Anyone want to enlighten me on a few things about Christianity?

Question

OK. Who wrote the Bible? It is claimed to be the word of God, fair enough but who wrote it down? Just a bunch of people who claimed to be speaking to God a few thousand years ago? Well consider if someone made the same claims today. Where would they end up? A secure unit? Also why follow the bible when in truth it is simply the viewpoint of whoever wrote it all those years ago?

In all honesty I like the idea of religion but all the rational parts of my mind cannot get around these few issues.

I was hoping not to offend anyone with this question so apologies to those who were offended.

Answer 1

the bible is a collection of stories written by many different people and brought together under one banner, it is a set of guidelines on how to live your life by conforming to the christian religion it should not be interpreted as fact

Answer 2

"OK. Who wrote the Bible? It is claimed to be the word of God, fair enough but who wrote it down?"

It was written by any number of people over a period of about a thousand years.


"Just a bunch of people who claimed to be speaking to God a few thousand years ago?"

The prophets would have claimed to be speaking on behalf of God, but even they wouldn't have claimed to have him on the other end of a hotline. They were mostly commenting on the events of their time against a background of what would have been almost universally held religious convictions.


"Well consider if someone made the same claims today. Where would they end up? A secure unit?"

People do make that claim. Whenever they open their mouths the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and whoever else will be speaking in the light of their religious convictions, and therefore, in a sense, on God's behalf. Whether or not any particular person should be listened to requires, of course, some common sense. Hopefully not too many people would listen to the rantings of somebody like Pat Robertson (I think that's his name).


Also why follow the bible when in truth it is simply the viewpoint of whoever wrote it all those years ago?

A fundamenlist would probably take the view that it was written almost at the direct dictation of God. The majority of us would probably regard it as divinely inspired in some ill defined sense, which has more to do with mysticism than rationalism, and a few would be at the opposite extreme to the fundamentalists, not regarding it as divinely inspired at all.

Answer 3

Old Testament:

No one really knows any of the authors, though Moses is erroneously named the author of the first five books (Thomas Paine ripped apart this idea over 300 years ago...after all Moses apparently writes about his own death!).

New Testament:

Most scholars acknowledge that Paul wrote at least 5-6 of the roughly dozen letters attributed to him. The rest are anonymous.

Mark is presumed to be a disciple of Peter, but this claim is based on a third hand hearsay account around 180 CE, so it seems weak. That same claim describes Mark's gospel in a way much different from the gospel we have now.

Matthew was not the apostle Matthew. That name was tacked on also in 180 AD, based on the same third-party account. Matthew supposedly wrote a hebrew gospel, while the gospel on Matthew in the bible was written in original greek. Regardless, "Matthew" basically copied and expanded Mark, which wouldn't make sense if Matthew was really an eyewitness, and Mark obviously wasn't.

Luke was probably a friend of Paul, and neither ever met Jesus.

John was probably not the apostle John, and there were probably multiple authors of this gospel.

I could go on, but go to this site and read all about every book. There is analysis from secular, Catholic and fundamental sources, so you can weigh there arguments against each other.

www.earlychristianwritings.com

Bottom line....we have no idea who wrote it originally, nor who changed it numerous times in the next few centuries to arrive at the version we have now.

Answer 4

1. The Bible is not the Word of God. The Bible does not make that claim, and neither do the Church Fathers. That is a belief that is circulated in a handful of Protestants denominations who make up a relatively small fraction of Christianity. The Christian religion was not based on the Bible in the first place. It was based on traditions that were handed down from the earliest days of the Church. The Bible came later - books were added based on whether or not they were in line with the pre-existing religious tradition. The Bible is called 'inspired' because of its subject matter. It is a series of books *about* God's revelation to man - but it is not God's revelation to man.

2. Most of the authors of Scripture did not claim to talk to God. The Bible is not supposed to be a message from God in the first place. Most of the authors of the Bible had no idea that they were writing "Scripture" - they were simply recording stories, legends, historical events, poems, sayings, prayers, etc. All those different pieces of tradition were later compiled into complete books, and those books were compiled into the Bible (about 400 years after the time of Christ).

Answer 5

As I answered a short while ago Mosses is the author of most of the old testerment, withe exception of the prophets and the chronicales and Paul wrote nost of the new testement.
There is great accuracy in the books of Kings and Chronicals and they stand un to very close screwtany.
The new testament on the other hand doesn`t take atall well to the tests of accuracy and historical facts, although the first half of the book of John seems to be a good acount of how he saw his brother.The second half however was added some 100+ years after Johns death.
Religion is good for socializing and there are many good and honest people who are religious, but don`t accept the bible as a true historical docucument, in the main it itn`t..!!

good luck.

Answer 6

Jeremiah 30 verse 2, Isaiah 30 verse 8, Jeremiah 36 verse 2, Habakkuk 2 verse 2 These are "dictation" And they are only a few examples Daniel chapters 7 and 8 correctly predicted the world-ruling empires from Nebuchadnezzar through Alexander the Great, the Medo-Persian Empire, Rome right down to the near future. Those chapters were written in around 608 B.C.. Do you think Daniel was a psychic? Your "question" appears as a "philosophical" opinion. Great Britain and America are just beginning to experience the prophesied correction of God. If you knew more about the book that you are criticising you would find that Israel is NOT the tiny little nation in the middle east. The Jews are the tribe of Judah. Israel is 12 tribes. Great Britain, well England, is the tribe of Ephraim and the U.S. is Manasseh. I Kings 12 verses 21 and 22 tells about "Israel" warring against Judah, the Jews. God changed Jacobs name to Israel Genesis 32 verse 28. Jacob, "Israel" legally adopted his grandchildren and placed his name, "Israel" on Ephraim and Manasseh. Genesis 48 verses 8 thru 16.

Answer 7

I understand that it is difficult to comprehend but the Bible claims in (2 Timothy 3:16 that it is the inspired (God- breathed) word.
Constantly in scripture it says that the Lord God spoke to the prophets etc.
'Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to a land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation..."
Genesis12:1-3
All through the Old Testament the LORD God shows faithful men what they should do and what will happen if they don't.
The prophesies concerning Israel are remarkable because back in the nineteenth century Bible students could see that the people of Israel would be regathered to their land as the word of God said.
Later, persecutions, pogroms and the Holocaust were to drive survivers back.
Jesus himself said that if they had believed Moses, David and the prophets they would have believed him.
The more I know of the Bible and its teachings the more I value and trust it.
Read it and give it a chance.

Answer 8

Basically people just choose to believe what they want. Some feel comfort in choosing to believe that god told these people to write these books, some others are skeptics and aren't convinced that easily.

If someone claimed god told them to write a book these days I doubt many people would believe it.

I agree that there are good things in the bible, things that can make people's lives better, but that can be said about pretty much any book. However, there are also a lot of contradictions and some very shady things..

Answer 9

I do not believe that the first person to write the Bible was actually recorded, but none the less whom ever wrote the Bible would have done so by the will of God. In other words God wrote the book through that person. Meaning that it was not that person's views, but Gods that were expressed in the Bible. Further if God were truly omnipotent then why on earth would he ever allow some nut job to make stuff up about him? It all comes down to faith in God and his existence, and that comes down to you.

Answer 10

Without going into all the arguments relating to how the Bible came into being perhaps you might consider this.
If God exists He would be more than capable of ensuring that the things He wanted written down were written down and preserved just as he wanted.
Surely the leap of faith is believing in God.

Answer 11

You can't not offend anyone with any question...
You will just have to figure it out with someone that can sit down at a table with you because posting all the reasons why the Bible is the word of God would take a long time ...
just one = Jesus birth foretold 600 years before he was born.