why do people call the bible 'the word of god'?

Question

surely the teachings from the bibles are a product of the time/culture they came from just as much as god himself. the people who wrote it were only human, and they would have interpreted gods 'messages' or whatever with their own prejudices and cultural ideas. its hard to believe that god himself dictated the bible and it was recorded word for word. although i call myself a christian and i believe in most things in the bible, it gets on my nerves when its quoted for current events, as if thats exactly what god has to say of the matter, and it has nothing to do with what was culturally acceptable THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO. when the bible talks about slavery, or the treatment of women, people say 'it was a long time ago, things were different then' but you never hear that said about homosexuality or whatever. what do you think?

Answer 1

To say that the people who wrote the Bible were "ONLY" men, is to misunderstand what man is, who God is, what the Bible says, what the Gospel is, what God's plan for man is, and a host of other things. These were men full of the spirit of God. They were guided by that spirit of truth to write down what God lead them to understand. God did not DICTATE the Bible.

However, to ignore the cultural content of the writings of the Bible is also ignorance.

Yet again, what is written in the Bible, the foundational message, the Word of God, is meta-cultural -- it expresses truths about humanity and Godliness that supersede culture and are timeless.

Though the Apostle Paul wrote of women, that he would not have one over a man (1Ti 2:12), you think it was cultural for Paul's time, yet the reason he gave was 4000 years old (vss. 13-14) -- certainly NOT the same culture.

We say that, because the Bible does not condemn slavery, that it is obsolete and culturally backwards. Yet, have you read, Exodus 21:5? Could you account for the kind of love between that slave and his master that must have motivated him to WANT to remain a slave forever??? And have you not read, "For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ's slave" (1Co 7:22)? Slavery does not have to be cruel.

You think modern culture has grown to be more righteous than God and is above enslaving people? In today's culture we have a new form of slavery. Very few people speak out against it, yet it is just as cruel, if not more so, than Roman slavery. The vast majority of the world's population is not paid an honest day's wages (a living wage) for the work they do for their masters. (This is even the case for about 50% of American workers). They are, for all intents and purposes, slaves to their employers.

And homosexuality is the same as it was in the days of Lot. It isn't cultural; it is human nature defying God's Way of joyful, loving, healthy life. It isn't culture that makes it right or wrong.

It is easy for the human nature in us to reject God's truth by calling it cultural and obsolete, but that is not from Godly understanding or wisdom. The Bible has God's wisdom and God's truth for life eternal. The Way of God is not subject to cultural whims.

Answer 2

Well you raised multiple issues on several different levels. First, any intellengent Christian will tell you that the Bible is not word for word the dictation of God. Most Christians do not believe that is how the Bible came about. They do believe though that it is the word of God.
The strongest scriptural support for such a conclusion comes from 2 Ti 3:16-17:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Its obvious when you read the Bible that it was written by a man with a certain cultural background or level of understanding. However, the Bible is God-breated or insipred by God. I believe that God was with the men that wrote the Bible that his Spirit guided them.
This is a faith statement. There is some evidence to this reality, however. For example, though the Bible was written by multiple authors over thousands of years the Bible never contradicts itself theologically. God is the same from Genesis to Revelation. Which in itself is pretty amazing. Plus the Bible has future prophecies that are fulfilled after they were written.
Now the Bible can apply to us today. The Bible was locked into cultural, however, many of the commands and worldview are meant to be cross-cultural for all Christians. How do you tell the difference?
Well for those who are new to faith, everyone just needs to take the Bible at face value. For those who are teachers and who lead people need to study exegetical methods and take some classes on hermenutics. If you understand the context of the writing this helps you determine if what it is speaking about is cross-cultural.
So just because the Bible is a book written and laced with culture does not mean it is not the Word of God. God communicates to us through culture. In fact, culture is the only way he has availble to communicate with us because culture is our language and our source for intellectual categories. I sincerely believe that God continues to use culture today. God uses culture to communicate WHO he is and WHAT is His will.
The WHO and WHAT that God wants to reveal to us is always cross-cultural.

Answer 3

God inspired the Bible through forty writers.
Inspiration doesn't mean the biblical writer just felt enthusiastic, like the composer of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Nor does it mean the writings are necessarily inspiring to read, like an uplifting poem. The biblical Greek worked for inspiration literally means "God-breathed." Because God breathes out Scripture - because it originates from Him - it is true and inerrant.
Biblical inspiration may be defined as God's superintending of the human authors so that, using their own individual personalities - and even their writing styles - they composed and recorded without error His revelation to humankind in the words of the original autographs. In other words, the original documents of the their own personalities and literary talents, wrote under the control and guidance of the Holy Spirit, the result being a perfect and errorless recording of the exact message God desired to give to man.
Hence, the writers of Scripture were not mere writing machines. God did not use them like keys on a typewriter to mechanically reproduce His message. Nor did He dictate the words, page by page. The biblical evidence makes it clear that each writer had a style of his own. (Isaiah had a powerful literary style; Jeremiah had a mournful tone; Luke's style had medical overtones; and John was very simple in his approach.) The Holy Spirit infallibly worked through each of these writers, through their individual styles, to in errantly communicate His message to humankind.

Answer 4

~~~das,,,, The only "people" who call the bible "the word of god" are christians. "People" call The Upanishads "the word of god". "People" call The Koran "the word of god". The Bagavad-gita,,,,The Tibetan Book of The Dead,,,,The Book of Mormon,,, The Torah,,,, etc, etc, etc, ,,,, and in cultures where there is no written language the "word of god" is spoken through the Shaman. Some say it is found in the music of Songbirds or a Virtuoso Musician,,,,or The Wind. The Choice is Yours.