How can we trust the bible?

Question

Apparently, this needed clarification. How can we trust a book that was written two thousand years ago some 30 to 80 years after the death of Jesus primarily by four people we'll never know in a foreign culture that we don't even understand today?

No OT answers.

Answer 1

Personally, I don't think the Bible was meant to be taken literally. As a matter of fact, I don't think the Bible was more than a really good really deep collection of short stories. It just really took off and people liked it so much they lived by it. However, regardless of whether a man really can live inside a whales mouth or if an old man really did hand make a huge arc and gather two of every animal in the world it all comes down to faith. It's not important that Jesus actually did or did not walk on water. What's important is whether or not you believe he did. Absolute total blind faith is the key to religion. So in conclusion, I don't know if you can or should or are even supposed to trust or believe everything the Bible has to offer. But if you read it one day and the stories speak to you then go ahead and give faith a try. Besides, everyone needs something to believe in right?

Answer 2

Icemachine: The Old Testament was finally put into some writing somewhere around 1,300 B.C. But, that is not important - because it had been oral traditions until then. We all understand what takes place when we pass stories from generation to generation. That has to be accepted.

The New Testament writings, according to scholars, were written by Anonymous people, who in the style of their time, wrote in the name of whoever they selected. In other words, the Gospels called Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were not written by those particular disciples and physician. We don't know who the authors actually were. This may be a fact not many people, outside of scholarly circles, know about - unless you read the scholars who write on that era that Jesus lived in.

It's NOTa matter of faith. Simply understand, there is some inspiration in the Old Testament. There are some myths in the Old Testament. There is some documentation of historical value in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament we have four Synoptic Gospels, basically in agreement with each other. That's a strong point. But, you see, we DON'T have to rely upon these bibles totally. Each of us should seek a relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not ascend and sit at the right hand of God and STAY there! He is working - as always. Through the One Mind of our Holy Reality, Jesus can teach one-on-one! He can hear you study and read. The Holy Spirit hears. If you call upon Them for a relationship, They will instruct you in your reading. Jesus has told me what was true and what was not in the Bible. The relationship with Them is everything! NOT written Bibles. Jesus will be as real in His friendship with you - as you will allow Him to come forth and be! You see, it's what we allow. . .. We have to invite Them in. They do not enter uninvited. Relationship is everything.

Faith is believing something you have not truly experienced, but know of and have decided to believe in. You don't want faith. We deserve so much more than that! You want Knowing and Certainty. In the presence of Certainty - faith is out the window!
How do you get to Certainty? You need experiences to occur that allow you your Certainty.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit will teach through the One Mind. Learn about your Self, your Creator/Father, your relationship with your Brothers. This is what Jesus would teach you. Use a church for fellowship, if you like, but let the Master begin teaching you. Amen.

The Los Angeles Public Library has a videorecording and a hard-back edition of "A Course in Miracles."

Answer 3

Lets see...limiting to the NT, eh?

-The New Testament writers weren't writing just stories or fables, they wrote what they saw, felt, witnessed, what they experienced. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete." (1 John 1:1-4)

-After Jesus died, people began to share about Christ through word of mouth for about the first 15 years of the church. "Does that make you nervous? Remember back in grade school when you used to play that game Telephone?" But that is the way people did things back then. They didn't have PDAs or computers or not even really paper! Unless you had a lot of money and could buy a bunch of scrolls. But people often memorized things to retell, especially sacred texts. Back then it was normal. If you look at the way the OT has been preserved, and look at the Dead Sea Scrolls, we find that these things, even though they were a couple hundred years before Christ, you find that they match exactly the manuscripts of the OT that we have before then, and almost exactly what we have today. For thousands of years these things have been passed down faithfully and accurately. And at this point, if people are saying things that aren't true, the apostles are still around to be like, "Uhh, yeah, that's not what He said."

-Right about the year 48, letters began to be written by Paul. Then you have the Gospels. Before the Council of Nicea even happened, individual churches decided what books they believed were true, the Council just put like a "stamp of approval" on it. Isn't that crazy? Like all the churches picked the same books, by themselves. "People didn't put together the New Testament, God put together the New Testament."

-And all of those people who keep saying Jesus rose from the dead, most of them died for saying it. People don't die for lies.

About New Testament Accuracy:
Today we have manuscripts, over 5,000 of just the New Testament, and that is just in Greek. If we include all of the languages, we have over 20,000 manuscripts. The earliest manuscript we have is within 60 years of the original. Now, there are errors in some of those manuscripts, but when you have 300 manuscripts of the same passage, and 298 of them say the same thing and in two of them a word is misspelled, I think you can figure out what that word is supposed to be.

As for the cultural implications, I don't think they are really necessary if you read the NT. There just aren't many references besides knowing that Jesus was a Rabbi (people might ask what a Rabbi is) or like "What is Passover?"

Answer 4

Jesus was a spiritual teacher. He didn't leave any writings behind (Hmmm, I wonder why?). His followers wrote accounts of his life and letters to each other.

But we human beings can never be content allowing the individual to arrive at his/her own beliefs. We are compelled to tell others what to believe, force our beliefs on them if necessary, and ultimately to punish them one way or another if they still don't bend to our will.

And so, as was inevitable, the self-proclaimed "Church" in Rome, used the political power of the state to survey the various writings and teachings of Jesus and do us the favor of declaring once and for all what constituted official Christianity - the New Testament is born!! Once that was done, they brought their powers to bear on stamping out alternate versions and doing all that they could to make sure people believed their doctrine. Note that Telling people that their soul will burn in hell for eternity if they don't agree with you, goes a long way in securing their cooperation.

I suggest that rather than viewing the Bible as the "Word of God" that contains the answers, that you view it as a "Workbook of God" that can assist you in your quest for answers. Ironically, the concept of "Living by the Spirit" as opposed to the written law runs throughout Jesus' teachings and the New Testament.

And note also that according to the New Testament, when Jesus ascended he said that he would send us a helper - the Holy Spirit! He didn't say anything about a New written law.

Also, note that the early church that is portrayed in Acts is often held up as a prime example of a Christian community - and they didn't have the New Testament!!! What they had was the Holy Spirit.

Religious leaders use dogma and doctrine to control people through fear, but God's perfect love casts out all fear. Follow Jesus' teachings and seek the true inner knowledge and transformation that spoke of. But don't make the Bible your god as so many have done because of the "church's" strongarmed tactics.

Curiously (or not so), many of the same spiritual truths that Jesus spoke of show up in the writings of other religious traditions.

Answer 5

They are religious beliefs not religious facts. You just put your faith in them. I was once told by a friend of mine that was athiest that "most people go to church because they dont believe in themselves, etc so they go to church to believe in something. Which now that im 21 I can kinda see where she is coming from. To be honest the bible could all be fake we dont know. My husband says "Im not going to believe in a book that someone wrote thousands of years ago when they were drinking wine out of lead based pots, not only were they drunk but they had lead poisoning..." I kinda see his point too...

Answer 6

If you are excluding OT answers, then you don't mean "The Bible." You mean the New Testament

(I think this is "second verse, same as the first" as I've answered this somehwere before, but it gives me two more points.)

Answer 7

As has been stated already, you have to have the F word - Faith.

And lots of it. If you're looking for anything else, like actual evidence, you'll be waiting a long time.

Answer 8

Test drive it. Ask God to show you. "All Scripture is God-breathed (inspired) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2Tim.3:16)

We still have the same elements in the universe. They still work after thousands of years. Why shouldn't the WORD of GOD??

MANY MORE people saw Jesus first-hand.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the gospel writers. Look into the canonizing process as there were more who wrote, but these four were chosen as the God-breathed testimonials. Luke also is credited with writing Acts which tells of MANY people were eye witnesses. Josephus is a well-known and accepted historian by many of these times who acknowledges Jesus who walked this earth and performed miracles.

" AC 1:10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

AC 1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

AC 1:15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)
(That's 120 people.)

Let's look at what could be your problem:
JN 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

Now, back to Acts chapter 2:
"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

(3,000 Jews, most likely, were convinced by the miracles happening right in Jerusalem.)

God is no respecter of persons-- He will do for you what he has done for others.

Every prophecy in the Bible has come true. It is time tested. Read Daniel (OT)and the miracles God did for him because he trusted God. There's marvelous prophecies for Nebuchadnezzar and for us today.

My husband was waiting to see the judge for a ticket he received from an accident he caused. He had a little Bible in his hand and he had been reading it, but he wanted to know if it was true. Would accepting Christ as Lord of his life make any difference at all? He said he would "try God" to see if he really heard and cared.-- So, the judge came and before seeing anyone in the courtroom stated that he usually did not do this, but since there was a shortage of blood in the Red Cross, if anyone would donate blood, their ticket would be forgiven.

Get it? Red cross is where Jesus bled and died for all our sins. He paid the penalty. That really blew my husband away!! It was so timely.


READER'S GUIDE

For centuries, millions of people have looked for answers to life's most difficult questions in an ancient sacred text: the Bible. It's become the best-selling book in the world. Although most people own a print Bible, many find it hard to read. They know that somewhere within its pages are words from God that could help them understand themselves, make important decisions, gain peace, renew hope, and experience God's love. But finding the right words when they need them is often a daunting task. The Reader's Guide contains information on the following:
-The right Bible translation helps
-Knowing the basics helps
-Don't read the Bible like a typical book
-Take it personally
-Take your time
-Other people can help you understand the Bible
-Other reference books can help you understand the Bible
-The five types of Bible reference books
-Where to find the best selection of Bibles, Bible reference books and software

Answer 9

The first lesion on my web site talks about this very subject:

For more information on the Bible
go to http://www.johnfourteen.com
click on "Studies in the Bible"

Answer 10

2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is given by INSPIRTATION of GOD and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

God worked through many men to write His word, they wrote, and He told them what to write as well as inspired them.

Hope this helps
heidi