Q for all believers of The Bible: Is its content directly, soley, purely and absolutely from God?

Question

I have heard people in the past say that The Bible is inspired by God. Does that mean it came from God, through human beings, who then wrote it down? If that is true and correct, then the writer's interpretation of God's message is a sort of filter, right, so that the writer could record what God wanted to communicate? Does that mean the content of The Bible is not 100% God's word?

If you think the content is purely and absolutely from God, what do you suppose happened during the writing of the first Bible? Also, how do you explain the changes that have been made to The Bible that have led to there being many wildly varying versions of The Bible, some having several books ommitted compared to others?

Please help me understand this, as it has puzzled me for a long time. This question is meant for all who believe in The Bible, including but not restricted to:
Catholic
Roman Catholic
Pentecostal Catholic
Christian
Born Again Christian
Jew
Anglican
Jehovah's Witness
...

Further questions and comments directed at answerers ...

Mr(s) No name: Nice metaphor, but provides no answer, even in a metaphorical sense.

Tuberoot: If they got it right, then a lot of other things are very, very wrong.
Thing is there are so many examples they got it wrong, proven beyond reasonable doubt by science.
I do not mean wild as in natural brutality. I mean wildly as in drastically different, which can be observed by reading Bible's from different religious denominations.

Kelbel: If, as you say, the Bible was passed on orally before ever being recorded, then several more layers of filter are thereby involved, by default, in addition to being translated. That's a bloody lot of filters!!

pdman1974: are you, like the other answerers of this question, conceding that the content of the Bible may be incorrect to some degree. That is how I interpret your answer, and if I understand you incorrectly, please clarify your answer. PLEASE!!
However, if my interpretation of your answer is correct, is it difficult to accept that the content of the Bible is just as infallible as mankind is, and as such cannot be trusted? This followup question is for any other answerers who wish to comment as well, NOT EXCLUSIVELY FOR pdman1974.

Answer 1

Hi... very serious and challenging question you have here. Let's start with a definition of Biblical Inspiration. I will quote two well -respected theologians:

1.Carl F. H. Henry: “Inspiration is a supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon divinely chosen men in consequence of which their writings become trustworthy and authoritative.”

2. Millard Erickson: “By inspiration of the Scripture, we mean that supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their writings as accurate record of the revelation or which resulted in what they wrote as actually being the Word of God.”

As can be seen, all these definitions have the following elements in common:
1. The agent of inspiration is the Holy Spirit.
2.The objects of inspiration are the scripture writers and their writings.
3.The product of inspiration is the accurate record of revelation contained in the Old Testament and the New Testament (the Scriptures).

The process of inspiration and the writing of the Scriptures involved the combination of divine and human elements. The Holy Spirit, while directly shaping the writer’s thoughts into those concepts and ideas He desired to be written, also allowed the writer’s human personality and background to come into play in the selection of words and modes of expressions. This helps to explain the different styles of language and literary expressions found in the Bible.

As to the "wildly" differing versions, that may best be addressed by tracing the formulation of the CANON (of the Scriptures). If you post this question at a later time, I'l do my best to answer.

Answer 2

The Bible was written by man, not God. The Bible is so often misinterpreted, its bound to happen when it goes from Hebrew and Aramaic to Latin to all the other languages it is now written in. You also have to understand that the stories of the Bible had been passed on orally for many many years to it ever being written down. When translating text between languages their is sometimes no word to translate that give the same meaning; a simple example is 'high five' we as Americans understand the concept, those who aren't fluent English speakers are much less likely to understand. Another simple reason as to why there are so many versions and interpretations are ones own interpretation of what the simple text is 'stating'. I don't know..

Answer 3

Good question... not sure if this will actually answer you ... the Bible is inspired by God but written down by man and therefore there is room for errors because as we all know man is anything but infallible..... and because of these errors ... you have many interpretations...and because of that you have many religions...
remember however, that religion is not of God but of man... in regards to omitted books i would have to say they are inconsequential.... for the simple reason that if ALL that was not
required for us to know was available.. then we ( man ) will be able to accuse God and say you did not give us all the info we needed ....the info is there and even in that info God is very specific, and advises us to prove what is in there and not be deceived by other ppls interpretations or dogma.....seek and ye will find..knock and it will be opened .....

Answer 4

To your question and first paragraph- yes. There is a chance that they got it wrongt, isn't there? But if they bumbled through and got it right, what then?

If they got it wrong, then we would have examples of it, many of which are not necesarily those that are religiously brought up by Atheists, Muslims, and others.

What I would say is that the Bible is not the inerrant word of God. Only thise that are poorly taught are going to tell you that. Especially if they only can read the Bible in English!

Summary of the first paragraph: Right.

To the second paragraph, wild? Which 'wild' part are you referring to?

Answer 5

fairly. The murdering demon-king of the Bible is indistinguishable from the different blood-hungry center jap deity, no count if Baal, Chemosh, which ever. If an ET confirmed up in a spaceship and behaved like Yahweh, say killing the firstborn of the U. S., each and all of the fundies could be headed for the gunsafe to place up a combat in simple terms as i might. I in simple terms does no longer make an exception for his or her demon king.

Answer 6

Yes, no doubt about that.
It's a book of peace, love, tolerance & understanding.

Answer 7

If God has intended that man should learn His religion from a book, the Bible, surely God would have given that book to man. Christ would have given that book to man. Did He do it? He did not. Christ sent His Apostles throughout the whole universe and said, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

Christ did not say, "Sit down and write Bibles and scatter them over the earth, and let every man read his Bible and judge for himself." If Christ had said that, there would never have been a Christianity on the earth at all, but a Babylon and confusion instead, and never one Church, the union of one body. Hence, Christ never said to His Apostles, "Go and write Bibles and distribute them, and let everyone judge for himself." That injunction was reserved for the Sixteenth Century, and we have seen the result of it. Ever since the Sixteenth Century there have been springing up religion upon religion, and churches upon churches, all fighting and quarreling with one another, and all because of the private interpretation of the Bible.

Christ sent His Apostles with authority to teach all nations, and never gave them any command of writing the Bible. And the Apostles went forth and preached everywhere, and planted the Church of God throughout the earth, but never thought of writing.


Up to that time the whole world for three hundred years did not know what the Bible was. Hence, they could not take the Bible for their guide, for they did not know what constituted the Bible. Would our Divine Saviour, if He intended man to learn his religion from a book, have left the Christian world for three hundred years without that book? Most assuredly not.

It is Divine Faith alone by which we give honor and glory to God, by which we adore His infinite wisdom and veracity. That adoration and worship is necessary for salvation.

We must have Faith in order to be saved, and we must have Divine Faith, not human faith. Human faith will not save a man, but only Divine Faith. What is Divine Faith? It is to believe, upon the authority of God, the truths that God has revealed, that is Divine Faith. To believe all that God has taught upon the authority of God, and to believe without doubting, without hesitation. For the moment you begin to doubt or hesitate, that moment you begin to mistrust the authority of God, and, therefore, insult God by doubting His word. Divine Faith, therefore, is to believe without doubting and without hesitating. Human faith is belief upon the authority of men, on human authority. But Divine Faith is to believe without doubting, without hesitating, whatsoever God has revealed upon the authority of God, upon the Word of God.

Answer 8

Okay, you hear the music, but you don't know the singer.