From God or about God?

[Elijah John]

This is a portion from a post I made on another thread. I thought it would be a good debate topic in and of itself.

Assuming there is a God, one can still consider that the Bible is not entirely from God, nor does it claim to be. It seems to me that a more reasonable way to look at it is to see the Bible as being about God, inspired by God.

Or more accurately, about an ancient people's encounter with the mysterious Divine, who they understood as "God".

That way, one can take the Bible seriously, but not literally. And not be compelled to defend everything contained within it's pages.

The only portions of the Bible that I recall that are even claimed to be from God are the Ten Commandments, (allegedly written by the finger of God Himself) and the prophetic utterances, which begin with the phrase ""Thus saith the LORD" and Jesus "verily, verily" statements.

To borrow a phrase from Hillel, "all the rest is commentary". Commentary and historical and cultural context.

So it seems to me that an entirely reasonable approach to the Bible, (if one is inclined to be a Bible-based Theist) is to view the Good Book not as infallible dictation, but as inspiration. Inspiration as a lover is inspired by his beloved to write love poetry.

That poetry doesn't come from the beloved, but rather it is inspired by the beloved.

And really, what is wrong with a believer picking the portions that resonate and ring true for them, and deriving Spiritual inspiration from those portions?

Who can argue with that?

After all, very few (except for some maniacs) are inspired by the verses which advocate stoning people to death, keeping or beating slaves.

But millions are inspired by the belief that there is a God, who commanded us to "love thy neighbor as thy self".

So for debate:,

Is Biblical literalism the only valid way to view the Bible? Is it the best way? Or can one derive Spiritual inspiration from a book such as the Bible even though one realizes it is not perfect.

Please justify your anwers.

[JehovahsWitness]

The only portions of the Bible that I recall that are even claimed to be from God are the Ten Commandments, (allegedly written by the finger of God Himself) and the prophetic utterances, which begin with the phrase ""Thus saith the LORD" and Jesus "verily, verily" statements.

To borrow a phrase from Hillel, "all the rest is commentary".

The bible is full of statements attributed directly to God... the expression " Jehovah said" "And God said..." followed by [the words attributed to God] appear literally hundreds of times in the bible, thus a fair proportion of the content of the bible is attributed directly to being the actual words of God.

For example, the writer of what is now EXODUS 8:5 recorded the following {quote} "Later on Jehovah said to Moses: "Say to Aaron, Stretch your hand with your rod out over the rivers, the Nile canals and the reedy pools and make the frogs come up over the land of Egypt." {end quote}. Thus 29 of the 35 words (in English) of those verses, the writer claimes to be (not just "about" God) but from God. If this balance were reflected in the rest of the bible, then more than half of it would legitimately be said to be "from" God.


In any case, the above pattern repeated again and again in scripture:

** Num 43:1 "And Jehovah spoke further to Moses, saying: “Give these instructions to the Israelites..."

** 1 Sam 3:11 And Jehovah went on to say to Samuel: “Look! I am doing something in Israel which if anyone hears about, both his ears will tingle.

** 2 Sam 9:4 " ... and he [Jehu] proceeded to pour the oil out upon his head and say to him: This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, I do anoint you as king over Jehovah's people, that is, over Israel.

Further there are a number of bible writers explicitly claim a Divine origin to the words they wrote:

**EXODUS 34:27
"And Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “Write down for yourself these words, because it is in accordance with these words that I do conclude a covenant with you and Israel" (also see Ex 20:1a)

** DANIEL 10:15; 10:15
And after he [God's angel ie "messenger"] had said these words to me [...] But as for you, O Daniel, let the words be kept secret and the book rolled up and kept shut till the time of the end -- Bible in Basic English

**EZEKIEL 2:2
"And spirit began to come into me as soon as he spoke to me, and it finally made me stand up upon my feet that I might hear the One speaking to me."

**REVELATION 1:1, 2
"A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place. And he sent forth his angel and presented [it] in signs through him to his slave John, who bore witness to the word God gave ..."


**LUKE 1:70
"just as he [God], through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, has spoken "

**2 PETER 3:15
"... just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him."

**2 PETER 1:20, 21
For you know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.

** 2 TIMOTHY 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,"

CONCLUSION The Torah {Genesis through Deuteronomy} the Prophets [David, Daniel, Isaiah, the 13 "minor prophets"... ] The gospel writers (who recorded Jesus' claims to be relaying words of God), the letters of the NT claiming to be inspired, Revelation introduced as being a vision from God relayed by Jesus, ... as well as the significant proportion of the content of the bible directly stated to be the words of God, indicate that the bible, rather than being just a book "about" God is presented to its reader as a book both about and FROM God, with Almighty God depicted as playing an active part in its content, narrative and development.





FURTHER READING Be Convinced That God’s “Word Is Truth”
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines ... -Is-Truth/



RELATED POSTS


ALSO SEE Biblical Inerrancy
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 83#p852183

Should true Christians denegrade Hebrew scripture ?
viewtopic.php?p=1065096#p1065096

Should true Christians limit their canon to the gospels?
viewtopic.php?p=1065014#p1065014

What does it mean that the bible is "inspired of God"?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 65#p867965

Who do bible writers claim gave them the words they penned?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 08#p840508

Is there is evidence that the apocryphal books were NOT originally recognized as part of the inspired Scriptures?
viewtopic.php?p=838822#p838822

How should we view Iraneus' and other early catalogues?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 84#p923384

Does the idea of a Great Apostacy negate the authenticity of the bible canon? [this post]
viewtopic.php?p=1045515#p1045515

To read more please go to other posts related to...

BIBLE CANON , CHRISTIANITY and ...RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS

[ttruscott]

This shows that Jesus will not judge as God but that the Father will. Which means Jesus is not God and that no Trinity exists.

While this verse could indeed be used in support for your interpretation, the fact that Trinitarians believe that GOD is the Unity of 3 Persons who keep Their own personalities which suggests that They can have each a job or pov or Their particular part in our creation is not proven wrong by this verse but points out an example of the Trinitarian Persons differences.

[Zzyzx]

.
[Replying to post 31 by ttruscott]

Would that be similar to what psychologists describe in people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as multiple personalities)?

[sawthelight]

While this verse could indeed be used in support for your interpretation, the fact that Trinitarians believe that GOD is the Unity of 3 Persons who keep Their own personalities which suggests that They can have each a job or pov or Their particular part in our creation is not proven wrong by this verse but points out an example of the Trinitarian Persons differences.

I don't understand. If Jesus is indicating the Father is greater than he, why do Christians compare Jesus and God the same?

Jesus said the Father is GREATER. That means they are not in equal standings. The Trinity however suggests that both God and Jesus are on equal footing. The Trinity goes against Jesus' words and teachings no matter how a Christian tries to spin it.