2. What do we mean when we say the Bible was “inspired by God”?
What does that NOT mean?
Thanks!
2007-09-03 12:13:44 · 19 answers · asked by Cows 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It means that God spoke to the people who wrote it, and gave them the wisdom. It is all of God's words yet he told the people. Most of the common OT stories were written by Moses and Abraham, who were told what to write by God speaking to them.
2007-09-03 12:20:14 · answer #1 · answered by Ally... 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
We do NOT mean that God actually wrote the Bible himself.
We do NOT mean that he dictated what he wanted written to human authors.
We do NOT mean that there are no scientific/geographical/historical mistakes; the people writing were human and incorporated what they knew (or thought they knew) of the world into what they wrote. Sometimes they were wrong.
We DO mean the Holy Spirit gave these men God's message, the idea that he wanted to share with the world. Thus inspired, the authors took this idea and wrote it down in their own words according to their own style.
We DO mean that there are no spiritual mistakes. Even though translations may be a little off or certain verses may even be lost, because the text is inspired by God, the message itself in incorruptible and will never be lost.
2007-09-04 10:48:21 · answer #2 · answered by Caritas 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Except for the 10 commandments the Bible was written by men through the Spirit of God...What that does not mean is that men came up with a cohesive text that declares itself inspired by God over 3000 times, with over 1800 fulfilled prophecies in a compact volume of 66 books written by 44 authors over a 1500 year period of time. Daniel didn't know Ezekiel and Moses didn't know the Apostle John..so it would have been a little hard for them to get together on things being as they live hundreds of years apart...so all those nifty little details and specifics had to have been inspired.
2007-09-03 19:22:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I can tell you what I think that means, as a Catholic.
The Bible was physically written by men. However, God inspired these men to write it, and what to write.
That doesn't mean that God plopped down a book from Heaven, or the spirit of God jumped into these people and wrote it that way.
2007-09-03 19:19:36 · answer #4 · answered by BlackDahlia 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It means that God used men by communicating with them through the Holy Spirit to give us The Holy Bible, the infallable, inerrant Word of God. But the world (satan) does not want you to believe or read this Truth, so you will find many people, even some catholics, who will say the Bible is not literal and/or it is flawed. I have read it- I've looked and looked- I can't find a single flaw. Test the Word of God. Hold fast to that which is good. (plz plz plz visit chick.com- see 'The death cookie' it will open your eyes to catholocism!!)
2007-09-03 19:20:53 · answer #5 · answered by heather b 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That means that the holy spirit influenced the writers and guided them to write what they did, without error... that is what I was taught in theology class throughout 13 years of catholic schooling.
It does not mean that the bible is actually the word for word account of everything god ever said and should not be treated as such... again from the catholics.
2007-09-03 19:18:18 · answer #6 · answered by Rat 7 · 6⤊ 0⤋
You know these soundtrack albums that come out that are "inspired" by such-and-such a movie? They include loads of tracks that aren't actually IN the movie but which the compilers think MIGHT, from their rudimentary understanding of the people behind the movie, have chosen, even though in fact the only person making that selection is the person making the CD, for their own interests.
The Bible is like that.
2007-09-03 19:19:18 · answer #7 · answered by Bad Liberal 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is not suppose to mean to look down or KIll a person because the Bible demands it. God gave us the Ten Commandments and Jesus Christ. I don't have the right solution for the Middle East....sorry
2007-09-03 19:21:01 · answer #8 · answered by sparkles 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means, in my opinion, that whatever the religious leaders thought their god(s) wanted or would say, if alive, would then be inspired by god.
Remember that the main figures in all religious works had their inspirations when they were alone; on a mountain, in a retreat, in the desert, in a cave. Fasting, imagination, solitude, (drugs?), can cause delirium.
2007-09-03 19:23:25 · answer #9 · answered by Lionheart ® 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It means that a lot of thought, prayer and reflection went into what was written. No angel sat on the shoulder of the NT writers and dictated word for word and help with the spelling and punctuation.
2007-09-03 20:04:04 · answer #10 · answered by The Carmelite 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋