I sometimes wonder if the Bible really is the inspired Word of God...?

Question

I'm not saying it's not.

But my question is this: Why is it that when I ask people what has convinced them that it is 100% inspired by God (because I would really like to know...not just trying to be argumentative), they quote a Bible verse that says that all scriptures are inspired by God. Isn't that begging the question just a bit? Seems kind of like saying "I know John is telling the truth because he says he's telling the truth."

Also, is there anything that has convinced you that it is definitely devine-inspired? Honestly.

Answer 1

Have you ever studied Bible prophecy ? Its amazing ! it foretells of history thousand of years before it happened.

Its so amazing and after studying Bible Prophecy there will be no doubt in anyones mind that the Bible is truly the inspired word of God.

I took a Bible Prophecy course on
www.bibleuniverse.com
and after the course they send you a diploma that is really nice for framing. You can watch on line and answer on line at your own pace. You will love it

God Bless and have a Blessed New Year !

Answer 2

So, you are telling me you get a scripture like:

All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16

Then, one like this:

Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth. -John 17:17

But they don't tell you how outstanding the fulfilled prophecies that the Bible contains has affected them?

Like when God named Cyrus 200 years before he was born, then gives detailed information on how the Medians and Persians are going to wade through the river surrounding Babylon and just walk in to take the place because they left the doors open?

Isaiah 44:27-28; 45:1-3

Or how the Bible accurately describes how the Earth is a Sphere that is "hanging upon nothing" while the current teaching was that the earth was flat and suspended upon the backs of elephants....yadda yadda.......??
(Job 26:7 & Isaiah 40:22)

Or how the Isrealites were commanded to "go outside the camp" to do there 'business' and that they should dig a hole and cover their 'business'? Why? Well, who back then would have known about airborne diseases if not the Creator? Did he, therefore give them valuable information that they could use? Well, put it this way....the Egyptians at the time treated wounds with Excrement, okay? ............A no brainer here.
(Deut 23:13)

And the above Scripture always makes me laugh because it really shows that God has a sense of humor............well, if you read on into v14 anyway.

Many, many more to list............just don't have the time and my dinner is ready!

I hope this will convince you to at least look into things a bit more.
www.watchtower.org

Answer 3

first off it is faith. just cause the Bible says that everyone man who wrote a book in the Bible was inspired by God to write it. does it mean it is true. the answere is do you have faith in God and the Bible. if so then it is true. the Bible has many writers but one arthor. that arthor is God. just like if someone says you are healed in Jesus name and lets say you had aids and are now healed. did Jesus really use that person to heal you. if you believe then yes if not then you will try to say it was something else like maybe they did not really have aids. or whatever else.

i believe that God is so powerfull that he created the heavens and earth. and if he can do that then i believe he can keep his word as well. they have now shown that the Bible is indeed 98 oercent acurate. the 2 percent they have shown to be more so grammar then anything like commas that we now have that were not there. they have shown it to be 100 percent acurate as far as the meaning goes.

people then ask especially mormons that if the Bible is not mistranslated why do we have so many beliefs out there. that is because they Bible itself is not mistranslated it is the people who read it. for instance you can take a verse and so many will say what it means. all will be different. then people will say well look at the niv and kjv. they both are different. not really. there are very minor things. the only big thing is kjv is more like shakesphere(sp?) were as niv is more modern. we had a guy who just started to go to our church and he has been using the niv all his life. still came to the same conclusion we have. baptism in Jesus name, and that the father, son and Holy Ghost are all 1 and that the name given is Jesus, and that Jesus is God. this is our belief. and we use the kjv. anyways. i believe God can make the world then he can keep his word the same as he says in scripture.

Answer 4

The Bible's accuracy and reliability have been proved and verified over and over again by archaeological finds produced by both believing and nonbelieving scholars and scientists. This included verification for numerous customs, places, names, and events mentioned in the Bible.
One among many examples is the fact that for many years the existence of the Hittites (a powerful people who lived during the time of Abraham) was questioned because no archaeological digs had uncovered anything about them. Critics claimed the Hittites were pure myth. But today the critics are silenced. Abundant archaeological evidence for the existence of the Hittites during the time of Abraham has been uncovered.
Bible scholar Donald J. Wiseman notes, "The geography of Bible lands and visible remains of antiquity were gradually recorded until today more than 23,000 sites within this region and dating to Old Testament times, in their broadest sense, have been located." Nelson Glueck, a specialist in ancient literature, did an exhaustive study and concluded: "It can be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference." Well-known scholar William F. Albright, following a comprehensive study, wrote: "Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition of the value of the Bible as a source of History."

There are more than 24,000 partial and complete manuscript copies of the New Testament. These manuscript copies are very ancient and they are available for inspection NOW. there are also some 86,000 quotations from the early church fathers and several thousand lectionaries (church-service books containing Scripture quotations used in the early centuries of Christianity). In fact, there are enough quotations from the early church fathers that even if we did not have a single copy of the Bible, scholars could still reconstruct all but 11 verses of the entire New Testament from material written within 150 to 200 years from the time of Christ. Bottom line: The New Testament has an overwhelming amount of evidence supporting its reliability.

Answer 5

There's an old saying that's been going around for years. Even Country music artist, Hank Williams Jr, wrote a song about it. The name of the song is "You cant judge a book, by looking at the cover"

Which is also true for the Bible. Because a book can only stand, by the contents within it. A Philosophy book is called a book of philosophy, because the contents are Philosophical. A History book is called a book of History, because the contents are Historical. A Science book is called a book of science, because the contents are Scientific.

The Bible has stood the test of time, to be, just what it claims "within" its self, to be, what it is.

And the one thing that places the Bible apart from all other book of humanity, is prophecy. For the Bible is 100 % acurate, concerning prophecy. And not just one of them. But, hundreds of them.

When you look at all the books there are in the world, the Bible,
stands alone, most certainly, as the most Unique Book there is!

For it is the only book of Humanity, that "dare's" to place its whole
credence upon the fact that it is able to tell in advance things that
are going to take place!

For no other religious book would dare to make predictions on the
future, and then base its veracity, its truth, its accuracy, or its
precision on those things happening!

And not just one prediction! But hundreds of predictions!

The great discovery of today is that this Book of 66 books, a type of library in itself, of which we call the Bible, was penned by forty
different men, over thousands of years.

We now see they are an integrated message system!

Other words we now discover that ever scripture, every name, and every detail of the text is there by careful engineering and design, transcending time itself!

Answer 6

At one time, it may have been the Word of God. Or at least one of them (I am henotheistic). It, however, is most certainly not inerrant. Hey, a double negative!:-D

First of all, his word would have been perfect, probably an intangible idea of how we should live and how the world really works. However, the person will twist the message, even slightly. For example, the telephone game.

Then, they had these stories passed down through oral traditions. Very few people have perfect memories, and as such may have mixed up a few words.

Then this oral tradition got to a scribe. These were not professional, and were barely literate. Remember, Christianity was a minority religion that was often ridiculed and scorned. Judaism was not, however, because of it's lineage.

These words and texts were copied by people whose literacy was determined by the fact they could write their name. Mostly, they copied texts. Occasionally, they might skip over a letter or repeated word. Their pen might slip, which was uncorrectable.

Then we get to scribe that are literate, but decide to change parts of the Bible intentionally. A couple of examples include the story of Jesus and the adulteress, or the last 12 verses of Matthew. Neither of these were actually in the Bible to begin with, as evidenced by older texts. Also, when Jesus was healing the leper, it was said he felt compassion for him. In the oldest Greek texts, Jesus was actually said to have become angry!

Now for the fun parts: translations. It is hard to make a smooth transition. Words must be changed to fit the actual meaning. So, from Greek/Hebrew to Latin, there would have been a few... hiccups. Also, there would have been hiccups when translating from Latin to English. An intentional hiccup is one of the verses in Leviticus: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". The word translated to witch was the word m'keshefth. This word means "poisoner". King James actually ordered his scribed to make this translation, perhaps out of paranoia or perhaps out of greed.

In this way, the Bible is not the inspired Word of God anymore. Problem comes when people decide to base everything they believe on a book. You could be reading the Bible, but unless you have the true original Greek/Hebrew manuscripts, you will never be able to understand what he was trying to say, which was probably a message of love for all instead of a message of hatred to other religions.

That's my two cents worth. I couldn't remember if the 12 verses were in Matthew or Mark. I think I got the Hebrew spelling down right for m'keshefth, but check with your Jewish buddies to be sure. :-)

Answer 7

What I am about to say implies nothing about whether God exists or not, or whether He may have played some role in "inspiring" the 40 men or so who wrote the original Bible texts, but rest assured it is NOT "The Word of God". The Bible is so full of mistakes, contradictions and nonsense that if it truly were "the Word of God" that would mean God is considerably less than He is generally given credit for!

Here is a list of 382 specific cases of the Bible contradicting itself:

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html

Would the "Creator of Everything" really tolerate such poor proofreading?

Answer 8

Yes that is the circular logic of the faithful--those who, when they asked their parent why should I do so and so, the parent would reply "because I said so". Well, that leaves no room for discussion--just as there is no room for discussion with the true believer, whose goal is not truth, but rather faith in spite of truth. Of course you have the choice to believe what you want to believe, to accept the Bible as it is offered by whoever is doing the interpreting, or to interpret it for yourself, or to write it off as fantasy. But you will NOT convince the true believer to accept your interpretations so let go of that idea right now.

Answer 9

You are absolutely correct. It is not an answer at all. It has convinced me that it is not divinely inspired.
And congratulations on using "beg the question" correctly, too. So many people say it when they mean"Raise the question."

Answer 10

Don't feel bad . I do the same thing. I believe that a lot was inspired by God but some of it was not. After all it was written by man and all men/woman are sinners.