How do you know what the word of god is?

Question

The Bible is mostly oral tradition that was told to someone who told it to someone else etc. who finally wrote it down, so it can't be literally true. So how can you know what god is like and what he/she wants us to do?

Answer 1

First, God is NOT he or she: God is a Spirit and has no gender. Second, the New testament was written by eye witnesses less than one hundred years from the time Christ ascended into heaven. The scribes had to follow EXTREMELY strict rules when copying scripture from one manuscript to another. There was NO hear-say whatsoever. They weren't even allowed to copy by memorization! They had to copy every letter and then count the letters and make sure that they were the as the original they had just copied from. The Bible we have to is very, very accurate and you CAN trust it!

Answer 2

The Bible is no more God's words than is the Gita or the Koran or the Adi Granth or any of the other so called Holy Books. It is all in your belief and faith.

God is a spirit that exists in each of us and in everything. Has no magical powers or miraculous powers or anything of that sort. the only thing that this God or whatever wants from us is do no harm to others by word or deed.

You are right in saying that the Bible is oral tradition. Many religious texts are. Many words got lost or added in the translations. Meanings changed. As the story progressed it became better and better. Miracles were added. All in all, it is all in what you want to beleive. Nothing in the Bible has been proved. You can interpret it anyway you want.

Answer 3

Actually, as far as the New Testament is concerned, the books that make it up were written between the years 50 AD and 95 AD. (Jesus rose from the dead in 29/30 AD). So they were never oral traditions.

We know that the books were written that early because in the writings of others, both early church leaders and non-Christian historians, we have at least one quote (and for must books much much more) from 24 of the 27 New Testament books all quoted between 50 and 110 AD.

If every copy of the New Testament were to disappear, we could recreate all by 11 verses of it from letter, commentaries, histories, and other books written before 200AD. (Doesn't sound like there was a whole lot of somebody telling somebody for hundreds of years in that.)

There exist yet today over 5300 manuscripts of the New Testament in its orginal language copied before 1000 AD. In comparing these manscripts, there are 40 lines in the entire thing that vary between the 5300 manuscripts (often with 1 of the 5300 having a different word or spelling). That's less then 0.01% variation. Compare to Homer's the Illiad. We have only about 650 manuscripts of it from before 1500 AD. Almost 800 lines vary between those manuscripts. There are no 2 copies in agreement on the text.

The New Testament has not changed by going through translation to translation to translation. At no time since it was written has the book been unavailable in its original language. There has never been a reason to translate the New Testament from an language by the original. (In fact, I can't think of a single version in existence that was translated from anything but the original language.

If the Catholics in 320AD at the Nicene council changed the New Testament, what do you do with all the manuscripts, quotes, commentaries, etc, that exist from BEFORE that council that have the same wording in them? Many of those documents were unknown to the Nicene fathers, so there is no way they faked or altered all those hundreds of documents. Some of which are works the ridicule and condemn Christianity.

There is simple too much evidence that the New Testament is a reliable and historically accurate document, written by people who actually know Jesus, travelled with him, heard his word first hand, show his miracles, touched his hands after his resurrection, and gave their lives to confirm their testimony.

That is how we know the New Testament is the Word of God.

Thanks for asking. Always glad to share some knowledge.

Answer 4

Who told you that the Bible is mostly oral tradition that was finally written down somewhere down the road? What evidence does that individual have to support that thesis?

The Bible itself says that "All scripture is God-breathed ("inspired by God" in some translations) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in rightousness." 2 Timothy 3: 16.

What that means is that the writers were under the inspiration of God when they wrote down their words. If you want to know God, read His letter to us (the Bible). Ask Him to reveal His truth to you. If you are an honest seeker, He will do just that!

Answer 5

Its not an oral tradition nor an information written from generations through oral transfer then put finally on writings.

They are written by men guided by holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:20-21
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

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Answer 6

The Bible is from God, written by men he chose. These men went through painstaking processes to keep the text. Every time they would right the word "God", they would have to cleanse themselves and everything that would touch the scroll.

A question for you, why can't it be literally true? People keep trying to prove it isn't. There is a book out called the Case for Christ, a writer who actually tried to prove that it was all BS. You might want to take a look.

Answer 7

I bear witness to the fact that God is a loving God who knows us intimately in this Age of Grace. He wants us to listen to His Son, who speaks for Him...He is the Word of God. How do we know that?

For me, I had just left an abusive relationship and my
life was on the line. My husband had a gun out and was
going to shoot me. I ran...and got on a plane to San
Fran. On the plane I was shaking uncontrollably and
looked out the window...we were above the clouds...the
beauty of what I was looking at just flooded me until
nothing else was there...peace filled me. I heard
myself say, "God, if you're really there...I put my
life in Your hands. I've failed miserably at
everything...I can't do it anymore." And then I
finally started crying. The sobs came from deep inside
me, all the repressed fear, hurt, pain came flooding
out. And then I heard a gentle whisper in my
head..."I've always had you...you've never been out of
my sight...I even saw you when you tied your first
shoelace." And then it was like a liquid warmth filled
me. I thought I would melt into oblivion. It was like
I had given Him my mess, and He would give me His
help. And He did.

When I got off the plane it was as though everyone
went out of their way to help me. I found a place to
live, a job, and found that I was right across the
street from a christian community. After I got settled
I heard the gentle voice again. He said, "I want you
to meet My Son." So I went into a meeting at the
christian center and heard about Jesus. I learned
about the Gift God offers through Him. And having
experienced God first hand I had no trouble receiving
what His Son had to Give, and what He had to Say. So,
it didn't begin with a Book for me, it began with an
encounter. The Book came later.

Seek the Son while He may be found...once you pass through Him by accepting His Gift, then He gives you His Spirit to teach you and show you all that He wants you to know. He uses the Bible, other people, situations...but you're no longer trying to figure everything out yourself. You are given a Helper.

Answer 8

God has spoken to me several times through various means. Over a dozen times, he has confirmed to me that the Bible is his Word. One time, as I was driving, I thought, "There is no way that 2 of every animal could fit on Noah's ark." That night in bed, as I was thinking about something totally different, he got my attention and spoke to my spirit. He said, "If I can make a camel go through the eye of a needle (another Bible scripture in Matthew), then I can make all the animals fit on the ark." I never would have thought of that on my own. This is only one of many examples that would take really long to explain.

Answer 9

You can not . Remember the play "telephone" where a statement is said at one end and passed on in low voice to the next, and so on and so forth...., the end person speaks outloud and the distortion is large. It is simply a matter of faith, faith that somehow, by an act (of god) the written matter has been passed on with just minor distortions. Either you are a believer and have faith, or not. Neither it can be proven objectively it is or it is not. Different logic approaches have been done by both sides proving their own side. All approaches have their weak points and strong points, on both sides.

Answer 10

God created life. Man can only relate to man, therefore what man has written concerning the "word" of God must be in human terms. No matter how God has spoken in the past, the words written are a hollow echo of the meaning of God's word because man cannot fathom the nature and being of God and can therefore not put into words what God has spoken. God created man. Man must carry that creation to infinity. To do that, man must live in harmony with all of mankind or man will destroy God's creation. All God expects is that man will not fail.