Is everything in the bible TRUE? and FACT?

Question

if not, how can you pick and choose what's true and what's not?

like if you don't believe that noah lived to be 950 years old, but believe that jesus is the son of god? how is that legitimate??

or if you don't believe that the earth is only 6000 years old, but you believe that there's heaven waiting if you worship 'god'? how is that possible?

how is that possible to pick things in the bible as true and others as false?

see what i'm saying, christians always say "don't take the bible literally"...but they go on and say "jesus is the son of god and the savior cuz the bible says so"....hmm, sounds like taking it literally.

Answer 1

The Bible is designed so you either believe all of it, or none of it. There are answers for everything that is written. The evidence is everywhere, just open the eyes and He will draw you near!!

Answer 2

You can trust the Bible. There are outside sources that confirm what they Bible says. There are many more sources than just the Bible that we can rely on (although the Bible is more than sufficient on it's own).

1. Geography
2. Texts
3. Toponymy
4. Archaeology

Geography- If you study the geography of Israel you would see how it affected the settlement patterns, routes of travel commerce, econmy, politics and thus the history of that time. The geography of the Biblical Israel confirms what we read in the Bible.

Texts- There are extra-biblical texts (texts outside the Bible) that also confirm what is written in scripture. Egyptian sources are primarily from the 2nd millenium BCE. There are 4 types.
1) Expedition journal and topographical lists- example is Thutmose III.
2) Literary papyri-example, Journey of Sinuhe
3) Execration texts- 2 sets (ursing)
4) Coorespondance archives- El Amarna letters
Other Extra Biblical texts include Mesopotamian sources, from Syria the Ebla texts, from Transjordan the Mesha Stele, from Israel the Tel Dan inscription.
Also look at authors like the famous historian Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the younger, Julius Africanus, and the Talmud.

Toponymy- the study of place names. If you study the cities and other names in the Bible you will see that they have the Principles of Location which prove they really did exist. Those are:
1) Near a water source.
2) Defensible.
3) Continuity of the name through the centuries.
4) It fits with the geography described in the text.
5) Check data from archaelogical surveys.
No one would settle in a place that did not have these Principles of Location.

Archaeology- If we dig in Israel and find ancient sites that are consistent with where the Bible said we would find them, that shows the Bible's history and geography are accurate. One prominate archaeologist carefully examined Luke's references to 32 countries, 54 cities, and 9 islands, finding not a single mistake. These are only some sites that have been excavated: The Pool of Bethesda in John 5:1-15, the Pool of Siloam from John 9:7, Jacob's well from John 4:12, even Pontius Pilate's identity has been confirmed by archaeology! John McRay PH. D. was asked if he had ever encountered an archaeological finding that blatantly contravene a New Testament reference he responded, "Archaeology has not produced anything that is unequivocally a contradiction to the Bible. On the contrary, there have been many opinions of skeptical scholars that have become codified into 'fact' over the years but that archaeology has shown to be wrong."

Answer 3

That would depend on what "translation" you are reading... There is no innerant text of The Bible existant today... The Truth of God's Word and Will for mankind is only revealed to those open to the leading of God, through The Holy Spirit. Only by the leading of The Holy Spirit will any one find what God has for them in The Bible.

There is nothing in The Bible for non-believers... it is not intended for them.

This is The Truth: The Bible dose not prove God... God Proves The Bible... If you do not know God you can not know The Bible

Answer 4

What is now called the Bible started out as a series of writings based on very old myths and legends. These have since been re-written, modified, added to and translated many times. Is it therefor fair to call the Bible the inerrant word of God?

The earliest writings of the Old Testament were written around 1850 BCE. Theses were stories borrowed from the older writings of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
First Great Revision of Judaism about 1200 B.C.E. The myth of Exodus was included in the revision, transformed as it was from the older story of the expulsion of the Hyksos
Second and third revisions, 742 – 600 BCE the many gods of the Old Testament are harmonized into a singular being _ Yahweh
The Fourth Great Revision 586 B.C.E. to 538 B.C.E.
The Fifth Great Revision of Judaism 323 B.C.E. to 45 C.E. under Greek influence
The Last Great Revision of Judaism 30 C.E. to appx. 73 C.E
50 C.E. to 140 C.E. The Jesus Movement suddenly and quickly transformed itself from a social and political reform movement into a full-blown religion.
The Gospels: Mythmaking Begins in Ernest. Myths and miracles added to the bible 65 C.E. to appx. 120 C.E.
Emperor Constantine 313 C.E. to appx. 430 C.E. demanded that the bishops at the First Council of Nicea come up with a consistent, catholic doctrine that would be universal. This is where the word Catholicism comes from.
320 C.E. to 1330 C.E. Emperor Constantine ordered Eusebius to put together some scriptures for him to present to the new churches he was constructing at his new capital of Constantinople in time for his new festival of the resurrection, to be called "Easter”.
The Protestant Revision and the English Bibles 1330 to 1611. John Wycliffe organized the translation of the Bible into English.
The King James Bible version first appeared in 1611. Though the frontispiece written by the conference declares it to be a new translation, that's not really what it was. In fact, it was a revision of the Bishop's Bible of 1602, which itself was a revision of the Bishop's Bible of 1568, which was a revision of Coverdale's less than scholarly Great Bible, which was a rewrite of the Tyndale and Wycliffe works.

Answer 5

Imagine a person testifying in a trial. If that person is caught up in several lies then all of the testimony from that person should not be regarded as fact. It is proven that person had already lied on the stand, how can you believe anything the person says from there on.

A lot of christians will tell you they believe everything in the bible. If you try to point out the stuff that does not make sense they say you are taking it out of context, or that it is a mistranslation, or that it all requires faith.

Pointing to something in the bible and saying it is fact because it is in the bible does not make sense. The bible is capable of error. This is very true. Point to something in the bible and say it is fact and then back it up with other sources, that is the way to go.

Answer 6

Some portions of the bible use ancient instruments of rhetorical comparison, metaphors, and objective reporting of historical events.

One cannot take a few verses here and there and form an entire theology around them without understanding the systematic messages in the entire bible.

Unfortunately, some believers and non-believers will pick and choose their biblical verses to make a point, yet fail to synthesize the verse(s) with an overall thematic theological message.

So, to properly understand the bible you must first have a solid grounding in what is referred to as biblical hermeneutics. The term hermeneutics was derived from two words--the Greek verb hermeneuein, meaning to interpret, and the noun hermeneia, meaning interpretation.

**Hermeneutics is described as the development and study of theories and interpretation of the understanding of sacred texts.**

Some principles to keep in mind as you interpret the bible:

- Understanding the subject according to its social and historical context
- Assessing the historical social construction between the researcher and the subject
- Relating ideographic details to general theoretical concepts through abstraction and generalization
- Being sensitive to potential pre-conceptual theoretical contradictions between research design and actual findings
- Being aware of possible multiple interpretations among participants for a given sequence of events
- Being conscious of potential biases or systematic distortions in the subject’s narratives

For those who have studied hermeneutics formally or informally, it becomes easier to determine when metaphors or ancient instruments of rhetorical comparisons are being made in the scriptures. Hence when I train future clerics, church teachers, etc., they are equipped with the right tools to then expound to others.

Despite the difficulties in reading such a profound book, investigation will also reveal that there exists NO SINGLE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY that has been shown to prove error, factually or doctrinally, in the Bible. Yes, there is plenty of speculation and hypotheses, but not a single verifiable fact.

A good text to start with: "Principles of Biblical Interpretation", by Louis Berkhof

Start here:
http://www.bible-interpretation.com/
http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Hermeneutics/

Answer 7

the truth of the Bible is in its message... no longer its historic previous, technological expertise or sociology. In historic previous, this style of historic previous then become very diverse than today. truth of what easily got here about were a lot less significant than explaining WHY something got here about. They made the data make the why very sparkling. celebration: there's a passage... I overlook the position.... that something like 5 Hebrews killed 5,000 of the enemy. historic truth as all of us understand it? No. what's real is the very undeniable truth that they theory that they not in any respect would have gained except God become on their part. In technological expertise it speaks with the expertise of technological expertise of the day. on the time they theory the earth become flat, supported via columns connected the the "foundations of the earth" that there turned right into a dome to which the celebs were connected which had floodgates to allow the water over the dome to rain on earth. My New American Bible even has a drawing of this historic theory. With sociology it speaks about the society on the prompt and how Christians might want to stay interior of that society. operating example the position of slaves and women people in society. It become no longer making edicts as to how society should be each and each of the time. those who attempt to administration the Bible as note-for-note truth might want to pay extra interest to what Christ observed as the literalists of His day. He observed as them a "brood of vipers" because with the help of their interest to the letter of the regulation they lost the extremely which technique of the regulation, and for this reason made it more durable for people to attitude God.

Answer 8

The Scripture teaches that man will have to give an account of himself before God based on ".....EVERY WORD that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." You either believe it all, or you believe none of it. The Scripture also says we can't have it both ways concering what we "pick and choose" out the Word to believe by comparing such a folly to equally serving 2 masters. It says, "No man can serve two masters. For he would LOVE one and HATE the other."

Answer 9

It is totally true and factual. The bible's prophecies are coming true and they are too specific that no man could have predicted these things. It is also full of scientific facts that no one in the world knew about at that time. There are also hidden codes with all types of messages in the bible that spell out important people's names and events of our time.

Answer 10

...I don't know if you are aware of this, but the Bible declares that a Christian believer has the Holy Spirit living within him/her, to help him to discern spiritual things, observe:
...1 Corinthians 2:12-14:
...12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
...13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
...14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
************************************************************
...Jesus of Nazareth was a real, historical figure, is witnessed by the Bible, secular historians of His day, and by millions of changed lives - those who have believed on Him and have been radically changed.
...Jesus claimed to be the only way to God and actually claimed to be God. He is either a liar, a lunatic, a legend, or He is the Lord, as He said.
...Now what do you say? He asked His disciples one day, "Whom do you say that I am?", so, who is He to you? He leaves you no wiggle room on this one. This is no small thing - your eternal life depends on it.
...I urge you to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. (Acts 16:31)
...Whosoever will, may come.

Answer 11

Everything is truth, not everything is fact. Jesus taught in parables, which would be stories that he made up, thus, not facts. If Jesus taught in parables, it's not too much of a step to think that God taught in parables in the OT as well. I don't know, I'm just putting out a rational idea. We understand principles a lot better in story form. Truth is the underlying principle of what the Bible tells us. Truth is Jesus Himself. The Bible points us to God, it shows us the way to live.

Not all who call themselves Christian truly are. Many ascribe to cut- and-paste theology as you have described. There will be abuse to any way of thinking. What matters is if we have a relationship with the Lord and do our best to live according to His principles.