How can I take the Bible as the word of God?

Question

When it was transmitted orally for centuries before it was written down, was translated and retranslated, was edited by kings, presumably has pieces missing, and was written by man who is supposed to be inherently sinful. I have a hard time finding any faith with this piece alone let alone all of the other difficulties I face with it.

There was a good saying I read once. Faith start where reasoning ends. I'm not looking for a vague, "read the bible, you'll see" or "have faith" response. I see the validity in following Christianity as mythology but have never heard a reasonable argument to take it literally.

Scotgirl:
1) What is the king james version?
2)I said man not "a man". man is supposed to be inherently evil and defies God throughout the bible, yet I am supposed to blindly trust his transmission would be acurate? I don't get it.
3) I said "presumably has pieces missing" I of course was not there and would not know for sure but there is definitely reason to believe this to be true. I'll let you do your homework since you seem big on it.

The other problems I have are with the scripture and are too numerous to write in a yahoo answers forum, sorry to disapoint.

Answer 1

Here, put this on your tongue and you'll figure it out!

Just thought this was interesting: Darwin was a religious dude. In "the Origin of Species" he makes numerous references to the book of Genisis. Go figure! *heard it on BBC but that doesn't make it true*

Answer 2

Check out the following link. It answers many questions concerning the Bible, accuracy, historicity, etc.:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/bible.asp

Aside from details of history and how it was put together, there is one important element that sets the Bible stand apart from other forms of religious literature: Its view of mankind.

The Bible is no respecter of persons. It portrays people in general very accurately, and even its heroes are shown to have serious flaws (for instance, King David, the man the Bible calls "a man after God's own heart," committed both adultery and murder, and paid dearly for it).

The New Testament in particular is very telling in this regard. For instance, Christ's disciples often come off looking very foolish. Now if these guys wrote the New Testament purely for their own selfish reasons, wouldn't it have made sense for them to have portrayed themselves in the best light possible? Wouldn't they have wanted to elevate themselves in the sight of men? Yet, they did not do this. In the gospels, the book of Acts, and the various other New Testament books, the apostles and other disciples of Christ are shown as flawed; and you will never find an instance where they elevate themselves, demand worship or anything of the kind - nothing at all like you would expect men to behave if they were "in it" for themselves. They very consistently directed praise and worship to God alone, and they preached a gospel of salvation through God's grace alone (not through good works, or paying tribute to human beings or their institutions). And what did they get for this? Most of them lived in poverty and died rather horribly.

Another example: Read the resurrection story. If you do, you will note that the first people to see Jesus alive, and to believe that He had indeed risen, were women. And when they told the disciples, the men didn't believe them. Here, the women are shown as having more faith than the men, and as being right when the men were wrong. Would men (who were just making up these stories) have written things that reflected so badly on themselves, particularly in the very macho first century world? I highly doubt it. At that time in Israel, a woman's testimony was not even admissible as evidence in a court of law.

The men who wrote the Bible (under the inspiration of God, as Christians believe), did not profit from it, nor did they try to do so. That simply goes against the grain of human nature, and, I think, validates the Bible as being something rather extraordinary. There are other reasons (many of which can be found in that link I provided), but this is, in my opinion, a startling evidence that the Bible is special.

Explore these questions for yourself. Get to know the Bible better (I recommend the King James and New King James versions over other translations out there).

Answer 3

We are reading an accurate Bible, which is THE word of God. The Bible is special because it is a compilation of books considered by scholars to be Canon.
Canonicity is determined by God. A book is not inspired because men made it canonical; it is canonical because God inspired it. It is not the antiquity, authenticity or even religious value that makes a book canonical or authoritative. On the contrary, a book is valuable because it is canonical, and not canonical because it is or was considered valuable. Inspiration determines canonization, and confusion at this point not only dulls the edge of authority but it mistakes the effect (a cannonical book) with the cause (inspiration of God). Canonicity is DETERMINED or estsblished authoritatively by God; it is merely DISCOVERED by man.

HOW did man discover or become aware of what God had done? How did the church fathers know when they had come upon a canonical book? There were 5 basic principles that were used in order to DISCOVER the books which God had DETERMINED to be canonical. It is instructive to look at these principles individually in their actual historical operation.

1) IS IT AUTHORITATIVE? This is perhaps the first and most important question that was asked by the fathers. Does this or that book speak with authority? Can it be said of this book as it was of Jesus, "And they were astonished at his teaching, for the taught them as one that had authority" (Mark 1:22)? Does this book come with a divine "Thus saith the Lord"? Does it have a self-vindicating authority that commands attention as it communicates?

2) IS IT PROPHETIC? The next question to be asked was: Was this book written by a man of God? It seemed reasonable that THE WORD OF GOD INSPIRED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD would not be given through anyone other than a MAN OF GOD (II Peter 1:20; Hebrews 1:1). Thus, a book was judged as to whether or not it was genuinely written by the stated author who was a spokesman in the mainstream of redemptive revelation, either a prophet (whether in the Old or New Testament times) or an apostle.

3) IS IT AUTHENTIC? This question of the Fathers asked, "Does the book tell the TRUTH about God, man, etc., as it is already known by previous revelation?" And is it a record of facts as they actually occurred? Obviously, a book cannot contradict known truth and still be truly God's.

4) IS IT DYNAMIC? Another question was asked by the fathers, although sometimes only implicitly: Does the book come with the POWER of God? They believed the Word of God was "living and active" (Hebrews 4:12), and consequently ought to have a transforming force for edification (II Timothy 3:16) and evangelization (I Peter 1:23). If the obeyed message of a book did not effect its stated goal, if it did not have the power to change a life, then God was apparently not behind its message. A MESSAGE of God would certainly be backed by the MIGHT of God.

5) WAS IT RECEIVED? The capstone of the questions was: Has this book been ACCEPTED generally by the PEOPLE of God? Compared to modern standards, transportation was slow and communication was poor during the first centuries of the Christian era. Thus, the full canonical lists were not universally agreed upon in any official way for a few centuries. This meant that when final decision was made and, in many cases even long before that, the collection and listing of books was being done by people to whom the book was not originally directed. So they necesssarily had to depend upon testimony, circulation, and usage, and the above mentioned four principles in order to make a final decision about the acceptance of the given books.
In a sense, then, the acceptance of a book by the church councils of later centuries is not a srong indepent witness to the canonicity of that book. It is rather a confirmation, and does serve the obvious purpose of MAKING FINAL the decision and availability of the books. After all, if the latter Fathers had not collected and DISSEMINATED the books, what good would be accomplished by the fact that the earlier Fathers had ACCEPTED them? The continuation of the canonical books necessitated not only their COLLECTION and RECOGNITION, but also their TRANSMISSION to subsequent generations.

Source(s):
A General Introduction to the Bible, by Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, Moody Bible Institute Press copyright 1968
For the sake of brevity, I have only included the FIRST paragraph after each question. The book goes into MUCH further detail.

Answer 4

The bible as the word of God is like that of a rumor told to you by your friend. You have to believe it, its true or its not. I frankily believe in God and the Bible because I've had nothing but evidence to his powers and his love.

There will always be a reason for every stitutaion to doubt either anwser, you have to pick weather something is true or not and believe in that. You can twist evidence and stories to fit either side (they call those people Lawyers).

Answer 5

I really would like to answer your question, but the question itself has so many flaws in it --

For instance "edited by kings," "has pieces missing" and "written by A MAN who is supposed to be inherently sinful."

And then you don't list all your "other difficulties."

So if you really want to learn why you CAN and should take the Bible as the word of God, I suggest you study some valid and authoritative Biblical apologetics, to see if your presumptions are even correct.


BTW "John the Baptist" above -- thanks for sharing all that valuable information - that was a lot to type!

Answer 6

Not every word of it is the "word of God". Some are history, poems, laws, statutes, ordinances, stories, parables, dreams, visions, prophecies etc.

No doubt there may be a few pieces missing but what is preserved is enough to impart the knowledge of God and the way to Him. That is what is important.

Answer 7

How can I take the Bible as the word of God?

a hear a good blindfold comes in handy...me? I prefer data....try Origin of Species.....

1. Many more individuals are born than can possibly survive, thus there is competition for limited resources

2. Within this vast number there is variation, and because of this variation some of these individuals will have an advantage--however slight--over others

3. The ones who have the advantages are more competitive and thus they are more likely to obtain the limited resources

4. The ones who are succeeding in securing the limited resources are more likely to reproduce and thus pass onto their offspring the more competitive traits

Darwin

GL

Answer 8

The Bible is not the word of God. It is the words of men who wrote it. The word of God according to the bible is The Son of God, Jesus.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. In him was life and the life was the light of men. He was not the Light but came to bear witness to the light. But as many as received him, to them he gave them power to be sons of God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us.
Rev. TomCat

Answer 9

At year 2513, O.T. 1110 years, 39 book, many write, done 443 before Christ.

GOD SPOKE THROUGH OUT THE BIBLE

God said, Let us make man. Gen.1:26;
John 17:3,5,24[Jesus there]; Col.1:15-17; Rev.3:12,14;
Job.38:4-7[Angels there to see age old earth prepared];
The LORD God talked with Adam and Eve.
The LORD talked to Noah.
The LORD talked to Abraham.
The LORD talked to Moses Exo.6:3;
The LORD talked with Satan Job.2:1-4;
The LORD talked to Job at 38th to 42nd chapters.
The LORD talked with Isaiah 6:8-10;
The LORD talked with Jeremiah 1:12;
The LORD talked to Ezekiel 6:1,2;
The LORD talked to Jonah 4:4;
Jesus is Saying that the LORD is talking. Psm.110:1;
Acts 2:27-31-36; How it was understood.
Matt.22:42-44; Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?
They say unto him, The son of David.
Matt.22:43 He saith unto them,How then doth David in spirit
call him Lord, saying,
Matt.22:44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Matt.22:45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
God's voice: The voice from heaven, when Jesus is baptized
Matt.3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized,went up straightway
out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove,
and lighting upon him:
Mat.3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Isa.9:6,7[The LORD God of Host has performed this];
Heb.1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne,
O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the
sceptre of thy kingdom.
Heb.1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;
therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows.
Heb.1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation
of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: God gave Jesus
the Revelations 1:1;

FOR ALL THOSE YEARS:

God had to hold it together, KJV Bible published 1611 after Christ 396 years ago, [ many translations now ], past WW1 and WW2 at 2007 after Jesus

Eph.2:7; 3:21; The world with Jesus is without end. John 3:16; 17:3; 2Pet.3:13; Rev.21:1-5; ALL IS MADE AS NEW AS BEFORE EDEN.

Answer 10

Check out Malachi 3:10, do what it says and you WILL know that God is alive and well and that the bible is His Word =)