Is the bible a non-fiction book, and if so can any1 prove that everything in it is true?

Question

This is just my opinion but I think somethings in the bible cant logicaly be possible. Talking animals and floods that over flow mountains. COME ON NOW!!!

Answer 1

The persons who authored the Bible believed it to be true...

Answer 2

First, you shouldn't criticize people's faith. You can help them to change their concept but what you have done is simply antagonize. The Bible is simply man's concepts about how things came to be and a good point is that many Biblical scholars refuse to accept evolution. The Bible has gone through its own evolution in that many tales are recalled things through oral histories. Even our ideas of history, i.e. Ghenghis Khan are told through legend and finally written down for posterity. But as you know each retelling has to be better and so we have many stories that have no factual basis. Scientifically, we do know that there was a time of inundation when the lands were flooded and the story-tellers incorporated this into the legends of the fiercesome power of God. But books of faith are all the same...they are man's attempt to explain how, why, and where we are going. The Qu'ran, the Sutras of Buddhism, the Bible and the texts of the Hindu are very similar. The differences are mainly on the concept of what happens after we die. We know that Christ, Buddha and Mohammed did indeed live and were teachers of morality, but how you choose to believe isn't important to others but only for yourself. I was born Catholic but choose to be Buddhist as it fits my ideas better.

Answer 3

I've taken courses on the New Testament as Literature, and Apocrypha as Literature, and am now taking the final course, Old Testament as Literature. I'm 38, was raised in the South (grew up Southern Baptist), but left the church at around 16.

The bible is primarily a work of literature designed to give hope and comfort to a very small, limited group. You can find anything you want in it; one other answerer gave an amazing list of things you can find in there. That small, limited group were Semites living in and around Jerusalem, circa 500 BC onward for the Old Testament.

The New Testament began to be written down approximately 70-100 years after the "Ascension" of Jesus Christ, when people figured out that the Rapture probably wasn't going to happen in their lifetimes, and that the original disciples were beginning to get very old and start dying off, so they needed to preserve this. Mark was the first book to be written/transcribed by someone who was semi-literate; just look at all the bad subject/verb agreement problems.

Humans have a long-standing need to latch on to something outside themselves that they perceive to be bigger, better, stronger, more reliable, more valid, more objective. This is why we have religion, hero worship, cults and cult leaders, tribes, chieftains, and leaders of all kinds. Humans want to do anything but think for themselves and make their own moral decisions. Most people want to be led and told what to think. And since humanity has not, in its entire history, come to terms with death, humans definitely want some way of dealing with their own mortality.

So the ancient Semites wrote some powerful, comforting words that got written down and luckily saved. The stories were powerful, visceral, resonant and captivating, and eventually those stories, prophecies, lessons, laws, etc., spread from their early, small influence out into the world, the way memes tend to do. And the idea caught on, spread and became religion, which kept on spreading and mutating and changing, until now we have not just Judaism where it all started, but Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, to name the "Big Four" religions, and many different branches and offshoots as well.

Is it true? Yes and no. If this book helps you live a better life; if you learn from it; if it makes you think and helps you make better decisions in life, then yes, it is true for you. If the stories and prophecies just don't resonate with you and you can't wrap your head around all the metaphorical midrash-ing, then this book is not true for you. Another book may be truer. But this one certainly has a good pedigree! :)

You're very safe to look at the bible as an ancient collection of stories, songs, prophecies, laws and more. Take from it what you can, and if it gives hope and comfort to you, then that's a good thing. Think of many, most or all of the stories as metaphors of human life, not literal events. You cannot prove or disprove much if any of it. That's the realm of biblical archaeology.

Good luck, and thank you for your question. I hope this helps. Cheers, K -- teacher, reader, student of life

Answer 4

There is a fundamental difference between truth and fact.

It is true that God exists but I cannot prove it.

It is a fact that President Bush said he invaded Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction but it is not true.

Catholics believe that the Bible teaches truth about God but it is not historically accurate at all times.

The Bible's primary purpose is to teach us about God and His (or Her) love for us, not to teach history or science.

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

With God all things are possible! Where logic ends, faith begins. Why don't you seriously ask God to show you He is real, then start reading the Bible from beginning to end. If you are sincere, He will show you. BTW- they have discovered proof that Pharoah's army was swallowed up by the Red Sea.

Answer 6

You must not believe in the lord or you could imagine these things. Also Archeaologists take the bible with them as a reference sometimes at a dig.

Answer 7

..before i started reading the bible my life was a living mess. when i read the bible it changed my life forever you see we have to re -new our minds to get this. what ever people do not understand they are against so what ever one believes in. their minds are open to it so for me. it helped me i did not go and kill any body or rape any body there are so many other books people believe in like harry potter. and so on so. whatever a man thinks a man becomes

Answer 8

Don't forget about the talking donkeys.

You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say that we are the ones that need help? Dan Barker, former Christian minister, Losing Faith in Faith

Answer 9

many parts of the bible are metaphorical and symbolic. many great writers use analygies and symbolism also. the bible is the greatest piece in middle eastern history! it names dates, kings, cities, places, etc. w/ great detail. Archaelogy has discovered many biblical characters and places though to be false. besides historical, the bible is also a book of faith. faith is what tests our fidelty to God>

Answer 10

No one can prove the bible true. They can pick out a few verses that coincidentally match their situation and base their beliefs on that but they will quickly shut you down if you read controversial verses to them that may possibly disprove what their expeirence was.