Books

[maniacmaniacmaniac]

Hi guys.

I have a question for everyone, which I think is very important in choosing a religion.

I'm pretty sure that we all agree that The Bible was written by men. So here's the question: if the Bible was written by men, are Christians believing in God, or the writings of men who claim that the "Word" is from God?

If the answer is the former of the two, which I undoubtedly know the majority of responder will pick, how do you figure that the Bible is really from God?

 

[Van]

Hi MMM, why do Christians believe the Bible is the Word of God?

Our Bible is collection of writings that were put together by folks who were trying to recognize what was the Word of God for inclusion, and what claimed to be the word of God but was not for exclusion. One of the tests is whether the folks for which the books were written accepted them as true. So for example the Christians that witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus, did they accept the gospel accounts as true. They, or their children, did.

Let me give you an example from our time. Not too many years ago, the Enola Gay was put on display. Signs telling the story of that mission were developed, based on the views of 50 years later. When the word got out, there was a big stink, and the director of the Museum nearly lost his job. You see, there were enough folks who had been alive at the time, or the kids of those who flew the mission, that they knew the account did not accurately reflect what actually happened.

So the fact that much of the New Testament was written well within 50 years of the life of Christ and was accepted by the early church speaks for the validity of the accounts.

 

[DerSchweik]

I'm pretty sure that we all agree that The Bible was written by men. So here's the question: if the Bible was written by men, are Christians believing in God, or the writings of men who claim that the "Word" is from God?

If the answer is the former of the two, which I undoubtedly know the majority of responder will pick, how do you figure that the Bible is really from God?

Yes, the bible was written by men - in fact, the bible was written over roughly a 1500 year span (from ~1400 B.C to ~A.D. 100), 66 different books, letters, prophecies, poems, etc. by men from diverse walks of life, kings, peasants, fishermen, poets, scholars, etc., from different generations, different times/eras, on different continents (Asia, Africa, Europe), and in different languages (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic).

It is the most popular book in the history of the world - more copies of the bible have been purchased than any other book, ever (though arguably the number of purchases doesn't equate to how often it's actually read), and the bible is the most translated book in the world - into more languages than any other book, ever.

Christians believe the men who wrote the bible did so as they were inspired by God to write. In this sense, we believe God is the actual author of the bible.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:16

While this may be difficult for some to accept, the notion of "inspiration" drives ALL authors to write what they do and it is the veracity of that inspiration that leads one to believe what the author has written, whether it is words of their own smithing, or from someone else.

As to that veracity, one cannot - indeed SHOULD not come to a belief in anything they have not themselves actually read. For some, the mere notion that a book has been inspired by God is foolishness because they don't even believe God exists - which is a first premise for them, and a seemingly insurmountable hurdle to boot.

Christians arguably "know" - but certainly "believe" God wrote the bible on the basis of their having read (and studied) it. Such belief, or faith in God's authorship is, imo, primarily a function of what they read and how what they read touched them.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. - Hebrews 4:12

When one reads or hears things of themself that only they know to be true, their ears (or eyes) tend to open a little wider and pay a little more attention to what the writer has to say. And fwiw, I think we are all inquisitive in that regard - wanting to know the truth, particularly of things we only have an inkling. Some go to the Tarot, mediums, soothsayers, the daily horoscope, their psychologist, or family, friends; some seek it through experiences, education, etc.

But those who have taken the time to actually sit down and read the bible, or have someone explain it to them as they read, discover truths about themselves, about others, about the world - seeds of truth that in time (and study) grow into a genuine faith.

...faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word [of Christ]. - Romans 10:17

So I guess in answer to your question - "how do we know the bible is from God?" - faith. We trust what we've read and studied, having overlaid it with what we know to be true, tested it repeatedly (and always) for consistency, and having found no loopholes, conclude as we do.

 

[Bryanfromiowa]

You will find two different schools of thought the first is that the bible is the actual word of god, men were holding the pens that wrote the words but god supernatually told thme what to write.

The second is that the bible is the inspired word of god. Inspired by god but written and influenced by men.

Either way the bible is from god yes great question keep asking them please

 

[marlowe007]

In my view, the Bible is a human document interpreting the will of God, and it had human alterations made to it for good or ill, and so what we have is incomplete. That Christians as early as the time of Paul, had tampered with the original meaning and message of Jesus, seems highly probable. But I believe myself to be grown-up enough to read a religious text, however blemished, and winnow the wheat from the chaff all by myself.

 

[ephraimanesti]

Hi guys.

I have a question for everyone, which I think is very important in choosing a religion.

I'm pretty sure that we all agree that The Bible was written by men. So here's the question: if the Bible was written by men, are Christians believing in God, or the writings of men who claim that the "Word" is from God?

If the answer is the former of the two, which I undoubtedly know the majority of responder will pick, how do you figure that the Bible is really from God?

MY FRIEND,

Of course the Bible was written by men, but these men were especially chosen and inspired by God in what they wrote so that God could get His message--clear and unadulterated--to mankind.

Are there "mistakes" as a result of God's usage of flawed vessels? Possibly. But none of these "mistakes", if so they be, have any bearing or effect on the message of Salvation God has graciously proclaimed through human instruments.

A BOND-SLAVE/FRIEND/BROTHER OF OUR LORD/GOD/SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST,
ephraim

 

[AvgJoe]

Hi guys.

I have a question for everyone, which I think is very important in choosing a religion.

I'm pretty sure that we all agree that The Bible was written by men. So here's the question: if the Bible was written by men, are Christians believing in God, or the writings of men who claim that the "Word" is from God?

The Bible was written over a period of 1,600 years, by 40, God chosen, men. These men lived on 3 separate continents, yet they all wrote about the same thing, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There were no mail delivery trucks, no drop ship planes, no Federal Express, no UPS, no phones and no email, yet when all of the writings were put together they present one unified message. The Bible is truly the word of God.

If the answer is the former of the two, which I undoubtedly know the majority of responder will pick, how do you figure that the Bible is really from God?

There are many proofs for the Bible;

1. Its honesty: The Bible is painfully honest. It shows Jacob, the father of its "chosen people," to be a deceiver. It describes Moses, the lawgiver, as an insecure, reluctant leader, who, in his first attempt to come to the aid of his own people, killed a man, and then ran for life to the desert. It portrays David not only as Israel's most loved king, general, and spiritual leader, but as one who took another man's wife and then, to cover his own sin, conspired to have her husband killed. Instead of glossing over the failures of it's people, the Bible displays the truth for all to see.
2. Its preservation: The finding of the Dead Sea scrolls yielded documents that had been hidden for two millennia, containing manuscripts that predated previous oldest copies by 1,000 years. One of the most important was a copy of Isaiah. It revealed a document that is essentially the same as the book of Isaiah that appears in our own Bibles. The Dead Sea scrolls discredited the claims of those who believed that the original Bible had been lost to time and tampering.
3. Its historical and geographical accuracy: Down through the ages, many have doubted the historical and geographical accuracy of the Bible. Yet modern archeologists have repeatedly unearthed evidence of the people, places, and cultures described in the Scriptures. Time after time, the descriptions in the biblical record have been shown to be more reliable than the speculations of scholars. The modern visitor to the museums and lands of the Bible cannot help but come away impressed with the real geographical and historical backdrop of the biblical text.
4. Its survival: The books of Moses were written 500 years before the earliest Hindu Scriptures. Moses wrote Genesis 2,000 years before Muhammad penned the Koran. During that long history, no other book has been as loved or as hated as the Bible. No other book has been so consistently bought, studied, and quoted as this book. While millions of other titles come and go, the Bible is still the book by which all other books are measured. While often ignored by those who are uncomfortable with its teachings, it is still the central book of Western civilization.
5. Its power to change lives: The followers of Christ have marched forth in His name armed with commandments of love and have turned the world upside down. Organizations working in the name of God's precious son Jesus have fed more hungry, housed and clothed more poor, ministered to more sick, visited more prisoners and educated more illiterate than all the world's other organizations combined. In His name, more broken hearts have been mended, more broken homes restored, more hope given to the hopeless, more widows and orphans cared for than by any other. In His name untold multitudes of alcoholics and drug addicts have been delivered and restored to their households. Prostitutes have been redeemed and wayward children restored to their families. In Jesus name more hospitals have been commissioned, more colleges and universities established, more missionaries funded and dispatched, and more charitable organizations chartered than by any other name. Many years ago an anonymous writer clearly summed up this matter in this following statement:
   
   He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. Until He was thirty, He worked in a carpenter's shop and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He wrote no books. He held no office. He never owned a home. He was never in a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. The authorities condemned His teachings. His friends deserted Him. One betrayed Him to His enemies for a paltry sum. One denied Him. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed on a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He owned on earth: His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave.
   ​
   Nineteen centuries have come and gone, yet today He is the crowning glory of the human race, the adored leader of hundreds of millions of the earth's inhabitants. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built, all the parliaments that ever sat and all the rulers that ever reigned -- put together -- have not affected the life of man upon this earth so profoundly as that One Solitary Life.
   ​
6. True scientific statements found within its pages: Many people doubt the Bible for various reasons. One of them is that the Bible is not accurate scientifically. But this just isn't so. The Bible is not a book about science, but when it does speak scientifically, it is accurate. In fact, it was far ahead of any other writing of its time. The Bible contains some scientific statements that were not discovered until 100s or 1,000s of years later. How could this be, unless it came from the all-knowing God, Creator of the universe? http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/science.shtml
7. Its fulfilled prophecy: This body of evidence, of fulfilled prophecy, has been the most defining for me, personally. Only God can tell us of something that is going to happen, 100s or even 1,000s of years before it actually does happen. Click the following link for a few detailed fulfilled prophecies: http://www.sotl.org/public/proofs.htm

These are many of the reasons that I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Bible is the real word of God.

​

 

[freeport]

Hi guys.

I have a question for everyone, which I think is very important in choosing a religion.

I'm pretty sure that we all agree that The Bible was written by men. So here's the question: if the Bible was written by men, are Christians believing in God, or the writings of men who claim that the "Word" is from God?

If the answer is the former of the two, which I undoubtedly know the majority of responder will pick, how do you figure that the Bible is really from God?

We believe only God is good and the only way to eternal life and so having good deeds is through the Holy Spirit of God indwelling, and that is through believing in Jesus Christ.

We believe Scripture did not come about by men of their own works and words, but by the Holy Spirit moving them.

Therefore, God wrote the Bible using men as vehicles for the writing. Man did not, in the sense you imply, write the Bible.


We believe the Bible because the Spirit in us tells us it is true and shows us how it is true and from God. Jesus is the truth.