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Just a word of advice... How I ended up LCMS was in part to the local Greek parish not responding to my inquiries. If you read Peter Gilquists book, he got a less than warm welcome in Constantinople. If it wasn't for the efforts of Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) he may not have led his parish in.

I would suggest the Antiochian, the ROCOR, the OCA as initial points of inquiry first.

The other thing you can do is start with some baby steps of Orthopraxy. Put an orthodox calendar on your phone and keep the fasts. Get a Jordanville Prayer Book and use it for your morning and evening devotions. Get an idea icon or two and a prayer rope to help focus your mind. I do all these things.

For me, this is as far as it will go for now as there are no other orthodox parishes nearby.

Thank you. There’s only a Greek Orthodox in my city, so I’m limited in my options. There might be one other (not sure if Greek or other) but looks like it may have 50 members.

I’ve downloaded the Greek Orthodox app and am preparing to keep the fasts slowly. Started with the Eucharist Fast. Working my way on the Wednesday and Friday ones.
 
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