Was the bible written by man or God?

Question

If you believe we have freewill (and that's why there's so much bad stuff in the world, because we cause it and God won't interfere with freewill for anything) than how can you believe the bible is infallible?

We know for a fact that man physically wrote the bible. Christians believe it is the divine word of God, and man was merely the scribe.

If the bible was written by man, couldn't it have been altered by man? If we have freewill this seems very likely. And we know for a fact that Romans used violence to force people to convert to Christianity. Could they not have used their freewill to change the text to suit their own selfish desires? The Roman Church was the power, and very few people could read. The scribes would have to do what the Roman leaders wanted.

Do we have freewill or not?

How many of you read more than the first line?

I'm not saying God couldn't have told them what to write. I'm wondering if you think God took away the scribes' freewill, and anyone elses freewill who might alter it so it would remain pure.
And if so, why do we have so many translations?
Wouldn't God just allow us to have one perfect one per language??

Answer 1

The bible was written by the drunk guys in a barn. Why do u think there are so many unbelievable acts? duh, cause they made them up.

Answer 2

the Bible is the inspired word of God. Man was the instrument.
Just as man uses a pen, God used man to write the words. Since the men that wrote the books were of different backgrounds, poor and rich, their transcription was part of their being and backgrounds. Many Bible stories are the myths and legends that Jews had handed down orally for many centuries before it was written down so that others could read it.
The New Testament was written partly by Jesus's Apostles and disciples and some were written by Paul, who never met Jesus during his time on earth, but who wrote letters to his friends as he journeyed proclaming the faith and when he was jailed in Rome.
The Romans were not Christian. I am not sure how you got the idea they forced their people to convert. Just the opposite was happening Christians were being thrown to lions and persecuted for their faith to the point that they used the catacombs for shelter.
Yes, freewill is part of all humanity. But God will use us just like He used Paul for His purposes if that is part of His plan. He will give us strength or courage when we have none, that has been proven enough times through the lives of the saints.

Answer 3

The Bible is an interpretation by man. Written by man and yes they could have used "creative lincense" to change the details. However, that is what belief is, it is a trust in what we can not see. We very much so do have free will. If we did not have freewill than Adam would have never eaten the apple. The questions people ask in the section take to much time and depth to go on and on about online. This is not a simple is it A or B question. Several, shades of grey. Read the Bible and decide for yourself what you believe.

Answer 4

I'm assuming that God picked the right people to write down his word -- people that he could trust not to alter the message. God knows what he is doing.

Keep in mind that in order to be considered a prophet or an apostle, one had to perform miracles and predict the future in order to prove that he was really speaking with God. If he was playing games with God's word by changing it, then it is reasonable to assume that God would take away their power and expose them as fakes.

It is true that we no long longer have the originals, and that scribes could have made mistakes when copying it, but we have so many copies of ancient Bibles that if someone had made a major change or error at some point in time, then we would know simply by comparing old manuscripts to each other. So many people have tried to pick apart the Bible for so long, that if there were any major errors, you would think that someone would have found irrefutable proof by now. No one has, in spite of all of the attacks by skeptics for hundreds of years.

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if you are wondering why we have so many translations, you have to keep in mind that translation itself is not an exact science. Often a literal translation means nothing, so translators have to make a judgement call as to how to best word a translation in order to bet communicate the original meaning.

Perhaps the article at the link below might help:

Answer 5

Of course, man physically wrote the Bible. Of course, man physically translated into various languages. Could some changes have been made? Yes. BUT. We who believe that God is the Ultimate, we must believe that He would not allow man to change his Word in such a way that it does not convey what He is telling us.

Yes, many have altered it for their own gain - money and/or power. But God said something like, woe to those who add to or take away from My Word. He also says something like, woe to those who would mislead My children.

I cannot accept that God would allow a false book to be the main, most accepted Word of God.

Answer 6

The alteration is not in the writings. While the original words were written in an old language of the Hebrew and grammars and tenses were not properly learned yet like its present usages. The interpretation then had been subjected to many diferent understandings of every word written and made worse by the translation to other languages where the deception started. It is not in the writings of the Old Testament that alteration started, it is in the translation made by those who are in power to write what is convinient for them control the minds of their subjects.
Why do you think the Jews and the Christians do not agree?
We have free will. God is not moving us like pawns on his chess boards. Those are Greek and Roman myths adopted to Christian teachings. God's influence on us are only His grace and blessings for every right thing we do with our lives and His curse when we work against His teachings. We make our own destiny and we choose our own road to take on the journey we want.

Answer 7

The Bible was indeed written by men about 40 of them over a period of about 1600 years under the Influence of Gods Holy Spirit and is his words just like a secretary taking dictation and every thing it has said has happened exactly l;ike it said and exactly when and how it said to date and according to the most recent discoveries the Bible has remained Basically unchanged the oly change is that in SOME VERSIONS they have deleted Gods name and substituted the words Lord or God some have it in a few places like Ps 83:18 OKJV whereas it is in the original writings 7,210 times from cover to cover and the caths have added some 11 books to their version that are not part of the Bible cannon and rejected by most reputable Bible scholars the Complete Bible has 66 books ............... and the Bible was finished writting 200 plus years before the start of the catholic church around 325C.E. the last book of the Bible Revelation was written by the Apostle John in 96 C.E. and yes we have free will we can accept or reject what we are told as you know actions have consequences if we drive too fast we will get a ticket we jump off a building the law of gravity has effects on us it is our choice to jump or not it is our choice to obey or not just like a parent tells a child dont touch its hot the wise child listens and doesnt touch the one who choses not to listen gets burnt so it is with us if we are wise we will listen to the wise counsel in the Bible and be better off than those who chose not to so yes you have free choice hopefully you will use it wisely best wishes gorbalizer

Answer 8

God is the only inspiration and revealed these truths to The Lords Prophets directing what was to be written.

Of course you have a bit of the human personality & characteristic of the Prophet. But these Prophets were moved by God when they wrote. But the born of God Christian is to be followers of the Holy Spirit, and not so much the letter of the Word. But the Word is profitable to study and grow in Christ. The Holy Spirit will never contradict the Holy Bible, but only clarifies the meaning of the Holy Bible.

When one is born of God, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and not a liar and will lead into all truth. The Holy Spirit guides us in the bible. What may seem like an error to one isn't an error to another, because everyone thinks a little differrent. One needs the Holy Spirit to understand the Truth of the Bible.

The Catholic Church has apochryphal writings in their Catholic Cannon. The Holy Spirit will point out the contradictions in it. Like the book that writes that women don't go to heaven so the Lord will turn them into men. That is an apochryphal easy for me to discerned by the grace of God. Years later is the doctrine added that Mother Mary was of an Emaculate Conception. This is also contradictive to the OT prophecies of the Messiah. (The sin nature is from the mans sperm.) So she was born with the sin nature. The seed of the woman would defeat the serpents deception. Jesus is the seed of the woman (Mary of Israel), tempted like the first Adam, yet didn't sin in His humanity. Mary was found with child, conceived of the Holy Spirit. There are OT prophecies of the Messiah being of an emaculate conception, but not the Mother Mary.

So there was corruption and that is any apochryphal book or false doctrine. The Holy Bible has been tested, tried & found true, by born again Christians or Messianic Jews; as discerned by the grace of the Holy Spirit.


The Holy Spirit led the men / women of God. These writers were writing scripture willingly led by the Holy Spirit. God didn't make them write. They willingly wrote led by the Holy Spirit. Those who wanted to write their own understanding are those authors of the apochryphal writings. It was their will to reject certain Christian foundational teachings & say it meant something else. Or added to writing this makes sense to them.

Answer 9

Your free will is to accept the Bible and that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, or to not believe it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. You have a free will, God knows what you are going to choose. God is God. Accept it or not. I am sorry, we are both confused. You are mixing it up. You mean choice. We all have a choice. As to free will, NO. Do you think God gave Saul freewill when he blinded him? Do you think Paul wanted the "sword in his flesh?" God hardened Pharaoh's heart, did he have a freewill? NO. We don't either. God knows what we will do because he made us and makes us do it. Even if we don't follow him, he still controls us. As humans, we don't understand this. You either accept it or not. It doesn't change anything.

Answer 10

Roman Church also got involved in destroying texts of pagan religions. Christianity was a step to unite people under one flag. Thats why there are so many pagan things in Christianity. Pagan cults were used by the rulers. However they were divided with there many Gods. Christianity was a good step to unite the tribes. Funny how a political move by a ancient civilization is now influencing the world.

Answer 11

Because the Holy Spirit Guides the words used to define our faith.

So in other words, when they were writing the bible, they did not have free will to twist it.

We as humans do have free will, but the Holy Spirit can ensure that the writings are correct.

The Romans did not have a long history of preserving the early Church, they in fact killed many of the early church leaders.

Peace!