The Bible was created by men, so how could it be credible?

Question

Obviously it was inspired by their "God," but like all other historical documents, they are based on the writers' perspectives and interpretations, let alone the surrounding time and environment. It's apparent as the Old Testament abruptly ends with the New Testament, and almost entirely different book with even a slightly different idea on "God."

This is just taking the Bible as a book, rather than the truth. If I took the Bible as truth, I would be just as biased as any other person who believes the Bible is true.

I am not an atheist, agnostic, Christian, or anything else. I am independent.

This is a serious question. I want to know how it could be considered a credible account of God or even Jesus. I mean, I believe that a human would need to experience God him/herself and go from there. The Bible just kind of gives people a generalized picture of what they're experiencing, just like all other religious texts.

So what you are saying is that God itself, the intangible which is absolutely perfect wrote the Bible through man? Perhaps it was a bad idea, as men may not have wrote it as they should have? We have a bad knack for taking things out of context a lot anyway.

That, however, is kind of contradictory with the first religion of the monotheistic God, Judaism. I'm not going to get into the details.

I don't really think I need a book. I just enjoy living to learn, you know? It's a good pastime.

Answer 1

Uh oh. Science was created my men. Now what?

Answer 2

The Bible was not written in English people, it was written in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek depending on the author, it is a collection of several writings, histories, accounts from many different writers. Once the Catholic church lost control over how the Bible could be translated, there has since been so many translations, for anyone to say the Bible they have in their hand is the true and uncorrupted text is extremely short-sighted thinking. For someone to say the bible said... "The circle of earth" at a time when the world was considered flat? BUAHAHAHA One not only has to believe that the authors of each book were inspired by God, but the multitude of monks who translated texts in cavernous monasteries with very dim candle light were also inspired. Now that bibles are printed as mass publications, we now have to believe that the typesetters, print managers, and the machines themselves are inspired by God, therefore eliminating any possibility of human and/or mechanical error. Puhleeeeeeeez

Answer 3

Test it and see and you will see that it stands up to what is written in it.
It is truth and speaks accurately even when the truth explained ran contrary to the accepted teaching of the time. In Isaiah 40:22, the Bible says: "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:" This was written when the earth was thought to be flat, and yet the idea of a round earth was taught accurately in the Bible.
For years, man tried to figure out what was holding up the earth. Interesting, but absurd ideas were concocted. Meanwhile, the Bible had already stated, in Job 26:7 "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." Oh, and by the way, modern telescopes confirm that empty place toward the north in the heavens. (Had the Bible stated that this empty space was in the east or west, there would have been reason for calling it in error, since east and west directions toward the heavens change each hour!)
In Leviticus 17:22, the Bible states that "For the life of the flesh is in the blood:" This was written thousands of years before that became medical truth.
The Bible is not a textbook of history, but it is historically correct. For many years, critics of the Bible scoffed at its claim that Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldees. There was no "scientific proof that such a place existed. However, later excavations gave the proof that some were looking for. Ur of the Chaldees is mentioned in the Bible as the birthplace of Abraham, although there is no real evidence to support this statement. On a surer footing, it was the capital of the ancient civilisation of Sumeria, and was first excavated in 1922-34 by Sir Leonard Woolley. In fact, a search on the web recently turned up over 74,000 sites that mentioned Ur of the Chaldees. Again, the Bible has outlived its historical critics.

The Bible, alone, stands the test of time.

Answer 4

In many ways your thinking is correct.... It was inspired by God/ Holy Spirit, and was influenced by the time, situations, actions, surrounding, language of the day...... and another factor that few take into consideration is that God is revealed in stages through out the Bible..... All through the Bible..... God does NOT reveal Himself all at once at anytime.... The Bible is a progressive revelation of who and what IS God..... which by Christian belief is many things and all things.... People take the different angles * and perspectives of the writers as flaws or lies or misinterpretations of the Word, and in some cases, rare cases it may be true, but for the most part the writers tho influenced of the Holy Spirit, the *person*, meaning their personality or own insight is not left out of the writtings...... Perspectives of their own *sight* was also inclueded, the HUMAN side was not left out.... People claim God is a cruel God, yes He can be, they say He is selfish, again, yes He is, to the point where He does NOT want His children to become lost or a part of the pagan world of idol worship, He is jealous of His children calling upon any other Name...... God reveals all of WHO He is to mankind.... He hides nothing...... and that is what makes me KNOW the Bible is truth...... The OT does not abrutly end, it continues on into the middle of Acts..... People do not realize this fact.... Look at the earthly ministry of Jesus.... Does He condemn the Jew for sacrifice of animals ? Does He go unto the Gentile Nation (pagan) ?? Does He teach of His second comming ?? note* He does a little, but if you notice the Bible says, *they did NOT understand*..... Paul was the Gentile Apostle.... He brought the message to us, because the Jews were not able because they refused to see who Jesus was.... the promise Messiah, the King..... We Gentiles are the grafted branch..... the promise Jesus fulfilled was to the Jew !!!!! that was an earthly promise, the Kingdom that was preached by Jesus and His apostles was the earthly Kingdom that *could* have come in then and there, but did not because they rejected the King, there for God turned to a *people called out for His name sake* which is Christ Jesus...... ok, enough, sorry, I got carried away.... go in peace...... God bless
edit* sorry for the spelling errors, my spell check did not work....... sorry again.......

Answer 5

The Prophets and Desciples followed Jesus and wrote everything down that Jesus spoke and Jesus got his words from God. I believe in the Bible, it is the truth. Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke wrote for Jesus. Jesus' words in the Bible. A True Book and God don't Lie. The Bible was inspired by God through Jesus and Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke

Answer 6

I agree with you about the Christian Bible being created by men - actually 300 or so of them in 325CE in a little town called Nicea. (It was a compilation edited by these people.)

The New Testament reads like a biography of this man called Jesus, written by various observers - how this can be "inspired by God" I am not sure. If "Animal Planet" makes a film about the life span of kangaroos or spiders (unarguably created by God) and can we call the film "inspired by God"? If you want to ....

As I understand it, the old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) is taken from the Torah (the Hebrew Bible, "Five Books of Moses") - which is claimed to be inspired by God, i.e. written from God's direct instructions. So that part of the Christian Bible, at least can claim to be the Word of God (if no edits were made by men).

The others are words by men.

Answer 7

Finally someone said what I have been finding all along. Oh my! Speak it! I agree with you on this. I have gone over and over the text and the only thing I have come up with is that there are parts which may be credible in more of a guideline of sorts.
The best I could come up with and this will probably anger alot of people, but...Men got together to write a text on how to judge others. Plain and simple, the old testament, right there. Whether it was under the pretext that God "sent" the messages or not, I've no idea...All you need to do is look at the bloody path that paved its way these years. How many people have died over this text? How many people were condemned by the Church, by MAN *who has no place to judge*?
I have a feeling that the God portrayed in this text, is not the God that I know and love. Full of wrath, condemnation, and revenge. I feel that God is loving, benevolent, kind, and giving, his Agape love, the purest form of love, that is what this is all about. That he forgives the wrongs that are repented, only to him. I do feel that Jesus was sacraficed, that he was condemned to die by the hands of the people he was sent to save, the only people who would accept him, they were gentiles...Not even worth his attention, but yet a dog will still sit at the foot of his master and beg for even the tiniest crumb to drop. That is faith. Faith is faith, books are books, there is no spiritual faith in books.

Then they tried to undo the damage that had been done with the new testament. Which if it came from Jesus, was still perverted by men. Whose hearts can never be pure, no matter who they are, unless they are God or Jesus, they can never claim perfection. Each of these apostles had many faults, and were accepted as is, no judgment. But their thoughts and hearts are human, therefore tainted.

In our hearts *when we listen to them* we know right from wrong in how it feels. We know that God speaks to us through our hearts, as God is Love, and Love is God. Love does not come from the mind when it is given without thought to reciprocity, it is given heart and soul...That is our conscience in this life, and though the text may be a guideline, or a history book of religion.....It is not Spirituality, nor does it bring you any closer to God. What brings you closer to God is our hearts, our love, our broken selves, that only through him can be made whole.
Faith is blind, and those who have no faith, will never understand, as they have no light to guide them in the dark.

Just my opinions, but I truly feel this from the bottom of my heart. I had been searching for some time, and found that this is my belief. I hope that I have not offended you. But I am entitled to my opinion, whether agreed upon or not. Love and light!

Answer 8

It makes for a great story. But that's about it. A story.

It's not about believing every word of it. It's about interpreting it in a way that helps you to be a better person. While most of it, esp the old testament, is vastly outdated, a lot of it's lessons aren't inherently bad. It's when you feel that blowing up anybody who doesn't agree with it is you that I'd rather see it burned than read.

That goes for the christians, too. Can you handle an athiest telling you that living like Jesus isn't a bad thing? Be nice. Give what you don't need and don't take more than you need to survive. Be a friend. But don't beat, kill, or condemn those among you who don't need a god as an excuse to live a good life.

Answer 9

If the Bible was man made, it wouldn't have been in print anymore, no man made book stays in print THAT long.
I read my Bible everyday and it was written in ancient times. Why am I not bored yet?
2 Peter 1:20-21 'Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origing in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.'
Also read Psalm 119, but I must warn you, it is the longest chapter in the Bible. But once you have read it, you might understand. (Oh add Psalm 1~ that chapter is short!)
Hugs to you!

Answer 10

Despite what ever concepts you have about the Bible, you should put them a side and try to see the Bible through Gods eye,
not your own. Its up to you to try and understand God, not for him to explain things to you. God will help you understand, if you call upon him and ask for understanding through the Holy Spirit. If you choose not to do that, then your not being honest to want to understand the Bible. Despite what flaws, discrepancies , many writers, writers putting in their own thoughts, bla ,bla,bla.
There is a story and line of truth that is their, if you choose to see it. It runs through out the Bible and is supported by both the new and old testaments.

Answer 11

The Bible was written by men with the inspiration of the Holy Ghost from God. It's not from their own interpretation.

2 Peter 1:20-21

"knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."


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