Originally posted by Proper Knob
The point of my 'loaded question' is this.
I've read on this forum more than once the quote - The Bible is the word of God.
But the Bible isn't, no scripture is the actual word of God, Jesus didn't author any parts of the Bible, the Bible was written by men. Out of the men who authored the New Testament how many of those actually knew Jesus ...[text shortened]... y knew him, i mean which autors were alive in his life time and came into contact with him?
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But the Bible isn't, no scripture is the actual word of God, Jesus didn't author any parts of the Bible, the Bible was written by men. Out of the men who authored the New Testament how many of those actually knew Jesus? And by knew him, i mean which autors were alive in his life time and came into contact with him?
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If you mean that the Bible did not come floating down from heaven with wings but was rather written down by imperfect men, I agree.
This touches on the doctrine of inspiration of Scripture. It is obvious that Matthew has his flavor, Mark his, Luke - his style, and John his perculiar characteristic.
Yet these were all men and the styles of their writing reveals their personal touch - "written by men".
But that does not mean that God did not speak. Now there were thousands of other things written by men. In the Old Testament age and in the New Testament age the community of faith "discovered" among all these writings what they recognized as authoritative and apostolic prophetic writing.
Men faithful to record what Jesus said is the words of Jesus and is the word of God. The community of faith did not "bestow" canonization upon books. They recognized thier authoritative aspects.
You have a three way equation here - the Bible, the Holy Spirit of God, the people of God.
None of the three work in a vacuum alone. The people of God are guided by the Spirit of God to recognize the word of God. The word of God produces the people of God. The people of God possess the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God guides them to recognize the word of God.
I know it is circular.
But if you think about it, the reality of Space, Time, Motion is also circular. We need two to measure the third.
We need Motion and Time to measure Space.
We need Time and Space to measure Motion.
We need Space and Motion to measure Time.
It is circular also. Its not fair. But that is just the way it is.
The Spirit of God in the people of God informs them of the existence of the Word of God, which in turm conveys the Spirit of God to produce people of God.
My decision to accept the Bible as God's word came gradually by process. I started reading the Bible a little reluctantly and with a big filter to filter out all the unbelievable.
In the process of time I decided that it all stands together or falls together. And eventually I believed in the plenary inspiration of the Bible.
I recommend a book by Norm Giesler
A General Introduction to the Bible. And there read the chapters on Inspiration and the various views about it.