the bible was written by men....?

Question

when I put this question to a christian, he said ' yes, but they were inspired by god '

would you agree with that?

Answer 1

No, the bible is a social constructed series of books written by those in power to keep the masses in line.

Answer 2

Some of the men who wrote the bible were probably very inspired by a desire for better living amongst people and a lot of it were just individuals trying to sway people's thinking for control or just because they had fixed views about how people should live.

It is just a record of ideas, feelings, events, dire warnings, opinions, expressions of joy, etc. What is now the bible is a result of many additions, reworking and omissions in order to say what the social powers at given times throughout history wanted people to think, feel and do. It is unlikely to change further, obviously.

Inspired by God? Maybe in a few obscure remnants. But mostly it is a result of social dictates of man and not those let's-all-live-together-in-peace kind of men either!

Answer 3

If God ( assuming He exists ) wanted to communicate with mankind and at the same time leave us with our free will to make our own minds up ( as we can!) how would he go about it without leaving us in no doubt about his existence ( thus denying our freedom of choice as to his reality , or otherwise ) ? He can't leave a smoking gun or we would be on to him in no time ! Even doubting Thomas is reported to want his famous proof about the risen Lord , (suspend your disbelief long enough to grasp the point of the illustration ) What choices did God have to impart his plan for mankind (assuming etc..etc..!) So it all comes back again to faith or rejection . If God exists then for sure He could choose any old which way to get His message over . Visions , dreams or other spirit filled ways are possible to the big fella up there . All sorts of things I'm sure inspire you , music , fast cars , footie , whatever is your bag . Why shouldn't God inspire man ?
But if you have no faith in the existence of God ( as is your free choice ) then of course you will be obliged to conclude that the old and new testament writers made it all up . Secular artifacts and written documents have to stand up to rigorous scholarship and the same should be true of historical documents that happen to illuminate lives of the Jewish and early Christians . I don't think that bible scholarship can be accused of being second rate in this respect . Respect is as good a word to finish on .

Answer 4

I would agree that it is a book written by human beings. Truth is, we don't know the authorship of the OT (psalms ascribed to David are suspect and the Prophetic texts are probably remembereaances, oral tradition, et al), and th eNT, well, we know some of the writings are definitely Paul, some probably James and John, but the rest is a mystery--esp. the Gospels.

Now, in terms of inspired--I doubt that means that god was giving some sort of divine dictation. I think of it as writers inspired by some sort of inarticulable experience, writing towards a description of that experience, rather than the "top down" god-injected bible....

Answer 5

It is 'said' that the bible was written by men who were inspired by god. I cant agree with that because I do not have the evidence to prove that. But in my opinion, the bible is a history book that is open to much interpretation. I have noticed that alot of your questions are religion based. What is this obsession with religion? By your choice of avatar, you come across as some sort of satanist lol! Although satanism is also regarded as a religion. I tend to agree with Marx who said that religion is 'opium of the masses.'

Answer 6

Of course it was inspired by God. No one could duplicate the Bible.
It is just too amazing when you consider it was written over a period of 3000 years or so by 45 to 50 different individuals at different periods of history. Its even more amazing that considering the passage of time the writers and those who accept the Bible today still believe in the very same God.

Answer 7

That is true. That is also why it is not as perfect as some would like it to be, it has been touched by the hands of MANY men. Many compromises and "histories" used so the people of those times could make sense of overwhelming truths.

We Christians feel our religion is the way to a better outlook on life and a relationship with God.
Unfortunately, the methods used by some Christians to evangelize is seen as offensive, pushy and fanatical by many, even by many Christians.
If you feel you have a need to explore Christianity further, there are many churches which don't come across as being judgmental and so readily willing to condemn people to Hell. In real Christianity we realize God is the Power, not our interpretations of the scripture.
I suggest, if you are interested, check the Episcopal Church (in the USA) or Anglican world-wide church. These churches use REASON as part of their doctrinal platform and they generally are more open to answering all questions, and at least listening to and discussing different ideas and opinions on non-salvation issues.

Perhaps we should not judge too harshly the very aggressive evangelical. Perhaps God has directed them in pursuit of certain types of persons; hopefully God is working through me to persuade different temperaments of people to look for other roads to faith.

Answer 8

Are you asking a sensible question!? Sensible answer required. Yes, it was written by men, inspired by god. So was Jaws, the movie, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Bambi, Tony Blair's speeches, George Bush's manifesto and Saddam Hussein's book of torture. If god is responsible for us all being here, he's gotta take the rap for the crap too.

Answer 9

Ha ha ha ha Ha, who do you think that wrote all the books in this entire world? Have you heard about Chimpanzees or Cow wrote book? Of course Bible, Hindu's Scripture, Book of Veda or even Koran was wrote by man as all verses and word of God was relay to man through angle and spirit. No Book ever brought from other galaxy into this world and no book ever dropped by God to us from the sky. We say BOOKS OF GOD is because the contain of the book is solely came from God. Those who wrote book based on their own ideas SHALL NOT be refer as Books of God. But there was a solid prove that certain books of God been mixed-up with human idea while they wrote down the book and this happened long-long time ago and therefore we as the generation of these day must know how to differentiate between the word of God and the word of man and these could easily find out should we understand THE LANGUAGE OF GOD.

Answer 10

Would I agree with what? That, that is what christians would say? Or that these writers were inspired by god? I'd agree that christians would say that. But the bible was written by someone who knew how to manipulate people, and someone who either wanted power, or wanted to remain in power.

Answer 11

I would agree. Read 2 Timothy 3 v16. It's good that it was written by men, because they have feelings like us, so can write intimately about our experience. We can then take what God inspired them to write and make a positive decision to draw close to God and serve Him, if we find it in our hearts to do so.