How do we know that the Bible is actually the Word of God?

[SharonL]

One way you can know that the Bible is God's Word is to look at prophesy - that is one reason God gave us Prophesy - what was prophesied over 2,500 years ago is coming true just as if you were reading the newspaper. Over 500 prophesies have come true and every day you will see more and more. If you follow the words in the Bible about Israel it will show you how true the Bible is - the Bible tells us exactly what would happen to Israel and every day it is coming true. I use Israel because it is easy to follow what is happening and match it up with the Bible.

 

[a_ntv]

How do we know that the Bible is actually the Word of God?

The answer is only one: we believe in the Bible because we was taught so by who taught us the faith, and so back to the Apostles (we Catholics call this: Tradition). We believe in the Bible because of Tradition.

All other explanations cant stand,
Internal Evidence: it applies also (and better) to the Book of Mormons or to the Qur'an
Historical Accuracy: read whichever serious book of archaeological history and later on we can speak
Number of Manuscript Copies: unfortunately the differences among the copies are many and important
Consistency: apply also to the Qur'an (it is the so called "Miracle of Qur'an")
External Evidences: for example someone above cited the destruction forever of Tyre (Ez28) : here a nice photo of today Tyre

Again, the only reason in believing the Bible is the Tradition, the teaching of the Christians older than us. And it is a great reason, because Christ did not wrote books but simply taught His disciples, who in turn taught their disciples till you and me.

 

[SkyWriting]

The answer is only one: we believe in the Bible because we was taught so by who taught us the faith, and so back to the Apostles (we Catholics call this: Tradition). We believe in the Bible because of Tradition.

All other explanations cant stand,
Internal Evidence: it applies also (and better) to the Book of Mormons or to the Qur'an
Historical Accuracy: read whichever serious book of archaeological history and later on we can speak
Number of Manuscript Copies: unfortunately the differences among the copies are many and important
Consistency: apply also to the Qur'an (it is the so called "Miracle of Qur'an")
External Evidences: for example someone above cited the destruction forever of Tyre (Ez28) : here a nice photo of today Tyre

Again, the only reason in believing the Bible is the Tradition, the teaching of the Christians older than us. And it is a great reason, because Christ did not wrote books but simply taught His disciples, who in turn taught their disciples till you and me.

I personally find tradition to be the weakest link.
I learned nothing of the bible through my home church.

And each of your other opposing arguments are weaker still.
Each of your arguments avoid any facts except for Tyre.
Which is not really an example of "External Evidences", but is one of prophecy. The prophecy does not state that no town will ever use
the name of the destroyed city of Tyre.
Still, if you read the cities own description of itself anyone living there
would tell you that Tyre was destroyed and never rebuilt.

Nobody would confuse the current town with the ruins that can still be seen.

 

[heymikey80]

This is an interesting question that I'm having trouble with myself. It seems that for the most part, when the question "How do we know the Bible is the word of God" is asked, the answer is "Because the Bible says so".. and well, that's just flawed.

I do like the explanation that God speaks to us while reading the Bible and it is up to us to listen to what He is saying to us. I've never heard it said like that before.

Yes, it's a great answer. If I may, if the Bible really is the sole infallible word of God, all the alternatives are also flawed.

That's the trouble with living in a flawed world -- no matter how you approach some absolute issues, the approach is always flawed.

If we're limited creatures who left our reliance on the Absolute, we've really lost the ability to recognize absolutes. We have to reconnect to that source of absolute information before we can get back to receiving that absolute information. It's just needed to get "out of ourselves", because we're limited.

I've also struggled through these insurmountable barriers. And really the only way through them is diving in. Some won't do it, either, and remain beggars on this count.

But others will. And we find our hopes confirmed. At that point, we're beggars telling others where to find bread.

 

[xTx]

The answer is only one: we believe in the Bible because we was taught so by who taught us the faith, and so back to the Apostles (we Catholics call this: Tradition). We believe in the Bible because of Tradition.

All other explanations cant stand,
Internal Evidence: it applies also (and better) to the Book of Mormons or to the Qur'an
Historical Accuracy: read whichever serious book of archaeological history and later on we can speak
Number of Manuscript Copies: unfortunately the differences among the copies are many and important
Consistency: apply also to the Qur'an (it is the so called "Miracle of Qur'an")
External Evidences: for example someone above cited the destruction forever of Tyre (Ez28) : here a nice photo of today Tyre

Again, the only reason in believing the Bible is the Tradition, the teaching of the Christians older than us. And it is a great reason, because Christ did not wrote books but simply taught His disciples, who in turn taught their disciples till you and me.

How do you know the tradition is trustworthy?

 

[a_ntv]

And each of your other opposing arguments are weaker still.

How do you know the tradition is trustworthy?

I suppose that this area is not for debate among Christians. I wanted simply to give the main reason that makes me believe that the Bible is actually the Word of God, the only reason that for me can work.

If you would like to discuss about this issue we can post in other sections, as in Theology - Christian Scriptures

 

[LBP]

This is an interesting question that I'm having trouble with myself. It seems that for the most part, when the question "How do we know the Bible is the word of God" is asked, the answer is "Because the Bible says so".. and well, that's just flawed.

I do like the explanation that God speaks to us while reading the Bible and it is up to us to listen to what He is saying to us. I've never heard it said like that before.

I've been a Christian for many years, having actually been involved in some fundamentalist organizations like Campus Crusade a long time ago, and my view of the Bible has evolved over the years to something along the lines of what is suggested by your second paragraph. I know that many Christians vehemently disagree, but I strongly believe that giving "Biblical inerrancy" primacy over one's relationship with the living God is the big problem with the current state of Christendom. These days, I take the Bible with a very large grain of salt, as a very flawed and very human book reflecting some very primitive notions. Believing that I have a relationship with the living God, I try to read the Bible with a prayerful attitude and let its broad truths unfold for me without bogging down in doctrinal minutiae, without worry about its inerrancy, and without letting it drive my relationship with the living God. This, of course, places me way, way outside the Christian mainstream, but since adopting this attitude I feel like I have been released from a straightjacket and that my relationship with God actually has some real substance to it. Speaking only for myself -- and I want to be clear about that, since I know most people have very different views -- I found that trying to buy into the Bible as the literal word of God from start to finish was making me feel like a fool who was denying his own God-given intelligence and moral sense and that pretending to believe words I could not possible believe would have eventually destroyed my relationship with God, not enhanced it.

 

[a_ntv]

I've been a Christian for many years, having actually been involved in some fundamentalist organizations like Campus Crusade a long time ago, and my view of the Bible has evolved over the years to something along the lines of what is suggested by your second paragraph. I know that many Christians vehemently disagree, but I strongly believe that giving "Biblical inerrancy" primacy over one's relationship with the living God is the big problem with the current state of Christendom.

You are right !
For a Christian first is Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God.
All the other things, Bible included, are consequences and come later.

Believing that I have a relationship with the living God, I try to read the Bible with a prayerful attitude and let its broad truths unfold for me without bogging down in doctrinal minutiae, without worry about its inerrancy, and without letting it drive my relationship with the living God. This, of course, places me way, way outside the Christian mainstream, ...

No, you are not outside the Christian mainstream. The majority of Christians, Catholics+Orthodox, agree with you.

 

[xTx]

I suppose that this area is not for debate among Christians. I wanted simply to give the main reason that makes me believe that the Bible is actually the Word of God, the only reason that for me can work.

If you would like to discuss about this issue we can post in other sections, as in Theology - Christian Scriptures

No worries. I have faith that the bible is personally protected by God. I just wanted to be able to answer people when they ask me about the bible. I have been asked before. And, I remembered saying that the visible church that I know of, which is the RCC, has protected the bible. Kind of weak. But, that is the only church that came to my mind. The other churches started much later. It is not easy to convince the people who were asking me, plus they are so sophisticated as in highly educated. I hope I gave the right answer that is all. And, I was asked why isn't the bible in the original language. I said people won't understand it. I was informed they know their holy book in the original language. What if your bible got misinterpreted. I said, the people who interpret the bible will not dare misinterprete the bible because they are answerable to God. They were not very convince with my answers I could tell. One of the reasons I went online was to search about the authenticity of the bible and stumbled upon this site.

 

[xTx]

I've been a Christian for many years, having actually been involved in some fundamentalist organizations like Campus Crusade a long time ago, and my view of the Bible has evolved over the years to something along the lines of what is suggested by your second paragraph. I know that many Christians vehemently disagree, but I strongly believe that giving "Biblical inerrancy" primacy over one's relationship with the living God is the big problem with the current state of Christendom. These days, I take the Bible with a very large grain of salt, as a very flawed and very human book reflecting some very primitive notions. Believing that I have a relationship with the living God, I try to read the Bible with a prayerful attitude and let its broad truths unfold for me without bogging down in doctrinal minutiae, without worry about its inerrancy, and without letting it drive my relationship with the living God. This, of course, places me way, way outside the Christian mainstream, but since adopting this attitude I feel like I have been released from a straightjacket and that my relationship with God actually has some real substance to it. Speaking only for myself -- and I want to be clear about that, since I know most people have very different views -- I found that trying to buy into the Bible as the literal word of God from start to finish was making me feel like a fool who was denying his own God-given intelligence and moral sense and that pretending to believe words I could not possible believe would have eventually destroyed my relationship with God, not enhanced it.

Personally, speaking for myself - I think God is so great, it is difficult to put all of God in a book. Can a printer put the beautiful sunrise in the book? Can the publisher put the miracle of babies coming into the world into a book? Can the author write everything that Jesus said? Jesus lived on earth for more than 30 years. The bible would be very, very thick and run into many volumes, I would imagine, if every word and act that Jesus did was recorded like as minuted down. [It is impossible even to record what was said in a business meeting, without a type recorder]. No, the writers of the bible knew what they were doing. The bible has been 'edited' to give us the gist or summary about what to do to have a relationship with God. Peace.

 

[SkyWriting]

...And, I remembered saying that the visible church that I know of, which is the RCC, has protected the bible. Kind of weak. But, that is the only church that came to my mind. The other churches started much later. ...

You can read about church groups in the scriptures themselves.
So no one should claim to be first. Nor would it matter, because
the purpose of the letters to the churches is to correct them anyway.

 

[xTx]

You can read about church groups in the scriptures themselves.
So no one should claim to be first. Nor would it matter, because
the purpose of the letters to the churches is to correct them anyway.

Respect