If you believe in God, do you accept The Old Testament of the Bible as fact or fiction?

Answer 1

You know I have read some of the answers given here and I really don,t understand such blind faith . There are many contra dictions in both old and new testaments . This book was created edited and rewritten many times . I do not deny that it contains many beautiful spiritual truths but it is far from a completely factual representation of the word of God and the Nazarene Jesus . God gave us freewill and an intelligence so it is up to us to exercise both . Not by accepting blindly everything we are taught by preachers and parents but by investigating and exploring and only then accepting the truth that sits comfortably in our own hearts and minds .

Answer 2

2 Timothy 3:16, 17 says: "All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work."

"All scripture" would inlcude the Old Testament. Jesus himself quoted from the Old Testament on several occasions. Matthew 4:3-10. Luke 4:16-21 are just two examples.

There are also many prophecies concerning Christ's birth, life and death in the Old Testament. Even secular history confirms that the Old Testament was completed by the time Jesus was on the earth, ruling out the possibility that the prophecies were written after the events.

Cameron, if you were to say you are the King of France you should then be able to back that up. The Bible claims to be inspired and backs it up. There are several lines of evidence to prove the Bible is authentic word of God.

Answer 3

Why does it always have to be one or the other. Here's a novel thought, I think some parts are fact and some aren't.

People in those times didn't think (and therefore write) the way we do, they were more into getting a point across than cross referencing facts. Case in point: Was the universe actually made in 6 days? Who cares! That's not what the writer was trying to say, they were trying to say that God made it and it was good.

If the old testament is fact why did Jesus have to contradict it? There are 53 examples in the Gospels of Jesus says (You have heard it said... but I say to you...' (not all of these are scriptures, many of them are sayings).

The next question: Where did we get the idea that it was fact? Please don't quote Timothy because you can't say the Bible is true because it says it is. Then I'm the King of France because the King of France says I am and that's me.

Answer 4

It's the fact. People usually use the Old Testament as an excuse not to follow what the whole Bible says like in cases such as worshipping on the true Sabbath and and eating pork etc. If the Old Testament was not meant to be followed it wouldn't be there in the first place. There'a purpose and meaning in EVERY verse in the WHOLE Bible.

God Bless....

Answer 5

Yes I do believe in God. I believe that the old testament is facts for sure.( way to much archaeological proof) but I think in order to understand and accept everything that happened in the old testament you have to understand that it was part ot the Old Covenant that God had with his chosen people the Hebrews. Certainly a majority of it does not apply to us today (we wouldn't stone our children would we) after all we have the New Testament. We need to take both and read them in what context they were written in. We are under what is called the dispensation of grace. Take all of the bible and use it for understanding of who God is and what his characteristics are. The contrast between the old and new is this old= law + punishment new=grace+mercy; when you put them both together you get Jesus= peace + Love respectively.

Answer 6

I think it's essentially truth at it's core, while there may be some artistic license with it's authors in the local coloring of the stories. What I'm saying is that it's certainly not a pedantic rendering of the historical occurrences, that's obvious. What I do firmly believe is that with each account or event, there was a core truth to be communicated, and I believe that those truths have been preserved reliably.

One must also be able to distinguish metaphors and similes from straight forward narrative. The content of the old testament was preserved orally for centuries before it was ever recorded. And consistent with ancient oral traditions, the core of a story was unchangeable while the details could vary from telling to telling. I believe this variance was typically 10-40% as gauged by historians. That's precisely the variance you see in the new testament synoptics, which lends credence to their authenticity as communicating historical events...by ancient standards that is.

So in short, I believe the accounts of the old testament against the backdrop of the criteria I cited above which must decipher figurative language from literal and must weigh in the fact that it's only as accurate as ancient standards were. Bottom line...I firmly believe it can be trusted if you understand how to contextualize these factors.

Answer 7

I believe in God, and I personally believe that The Old Testament i.e. Torah, lays down the foundation for guidelines of life, it was what Jesus followed, and as a follower or Jesus, I feel that I am obliged to follow the same laws.

Answer 8

Of course, it's fact! The Old Testament tells of God leading his people, and his love for them. It also speaks of the ten commandments in the book of Exodus.

Answer 9

Not all parts of the Bible are meant to be taken literally. For example there are poetical books (Song of Solomon, etc). There are also visions. The visions have true spiritual teaching, but the monsters that Daniel saw (for example) did not really exist. In this way perhaps you could call parts of the Bible "fiction" (tho I say this without any disrespect for the Bible).

On the other hand, much of the Bible is presented as history. Other historical sources and archeology have confirmed that the Bible is a reliable source of history. The people, kings, countries, religions, customs, wars, etc that are mentioned actually existed. The Bible was not simply "made up."

The Book of Mormon is on the other end of the spectrum. It claims to be a recorded history, but not one shred of historical evidence has been found to prove that the people and cities it mentions actually ever existed.

Answer 10

Fact