from The Devil's Dictionary

[thispoorman]

Being of a literary bent, I was reading the mentioned book by Ambrose Bierce, and ran across his definition of "Scripture:" "The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based."

In your opinion, is this just snark, or is he making a real point, and if so, what would you say it is, and what would you say about it? I'm recovering from a period of allowing myself to be blown about by various winds of doctrine, and am trying to trim my sails, so I'd really be interested in any arguments you use to justify the Bible as THE word of God, as against anything that any other culture or tradition has to say.

I realize that this is likely a more fundamental and radical question than many in this forum, but again, I'd appreciate reading any thoughts.

 

[alexandriaisburning]

Being of a literary bent, I was reading the mentioned book by Ambrose Bierce, and ran across his definition of "Scripture:" "The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based."

In your opinion, is this just snark, or is he making a real point, and if so, what would you say it is, and what would you say about it? I'm recovering from a period of allowing myself to be blown about by various winds of doctrine, and am trying to trim my sails, so I'd really be interested in any arguments you use to justify the Bible as THE word of God, as against anything that any other culture or tradition has to say.

I realize that this is likely a more fundamental and radical question than many in this forum, but again, I'd appreciate reading any thoughts.

The Scriptures are the book of Christians simply because they are; there is no objective criteria by which they can be "proven" to be "true" over and against any other writing. Christians cherish the words of Scripture, not because they are objectively proven to be true, but because they are the words that resonate with our faith, our experience, and our history. Apart from participation within the community of believers, this cannot be demonstrated.

 

[Thedictator]

The Scriptures are the only source of authority from God. God gave all authority to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ gave that authority to the Apostles, the Apostles placed that authority by way of the Holy Spirit into the Scriptures they wrote. We have no other way today to understand what God will is for Humanity. The only way we can know who God is, what his nature is, what his law is, what his love encompasses, what our nature is, what sin is, how to gain salvation, The origin of life is through the Holy Scriptures. Any other way is by man own invention.

 

[Greg J.]

... "The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based."

It's not a statement that is complete snark. It is a comment twisted in a snarky way, though, which can alter the meaning of the whole thing, especially nuances that might otherwise provide good information.

The problem here is that he is helping us to objectify religion—to sort of think that religion is the basis of our ... religion. And he is conveying the attitude that our holy writings are no different than other holy writings, except we have chosen to adopt some and reject others.

But if the very real, living God isn't your starting point and goal, then what follows will probably have a twisted focus.

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Corinthians 4:3-4, 1984 NIV)

There is only one source for Paul of what he should or shouldn't do—God himself.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, ... (Hebrews 12:2a, 1984 NIV) The help of other people and holy writings are invaluable, but Christians are not "people of the book." We are people of God himself.

While most would say "of course" to the above, one should examine himself and ask if that is perspective he has when he is evaluating Scripture (or anything else, such as what to do today). The Holy Scriptures don't have my name in them. That is, they were written a long time ago by some people I never know to people I never knew. They are given so that I might know God.

As such, Scriptures are a lamp to our feet and a light for our path (from Psalm 119:105), not something we worship. While it is the living Word, it is that because of Holy Spirit himself. They are holy, because they were a gift from God to help us to God himself.

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. ... (John 16:12-13a, 1984 NIV)

When a person has considered himself a Christian for some years, and he still is not personally connected to the God who personally communicates to us, usually it is because he hasn't yielded himself 100% 24x7 to God. When he chooses to put Jesus at the center of everything in his life, he will want to understand Scripture so that he knows more about God. Obedience is then what clears away the hindrances in between a person and God himself.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ... Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (bold mine, James 4:7-8, 10, 1984 NIV)

Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39, 1984 NIV)

The kind of people we use a guides to God should ideally be people for whom the above has been a regular experience for decades. And yet, their primary purpose should be to help you connect directly with God. While we are working this out, thankfully, the unchanging Bible provides us with a sanity check on anything we think we are supposed to be doing (or not doing). It is priceless not only for what we can learn about God, but also so we can learn what is not of God.

So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. (bold mine, Galatians 3:24-25, 1984 NIV)

The Bible are our writings because they are exactly what God wanted us to have to find him. It will require faith to accept the Bible as from God, but for that we try to understand specifically what evidence we have for that. The bottom line is: because it works. God keeps his promises. It may not seem to be working for a person, but that is not evidence against the Bible being authoritative, it is evidence of not understanding God's Word and/or not doing what God said to connect to him. Qualified teachers of the Truth (2 Timothy 2:2) should ideally be helping you to find pertinent passages and learn how to interpret Scripture more than telling you what you should or shouldn't do "because the Bible says so." However, because everyone hears what they "should" or "shouldn't" do, be like the Bereans:

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11, 1984 NIV)

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. (John 14:21, 1984 NIV)

 

[cannot be known]

there is enough stuff in the bible that is from other long lost sources, such as king Lemuel's mom.. to suggest that God has spoken to millions of people throughout history and had those things been written down, they would have been found true. allegedly this occured with regard to the prophecies of Jesus Christ which could not even be read nor understood by anyone, until after their eyes were open and what was spoken was fufilled. (meaning, certain prophecies were not considered God's word because they could not be understood) if you can imagine what happens in certain churches when someone says "i am commanded to do xyz" and a visceral uproar of "that's not in the bible" immediately follows.. well i can hardly imagine what it was like when a few thousand people declared Jesus to be the Messiah.

so when someone disagrees with Paul, or says, hey look, there is nothing antichrist in the life advice allegeldly given by Jesus recorded in certain "other texts" well.. you get the idea.

But if you stick with only the prophecies of Jesus Christ, and the words of Jesus Christ as recorded by at least two witnesses, then you can't go wrong. furthermore the Character of God is self evident.. i got into a very interesting argument with a Calvinist about this. he said it isn't, basically, he was saying that you need someone to teach you the Character of Jesus.. well, i disagree. go read the gospels and note where Jesus says "you have no need of anyone to teach you.

I'd really be interested in any arguments you use to justify the Bible as THE word of God, as against anything that any other culture or tradition has to say.

fundamentally that is impossible. its like trying to prove God exists.

being able to predict the future isn't even a good enough test. this is explained in Deut 13