Do you really think Bible is the voice of God?

[polonius]

Eldios posted:

You will probably remain confused if you haven't heard the voice of God and obeyed His commands.

Deuteronomy 28

Do you take Bible stories to be regarded as inspired and historical?

RESPONSE: Let’s see. The first five books of the Bible supposedly written by Moses, Deuteronomy, Exodus, and the rest, right?

Recall, that it is now known that the first seven books of the Bible were really just the Jewish founding folklore written between 800 and 700 BC.

Despite the Exodus stories, archeology shows that the Jews were never slaves in Egypt.

Over 400 years and 2 million people and then 40 years in the desert, but absolutely no archeological evidence, no writings, no graves, and as one historian puts it, “not even a broken piece of pottery.�

There are two on-line references. These are titled “ The Bible Unearthed� and UTube The Bible Unearthed. One is the NY Times review of the book. The second is a film dealing with the first seven books of the Bible. They are both on the web.

And curiously much of this research comes out of Tel Aviv University!

Don't we find that God authorized what in effect rape of the captures girls:

(Deuteronomy 21:10-14 NAB) “When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife, you may take her home to your house�

So can we claim that is the voice of God?

God also tells us in Judges 5:30

“They must be dividing the spoils they took: there must be a damsel or two for each man….�

Do you really think the first seven books of the Bible are inspired and we have to believe what it says? Do you?

[Left Site]

I think it is the words of men born along by their inner spirit speaking to them. But I also believethat a man's inner spirit like a wireless lan can communicate with other spiritual entities, sometimes resulting in moving a man to do good and sometimes, when the spiritual entity is a negative one, moving a man to do bad.

We see that spirits are able to be born of men, or 'born along' when they pick up and carry forward a spirit born of other men or groups of men, and this giving birth to and/or carrying forward a spirit (bornning or bearing it along) results in varied situations for man as a society. Sometimes the perpetuation of such a spirit works good results for society to experience and often times it works to create confusion, frustration, and a whole buch of bad for the society of man.

I believe that the Bible is written honestly as an account of men living by both good and bad spirits. And I believe that there is a living supreme spirit authority who works to promote good as well as one that insists upon indepence from that supreme authority so that it can work by trial and error what seems good or desirable to his or her self.

We are being permitted to do things are own way at present so that we might experience the consequences and repent that independence from the spirit of our creator. And I believe it is no more rediculous to believe that spirit creatures exist (beginning with God) than it is rediculous to accept that I miraculously came to exist, and in the presence of a natual environment so well tailored to my needs, even havng the capacity to be intelligent if I am only willing to work at it.

[Willum]

How about a step up in perspective from your stance:
What if it were written by people who believed?

What if Moses wrote the Book, but like Xenophon, displaced his importance in it?
What if he were not only delusional but suffered hallucinations?

But most importantly, what if he wrote it, and believed!

[polonius]

BusB posted:

We are being permitted to do things are own way at present so that we might experience the consequences and repent that independence from the spirit of our creator. And I believe it is no more ridiculous to believe that spirit creatures exist (beginning with God) than it is ridiculous to accept that I miraculously came to exist, and in the presence of a natural environment so well tailored to my needs, even having the capacity to be intelligent if I am only willing to work at it.

RESPONSE: I agree with what you posted to a degree. I particularly liked this portion. But isn't this really just evolution?

[polonius]

How about a step up in perspective from your stance:
What if it were written by people who believed?

RESPONSE: Most of the world's major religions have a Holy Book written by people who "believed". But they are all different and contradictory. If someone wants to claim a divine origin for them all, then God is seriously conflicted.

What if Moses wrote the Book, but like Xenophon, displaced his importance in it? What if he were not only delusional but suffered hallucinations?

RESPONSE: What if Moses never really existed but was just a character in folklore?

But most importantly, what if he wrote it, and believed!

RESPONSE: How could he have done that if the book didn't exist until many centuries after his death?

And even more impossible a book that describes his own death and burial.

[JP Cusick]

Eldios posted:

You will probably remain confused if you haven't heard the voice of God and obeyed His commands.

Deuteronomy 28

Do you take Bible stories to be regarded as inspired and historical?

Do you really think the first seven books of the Bible are inspired and we have to believe what it says? Do you?

The Bible is not the voice of God, but it is a voice from the ancients, and that makes it as historical even if it is not accurate or true, and some sections of the Bible being "inspired" is debatable, and yet some parts are known to be accurate and true.

The science of Biblical Criticism has opened up the Bible to new insights.

The first (1st) original book of the Bible is now called the J source (the Yahweh source) and after that the E source (the Elohim source) and those two are the most reliable and the most interesting text of the Bible.

If we do not study and understand what the ancients have told to us through their writings - then we would remain ignorant of our roots.

In Deuteronomy 28 as it refers to the "voice of God" then that is a reference to the spokesperson of God, who is otherwise known as the word of God, see = John 1:1-5

[Left Site]

[Replying to post 4 by polonius.advice]

Learning by experience is an evolving process (if we don't allow bitterness over the fire we cause ourselves to have to walk through by virtue of choosing to do it our own way rather than letting one with experience direct us as to how we should place our steps).

Jeremiah 10:23  "O LORD (YHWH), I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 24  O LORD (YHWH), correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing." (KJV)

That is the theme of the Bible. Man was created innocent and free of any innate inducements which might cause him to decide to not listen to his creator so that his creator was unhindered in directing the man's steps, saving the man from the painful injuries caused of lack of experience. That is why the Bible begins with showing another creature exerting pressure upon the man's wife, thus planting doubt to her mind and providing her a reason to begin considering not listening to her creator. She then perpetuated that spirit by seeking to sow doubt to her husband just as the 'serpent' had sown to her.

We are told by one of the New Testament Bible writers that Eve failed to actually deceive Adam in the way that she had been deceived:

1 Timothy 2:14 "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." (KJV)

That then leaves us to understand that Adam chose his love for Eve over his love of his creator. And that spiraled him downward away from the degree experience he had already attained by listening to God. Having done that, Adam became responsible for our now having difficulty accepting and listening to God and for our now having to struggle to evolve upward and away from the low pit of relying more on our own intelligence which is heaped with inexperience. So now we must either evolve to the point where we return to a willingness to take note of and listen to the only reliable voice experience, or we just keep spiraling downward, our belief that we are evolving being more the deception of false pride than a reality.

[liamconnor]

[Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]

Do you really think the first seven books of the Bible are inspired and we have to believe what it says? Do you?

Help me out: is this a Theology, Doctrine, Dogma question; or is this an Apologetics question?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]

I don't believe the pages of the bible literally speak as in make audible sounds no, I do believe it is the way God has cosen to communicate with mankind.

Personal opinion,

JW

[2timothy316]

I have always been of the opinion of we are not listening to the Bible then what are we listing to instead? What is God's Word if not the Bible?