Christians, you cannot have it both ways, is the Bible the word of God or not?

Question

It amazes me how Christians are always crying that the Bible is the infallible "Word of God." Yet, when you point out some of the repulsive things attributed to God in the Old Testament, all of a sudden they deny that the OT God ever did those horrible things. They seem to go into some sort of trance, repeating over and over, God is good, God is Great. Is it the word of God, or isn't it?

Answer 1

I don't believe that the Bible is the Word of God. But I do believe that it's accurate in both word and intent.

Why? What is it about the Bible that you want to find fault with?

Do you think that because men did something really bad that you can blame God for it? Explain the connection, please?

(Guilt by association is something you do if you're a Gheschtapo agent.)

Answer 2

This is a great question and is one of those questions that has been asked many, many times. I think the essence of your question is "why does God do bad things"? Or perhaps, why does God allow bad things to happen, yes?. Well, you are correct when you write that the Old Testament contains accounts of events that were quite horrible. For example, God commanded King David to destroy every man, woman, child and animal living in a certain city. This of course is quite brutal and shocks us. Why would God command that innocent women and children be eliminated? This is really a separate question and there are many answers depending on what theologian you talk to. But, what I'm getting at here is that Christians should not (and generally do not) deny things like this. Yes, God did command people to do things that today are considered immoral. It is unfortunate when Christians deny their own book. Even more unfortunate is that many Christians simply do not read the Bible. If they do, it is piecemeal and selective. They may glance over these areas but they prefer not to talk about it. The Bible is a collection of books and letters written over a period of 1500 and 4000 years ago. Many of the things contained in the Bible are historical accounts of peoples, battles, kingdoms, wars, etc. The people that lived in those times were very much like you and I but they had very different sensibilities with regard to morality, the role of God in daily life, etc.

Christians, like many people of other faiths, have reasons for being Christian. They want to find faith to help them in the problems and struggles they encounter. What they fail to do sometimes (they are afterall imperfect people - sometimes "more" imperfect than average!) is really read the Bible, and really try to understand what it means for them. For example, Christians proclaim Jesus but simply do not follow his teachings or his commands. Instead they follow a political ideology. They are, in effect, being mislead by politicians. Because of this they simply understand the Republican party planks better than they do the Bible. If they truly followed Jesus they would not be involved in politics at all and instead would focus their energies on helping the poor, the widows, the sick, and the homeless.

They will figure this out someday but for now simply know that they are trying. They can't always explain their faith or why the Bible contains what it contains. Right now, they are a bit confused but that will change in time.

Remember too that though there are repulsive things in the Bible it doesn't always mean that there is some kind of approval for those things. In the Bible we find murder, rape, brutality, incest, torture, false imprisonment, corruption, sex (lots of sex) but I think it's interesting that those who copied the Bible (over and over again) did not omit these things that were unfavorable but instead chose to leave the Bible as it is.

Answer 3

Yes the Bible is the Word of God. And most Bible scholars believe that the old Testament is an exact dictation from God Himself. If you goto http://www.exodus2006.com/3code.htm you'll find another list of messages embedded inside the Old Testament only possible by God Himself.

Answer 4

I don't deny the O.T. and I'm not sure who your talking to about the Bible, but apparently they don't know much. If you would bother reading the old testament through, you would see that God did do some pretty serious stuff and Satan did do others. God did the things that He did to teach lessons and to grow his people spiritually. They had to have faith in Him; not golden calves, or their own strength and such. Find someone who actually knows about the Bible then come back and restate your case. Peace and love, brother.

Answer 5

It's the word of people from the middle east. OT is the history of the Hebrew people. It is human nature to preserve yourself. They wrote down their histories and stories and moral teachings. That is all. Christians will tell you that the OT doesn't matter becauses Jesus sacrifice wiped out the old law. Good, glad it wiped out the law but it doesn't retract the horrible things god did to the people now does it.

Answer 6

It is the word of God. God did everything it says in the O.T. He may have done some things that we don't understand but he never did anything that was wrong. We are not capable of judging His actions.

Answer 7

Yes....the bible is supposed to be the word of God.....but lets remember it was translated by humans.

Answer 8

It is the word of man.Written by man,edited by man(the Council of Nicea)
Man made god,not the other way around

Answer 9

I choose to belive the bible and belive in god, its all the way a person interprets the bible each person has to chose how they do my faith i put in our god

Answer 10

i dont think so it is the word of god. too many fact that it is not word of god, it is always inaccurate n cannot be proven.. i myself confuse with this teaching..