Is the Bible the word of God?

Question

Is the word "Bible" even in the scriptures? The Bible is a collection of books. People say those books were inspired by God. There are other books that didn't make it and people tell me they either weren't necessary, or were false doctrine, such as the gosple of Jesus when he says not to worship anyone, not even Him, but to conduct worship in the home according to his or her heart, as in worship how you like, and keep it out of everyone's face.
The books were selected by a vote in the Counsil of Narciea by the Cardinals. Doesn't that mean that even if the scriptures are created by God, the Bible is a creation of man? There are books mention in "accepted scripture" that don't appear in the Bible.
1 Kings 11:41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?
Before you say "God wouldn't let the truth be lost," consider if the most widely accepted truth is always the right one.

Gee, thanks. Can anyone tell me WHY they think that? Good grief...

Answer 1

Of course not. Its the word of a bunch of men that lived during ancient times who CLAIMED it's the word of god.

Answer 2

First, it was Nicea, not Narciea, so I'm guessing that you are simply repeating something you heard.

The word "Bible" doesn't appear in the "Bible" as such. When Jesus said "Search the scriptures", he was referring to a body of literature that was extant, and basically made up the Old Testament. Bible is simply a word meaning a collection of books and really doesn't need to be mentioned verbatim in the text of the book. You don't need the word "thesaurus" in a thesaurus to have the book be a thesaurus.

After his death, and the very early days of the Church, it was found that a certain body of literature was being used by the Chruch at large, which included what is now the Old Testament, and the writings representing the Gospels and certain letters of the early leaders. This collection was somewhat universal within parts of the Christian church. There were others, such as the Gnostics who held a differing view, and also adopted a different list of books which were considered scriptural.

What the early Church did was to create a list of those books deemed to be inspired of God. This list was much as it remains today, with a few notable exceptions:
The Samaritan Bible contains only the first 5 books of the Old Testament.
The Protestant Bible does not contain the apocryphal books of the Catholic Bible.
The Egyptian Orthodox Church contains some books that are not included in the Catholic Bible.
Basically though, the contents of the Bible are quite standard among Christian Churches.

I'm not going to say that they are inspired, as I'm not a Christian, but debating the history really won't get you far. It's fairly well documented, and fairly accurate. There hasn't been much debate at all since putting down what was called the Gnostic Heresy. The only major controversy is about the apocryphal books in the Catholic Bible.

Answer 3

Your question has been gone over in detail. In summary, yes. The Bible is the accepted word of God. The books you mentioned were books written by people who never met Jesus and were written 100's years after His death.

The Bible has it's standing through the knowledge of it's truth. Archaeologist and theologists use it to decipher history and truth of our past. The Bible is the only known document (or documents) known to exist that can be readily compared to the original manuscript and match. Every argument against the Bible has been dismissed due to lack of evidence on the part of the opposing parties.

I can't speak intelligently about the 1 Kings 11:41. I have a few ideas, but bottom line thought is, it doesn't matter. Jesus was born in the New Testament. While Old Testament has truth, it tends to be a historical base of our faith. I have no need at this time to study this history as I am currently studying what Jesus did while He was here and what He wants me to do before I leave. I tend to keep my head in the AD period verses BC period.

One final thought, you say the "most widely accepted truth" . . . I live in America. Here the Bible is the most widely accepted truth.

Answer 4

some translations have changed the word "inspired" to be literally godbreathed.
But i dont see that every written word in the scriptures is God breathes, i see an influence of the spirit of God as a person writes down the histories and even records the words of satan and the words of men exist as quotes.
I AGREE with what you say about the bible being a collection of library books. But i guarantee you it is not exhaustive of what could be cannonized.

What is the library of God? if each little letter or gospel or historical accounting is layed down beside the Entire Library in Gods universe, i wonder if such a library would fill multiple worlds with files and folders and scrolls without end. and putting the little puny bible up to one of these worlds would become a speck in a world of sand.

Thank you for asking the question, i thought about this last question and was going to post it while i drove home and i completely went amnesiac.

Answer 5

The "word of God" is any word FROM God. Youll notice in the OT that people say they have the "word of God." Also in the NT it states that JEsus himself is the word of God. Therefore SCripture becomes a collection of the wordS of God.

The Bible had a strict canon. Non-canonical books are intersting but were deemed uninspired for good reasons such as not being written by Christians, not having apostallic support, not having early church support, obvious forgereries, and texts written that specifically contradict Biblical Theology. Without these strict standards, the purity of Scripture could not be maintained and the integrity of the Bible would be very much in question by scholars.

God inspired and preserved for us what we have. Ever since Israel, he has maintained a collection of Scripture for the people of God to read and know and impress upon their children and obey. If God cant do that then you believe in a very small god.

Answer 6

Shadow.. you are headed the right direction. The scripture is a composition of letters/ records that where written by men inspired by God and some of the books where literally written by someon else.. .kind of like a bibliography. The fact is that the Coucil did make the final call on what books would be added to the scripture that we now call Bible. No.. the word itself is not scriptual but this argument alone is irrelavent. The Council had to choose what books where best suitable for edifying the body of Christ in general. Yet, I don't doubt that if they had some ill intention to control and manipulate a certain group of believers.... it would definetly be brought to the light. Our job is to seek the truth.......... and the Truth will set us free. Unfortunately, not everyone is set free but those of us that are... we can teach others. My whole arguement is, "Don't confuse the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the American God". Too many people are preaching on how to find scripture that will make them rich and famous. I tell you one thing Shadow, it's just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose on the true children of God. Be ready and trust Him.

Answer 7

God is our Heavenly Father and wants us to be able to return home to him. The Scriptures are his way of setting down guidelines of what he requires of us to be able to return to him. I don't remember exactly which verse it is but he states that if we love HIM we will obey his commandments. In obeying his Commandments we will be able to return to him.

Unlike other religions the Latter-day Saints believe the canon of scripture is open, flexible, and expanding." and that is also why some things are not found in the Bible. Also the Scriptures specifically mention about 60 or more books that are not included in the Bible. So, the question could also be asked if the Bible is all there is and there is no other then what about those books and where are they?
The word "Bible" is not in the Scriptures because the word Bible means "Library" or "Books" not sure but check the meaning for the origination of the word "Bible."

Answer 8

The compilation of the Bible is obviously man-made. But nobody buys a Bible because it's a sexy compilation. They buy it for what's inside. And that's the Word of God. The original Greek Bible is infused with the Holy Spirit. It's all God's--literally or inspired. There are probably some translation issues into English but in the Anglican Church we say "This is the Word of God" because we believe that it is the words Jesus spoke to the disciples. The rest is of the Holy Spirit.

Answer 9

You contradict the truth of God's Word. You do not have the correct version. God's Word does say many times that Jesus was and is Deity. Satan has so enjoyed trying to cause confusion and spread false doctrines against Christ, the validity of Scriptures and who He is and His Priesthood and Atoning Sacrifice. You cannot deny the power of the blood of Jesus to cleanse a man's heart from all sin. God didn't let the truth be "lost". You have errored in your historical studies and likely on purpose to deceive people with an anti-Christ spirit. We are not only instructed HOW and WHO to worship and only those who hate Jesus Christ will persecute Him and His servants and try to SILENCE THEM, first with legal fines and accusations of bigotry, next with prison and death. THE BRIDE OF CHRIST IS READY!

Answer 10

i hope my answer does not deviate from your details because im sorry i skimmed having an immediate response to your qeustion: a question i was waiting for someone to ask.

NO THE BIBLE OR ANY HOLY BOOK FOR THE MATTER IS NOT THE WORD OF GOD..i will tell you why.

did god come down and handwrite these texts...can you trust a man to have interpreted god in its fullest meaning? that would be ignorance and blind trust...
also if you look carefully elements that are sexist and hipocrytical exist scattered throughout every holy scripture.
would god write such a thing? no and if god didnt write it then it is not the word of god because i personally would not trust any man to tell me what the word of god is because i beleive that just as i am incapable of truly knowing god'd word, no other human can have that ability because god created all humans equal...some know more than others but no one knows everything.

Answer 11

The Bible is truly the word of God but I have to qualify that in the light of my faith. "The books of scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."
- Vatican II Constitution on Divine Revelation