Folks, is the Bible truly the word of God?

Question

I have heard it all of my life, and gosh knows the phrase is popular here at R&S, that the Holy Bible is the word of God. Not cherrypicked parts, not only the scattering of loving words, but all of it. If this is so, what should an American bloke make of the guy who sells a daughter into slavery, the guy who is hellbent to burn his son alive, the guy who walks on water, the slaughter, genocide, "dashing" babies against a handy wall, rape, slavery, a talking snake, a talking bush, a talking jackass, the guy who survived three days in the belly of a big old fish, incest, the guy who chopped off 400 foreskins, the guy who rose from the dead and flew up to "Heaven," multiple wives, guys living hundreds of years, and so on and on? It's asking an awful lot of a human critter in the age of space travel, the Internet, wonders in medical science, incredible technologies emerging very day. All of that 21st-century stuff, and a doggoned talking snake? Wow!

Answer 1

No. It's a bunch of stories invented by men in order to maintain a socio-economic power structure. It keeps naive, scared children in line. Wake up. Start thinking for yourself. Do you still believe in Santy Claus and the Easter Bunny?

Answer 2

Agreeing with what Lightning said, we have this problem in our church too of women chattering in the church... I'm ashamed to admit it and be so harsh on my own gender, but it's true: we talk a lot about things that are not pertinent to God's word. The Arabic translation of this verse is much more like "be quiet" than "never ever say anything". Also you can't just grab a verse and take it totally out of context. That is very dangerous. Do not forget that it is in the Bible that we read, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." ~Galatians 3:28 The Bible is full of amazing females who served God and led their people. Deborah, the Judge, the Samaritan woman, Mary the mother of Jesus, Esther, Ruth. Show me any other religion that shows men and women so much as equals as Christianity and Judaism do. You have to take the Bible as a whole, as a spirit. In the Bible, the devil Himself quotes the Bible and Jesus counters his verses with the proper verses. That is why it is so important to seek the guidance of others with authority and the Holy Spirit when reading the Bible. Good question though! This one used to really hurt me until I learned more about it. To the 1Timothy quote, to me it is in regards to the priesthood, which I believe has been ordained by God as a role for men. But I know there are many who would yell and scream at me for that one--not enough time to talk that through tonight :0)

Answer 3

Take a deep breath and read my lips:

THE BIBLE CONTAINS ALL THINGS NECESSARY TO SALVATION. BUT NOT ALL THINGS IN THE BIBLE ARE NECESSARY TO SALVATION.

Got it? Good.

For a Christian, you can basically chop out most of the material, when it comes to God telling us how to be. Jesus did this very thing when he told the Pharisees that the 2 great commandments (Love God and love your neighbor as yourself) are ALL THERE IS. All the other laws and rules depend on those 2, period, end of conversation, said Jesus.

Which begs the question: "Why even HAVE all the rest of it?" The reason, in a word, is "context." Historically, morally, and theologically. And that is why scripture is to be studied, as well as merely read. The book is about the history of our relationship with God and with one another, and quite naturally is played out in themes that are sometimes graphic and shocking. But that is not to say that we are to mimic those past events and behaviors.

Bear in mind as well that the scenarios you've observed and noted carry with them some moral lesson or message and many of them are not -or need not be- factual. I doubt, for example, that the world was created as described in Genesis. That does not, however, invalidate the message of that story.

"Word of God" is a somewhat popular and very corrupted phrase, I believe. Be that as it may, the fact that it is the word of God does not mean it is the command of God, anymore than a news report of some high crime means we should "go and do likewise."

And, in MY book, the wonders of medical science, technology -and all the rest of it are as substantial in spiritual import as are many things in the Bible. But, when Christ came and gave us the church (through Peter) it marked a boundary between all that preceded and all that was to come. And so, the Bible, as the Word of God, cannot continue to be written, else the meaning and importance of all that has preceded disappears. The way it is now means there will always be a root, a beginning, something to return to.

Hows that working for you?

Answer 4

OK - two things you need to clear up.

First - exactly what do you (or anybody else)mean by the phrase "word of God." Knowing precisely what you are asking and what they are answering is crucial.

Second - realize that "the Bible" has two very different sections, and they play different roles in differing sects view of what constitutes their religion and their faith. For some, the Old Testament is the history of the relationship between God and man that led up to the coming of Christ. Christ supplants the Old Testament. Others believe that every word in both sections is Holy - and they then have to face the contradictions between old and new testament commandments, duplicate and yet differing versions of the same stories (like multiple creation stories, several versions of Noah and the ark, and so on.)

It's a heated issue and it is most important to be sure everyone has all their terms clearly defined, or you will quickly be talking at cross purposes.

Answer 5

Just look at the account of creation in Genesis. On the first day, heaven and earth was created, on another day the land was seperated from the sea, on another day all the beasts were created, and so on.

Well, do you believe all that stuff happened in just six days? Doesn't seem to make much sense that it could, right?

Ok, but look at the order of events that science says must have happened. First, the stars and planets condensed out of cosmic dust. Then the earth cooled enough for oceans to form. Then life emerged and all the animals evolved.

Hmm. Vastly different timeframe, but pretty much the same sequence of events.

Now imagine that you understand creation as science describes it, or even better yet, imagine that you have Godlike knowlege of the events of creation. Now imagine that you travel through time back 3 or 4 thousand years or so, and try to explain all this to some shepherd who doesn't even have words in his language for "interstellar", "tectonics" or "evolution". And imagine he faithfully writes down everything you tell him, as best he understands it.

You think something might get lost in translation?

So, whether you believe that it took 6 days to "git 'er done" or 6 billion years is pretty much up to you. And whether you believe the Bible is a supremely accurate retelling of the story of God and His followers, or whether it is a jumbled mess that reports the truth as best any human with God in his ear could do, or whether it is just a bunch of fairy tales is pretty much up to you.

Answer 6

I think the bible was meant to be like the "blair witch project" of it's time..... fool everyone into believing something is real just so they could make some money off of it.

I mean look at the blair witch project...... they spent what? 20 or 30k on that movie and they made hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars on it. Now imagine if you will.... somehow all records of that film are lost completely..... and decades... maybe even centuries from now it resurfaces.... people think it's real and they fear for their lives. They "KNOW" the blair witch is out there, but they don't want to upset her..... so they start worshipping her.... they start sacrificing animals, first born sons....etc... to appease her anger and gain her favor.

The bible is a work of fiction. I don't know what it's original intention was, but the people who continue to use it as if it is law are INSANE! Imagine the looks i would get if i started quoting green eggs & ham as if it were a true story.

Answer 7

You've just highlighted thousands of years of the corruption of men and how sin has affected that.
You've got other incidents of God relating to man and some of the brief conclusions.
So in conclusion, it looks like you have put your faith in science, good luck with that, I work in health care with people who are the "elite specialists" of their field and I can tell you with all certainty that science has a loooooong way to go to figuring out lifes questions. These folks have probably only grasped a fraction of the portion of the body that is in their field alone, let alone the universe.
Science, when it does seem impressive only seems to manipulate that which already exists, they've yet to create.

Answer 8

I feel if you are truly a christian, you would not questions God's word. The past is totally different from today because that was prior to churches. In those types of days, they did not know better. They didn't have a bible to go by.

Answer 9

The biggest trick that Satan uses to misguide and mislead us is to get us caught up in conversations like this. While we waste time trying to prove God wrong, we miss his message of salvation entirely and fall right into the devil's trap.

Answer 10

As a Christian anointed by the laying on of hands; the anointing, the Spirit of Truth who leads me into all truth (1Jn2:27) leads me in the Holy Bible & assures me of itsTruth.

Obviously you aren't born of God yet. So? The bible is for Christians to read. All you need to know is the Name of Jesus. And believe in Him. Maybe you shouldn't try to understand the whole bible without Gods help. Just, trust in God to show you the Way.