ALL SCRIPTURE 'INSPIRED' BY GOD...... (page 3)

delilah

Mary, I could never figure out how the witnesses could think Jehovah was such a loving, kind and merciful god, when the bible is full of wars, and violence, and killings???....thanks for broaching the subject....it makes sense girl.

jaffacake

Mary

Great posts. Yet some still cling to the modern minority idea of verbal inerrancy, that I like to call the 'as if by magic' theory.

At 2 Timothy 3:16 the writer says 'All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching......' The Greek wod used is theopneustos, which does mean 'breathed by' as IT said in his post above.

It clearly does not say written by, spoken by, or even dictated by. It was also referring only to the OT as the NT had not yet been written.

Muslims say God actually put words into the mouth of Muhammad, so the beliefs of JWs and fundamentalist Christians are more like Islam than Christian. The Holy Qur'an is recited by God in the Arabic language and human minds add nothing to the text. That's why it must be recited in the Arabic language.

But in the Bible, if God 'inspires' scriptures, and 'inspire' comes from the Greek 'pneuma', meaning breath, wind or spirit, what does this indicate?

Genesis says God formed man from the dust and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so we are God-breathed, brought to life by God. Does this mean God dictates every human action? On the contrary, the breath or spirit of God gives life and freedom but does not dictate. So even the Bible seems to teach that its authors were free to write what they chose to write, perhaps akin to Mary's suggested definition 5.

Leolaia

Genesis says God formed man from the dust and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so we are God-breathed, brought to life by God. Does this mean God dictates every human action?

Very interesting point, jaffacake.

ezra

all scripture is inspired of god .it might be important for you to look at the grouping of words it says is inspired of god present tense of god or meaning from god

z

So, is there any evidence the Old Testament was inspired by god? Not if you believe the evidence in "Who Wrote the Bible?" by Richard E. Friedman, which clearly illustrates from the Old Testament where original texts were 'cut and pasted' to suit the, usually political, aims of the original authors.

IT good point I just read the book and I was in awe.
He explains “Who Wrote the Bible?” in why all will understand it nice simple and to the point HIGLEY RECAMENDEAD get this book.
English translation of the Bible is great but when you look at Friedman’s evidences in Hebrew (my language) you just can’t believed how come I did not see it? The different authors J, E, P, D, and O, the language the use this authors (in Hebrew) and others
Great book if you don’t have it get it
I asked my JW friend to read the book “I know Moses did and this is good enough for me” IDIOT lol

Mary Great post as usual thx

Z

jaffacake

A Warm Welcome ezra,

Not sure I get the point about tense...does this alter the meaning in your opinion?

Rook

Apart from any theory of inspiration; or any theory of how the Bible books came to their present form; or how much the text may have suffered in transmission at the hands of editors and copyist; apart from the question of how much is to be interpreted literally and how much figuratively, or what is historical and what may be poetical; if we will assume that the Bible is just what it appears to be, and study it's books to know their contents, we will find there a Unity of Thought indicating that One Mind inspired the writing and compilation of the whole series of books; that it bears on it's face the stamp of it's Author; that it is in a unique and distinctive sense THE WORD OF GOD.

There is a present-day view, held rather widely in certain intellectual circles, that the Bible is a sort of age-long story of man's effort to find God: a record of man's experiences reaching after God, gradually improving his idea of God by building on the experiences of preceding generations. In those passages, so abundant in the Bible, in which it is said that God spoke, God, according to this view, did not really speak; but men put their ideas in language professing to be the language of God, while in reality it was only what men imagined about God. The Bible is thus reduced to the level of other books, and is made to appear, not a Divine book, but rather a human book, pretending to be Divine.

I reject this view utterly, and with abhorrence. I believe the Bible to be, not man's account of his effort to find God, but rather an account of God's effort to find to reveal Himself to man; God's own record of His dealings with men, in His unfolding revelation of Himself to the human race; the Revealed Will of the Creator of Man, given to Man by the Creator Himself, for instruction and Guidance in the Way's of Life.

jaffacake

I believe the Bible to be, not man's account of his effort to find God, but rather an account of God's effort to find to reveal Himself to man; God's own record of His dealings with men, in His unfolding revelation of Himself to the human race; the Revealed Will of the Creator of Man, given to Man by the Creator Himself, for instruction and Guidance in the Way's of Life.

Rook

I enjoyed your post. I could probably concur with what you wrote above. However, I suspect that same words convey different meanings to me than they do to you.

For example, I agree with the words "for instruction and Guidance in the Ways of Life" but utterly reject the idea that this means any form of rule book.

Also when you refer to God speaking to humans, again I won't quarrel with your terminology, unless you mean a human-like voice heard by the ears of the prophets etc.

IT Support

Mary,

How does Jehovah go from being a vengeful, warrior in the OT, to being a far more benevolant God in the NT?

Because a belief in any 'god' is a primeval, superstitious viral infection that persists among weak-minded humans despite all the evidence to the contrary?

Am I correct in understanding that you're proposing the premise that Rook takes such exception to, namely:

that the Bible is a sort of age-long story of man's effort to find God

rather than 'Divine Revelation' imparted to man? If so, I fully agree.

z,

I just read the book and I was in awe . . . Great book if you don’t have it get it.

I wholeheartedly agree. No 'loyal' JW would read it though, as it would devastate their faith. For all others, it's un-put-down-able.

Rook,

The Bible is thus reduced to the level of other books, and is made to appear, not a Divine book, but rather a human book, pretending to be Divine.

Absolutely true. I couldn't have put it better myself.

if we will assume that the Bible is just what it appears to be, and study it's books to know their contents, we will find there a Unity of Thought indicating that One Mind inspired the writing and compilation of the whole series of books; that it bears on it's face the stamp of it's Author; that it is in a unique and distinctive sense THE WORD OF GOD.

I've read and studied the Bible for over forty years and come to the conclusion there's no 'Unity of Thought,' there's no 'One Mind' and, regretfully, there's probably not even a god, any god. I respect, of course, your right to your own opinion.

Welcome to JWD, by the way!

Rook

Thanks IT Support and Jaffacake,

I also respect both of your opinion's.

ALL SCRIPTURE 'INSPIRED' BY GOD......

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