A reply by Joykins to another question of mine caused me to ask this one...what does it mean when we say the authors of the Bible were inspired? On the one hand, folks who find faults/contradictions with the Bible will often say that because the Bible was written by men, we would expect these problems. On the other hand, if the Bible is the inspired Word of God, we shouldn't see errors (creation account). So, was the Bible written by God through the hands of men, or was it written by men who felt "moved" to write what they knew of God at the time.
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What does it mean to be inspired?
- Thread starter filly
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#3... It was written by men whose intellects God inspired through grace to protect them from teaching error.
God Bless,
Neal
God Bless,
Neal
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I've got a good quote by an Orthodox theologian that I'll post when I get back to the house.
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That was actually the gist of the statement that I wanted to post later. No disagreement here. 
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Espada
Iēsous Christos Theou Huios Sōtēr
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I personally prefer the NIV translation "God breathed" which is closer to what was meant. The original Greek certainly meant there was communication from God.
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filly said:
Here's one thought I had which comes from 1 Cor. 2:6-16.
Wisdom From the Spirit
6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him" 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
16"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
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depthdeception
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filly said:
The Scriptures were written by men who were responding to the self-revelation of God in Christ. "Inspired" does not mean that God told them what to write.
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dvd_holc
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God effectively revealed himself to humanity by the use of men as we are his image bearers whether it was by oral communications, physical actions, or written communications. God has 100% revealed his purpose of true being for us here and now through the bible. The events in that are recorded in the bible (example: creation and flood) are 100%. Sometimes, the writers spoken of events as in imagery that expressed a particular worldview. Example: the gold that Solomon collected by his tax was 666. I believe that with all the things Solomon collected his gold collection was literary 666, and it was God acted in the physical realm to display that this tax is against him. Likewise, many of the signs and wonders that were done where done to subvert the competing stories and bring everyone back to God.
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California Tim
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It means they were obedient in yielding to the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit when writing scripture. It also means we can accept the concept that a God powerful enough to create the universe, or who can write commandments directly onto stone tablets in His own hand if He wishes, is also capable of accurately and reliably transmitting His written word to mankind through men willing to submit to His Spirit. Such inspiration by the Holy Spirit protects the message from contamination or limitation by non-inspired thoughts, reason or knowledge of said men (authors).filly said:
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linssue55 said:
This thought is just off the top of my thinking-cap.
Think about what God-breathed means. To me it means to give it life and meaning. When God made Adam, He gave him life by breathing into him. Adam was created, but wasn't given life until God breathed into him.
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
The scriptures were written by man filled with the Holy Spirit, but God gave the scriptures life and meaning by "breathing" into them.
This isn't major theology here...just my thinking of it to put it into my understanding...
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"For the Fathers, authority is not only the Bible, but the Bible plus those glorified or divinized as the prophets and apostles. The Bible is not in itself either inspired or infallible. It becomes inspired and infallible within the communion of saints because they have the experience of divine glory described in the Bible." Professor John Romanides of the University of Thessaloniki
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Ok, so let me take the majority's view here and paraphrase: Scripture is God's Word, written by men, but with the requisite knowlege/sprit indwelling within them to ensure it is without error. So, that said, back to the question the roots around in me constantly...why does the creation account (God's Word) conflict with the overwhelming scientific evidence at our disposal today?
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depthdeception
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dvd_holc said:
No, God revealed Godself through Christ, the Word and self-revelation of God. The Scriptures are human testimony to this self-revelation, but they are not in themselves the revelation.
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filly said:
They didn't mearly feel "moved", they were received inspiration from God. Of course they were not robots. The put their own personality into their writing as can be seen by comparing the different inspired writers.
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dvd_holc
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I guess Peter, John the Baptist, Isaiah, Moses, don't count. Also, I guess the angels to whom God spoke through as the angels spoke, the LORD says, "XXXX". I guess when the servents of God that are human likewise said the same....all don't count. We are lead of the Spirit:depthdeception said:
Gal 5:
16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
It is by the Holy Spirit who testifies through us.
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isshinwhat said:
6 literal days of creation...not all animals/man lived on Earth at the same time...the universe isn't 6 or 7 thousand years old. I don't know these things as fact, but the overwhelming scientific evidence shows the earth to be over 4 billion years old and that we weren't the first in our lineage. I'm not debating...I just want to know why there is disagreement. Again, if the Bible authors were inspired, meaning that the Bible would be without error, then why is it in error?
I'm just trying to explore possible answers.
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