Does the bible have a central theme? Does it prove inspiration?

by GreenhornChristian 32 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  GreenhornChristian

  Does the Bible have a central theme?

  There seems to be a general consensus throughout Christian religions that there is a consistent theme throughout the Bible. The seeming evidence of a theme coming from a collection of books written by over 40 different authors over a period of 1500 years is what givse credence to the claim that the bible is an inspired literary work.

  A Pastor friend supports the claim that the Bible presents an intelligent and integrated worldview in its doctrine of God, the history of man and the theme of salvation. I have the tendency to agree. However, I am not sure if this is because of my JW conditioning or because I objectively agree.

  Whether you believe the Bible to be inspired or not do you see a central theme or themes in the Bible?

  If so, does this prove the Bible inspired?

  As stated, I do see themes running throughout the Bible. I do not believe this proves the Bible inspired. I am having trouble formulating my reasons for disagreeing with my Pastor friend. I want to present a logical argument and not just say that the bible is all bunk and inconsistent. This argument, although valid, seems to close off any further discussion.

  Here are my disjointed thoughts about how the Bible could seem to have a theme:

  —The Priests are the ones that preserved the holy writings.

  —Priests by their very nature would be sensitive to anything that would be inconsistent with their religion.

  —The Priest would therefore reject or choose not to preserve any writings that conflict with the original writings. In this case the writings of the great Prophet Moses.

  —The Jews seemed to have an elevated view of themselves and their importance in the world.

  —An author who wants to be read, even a harsh judgement, would play to this worldview of importance and keep his message consistent with the Torah. i.e. Their view of God, the history of man, there view of death and of their being the top Kingdom of the World.

  Do these seem to explain the supposed consistency of the Old Testament? Does my argument seem solid?
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  Calebs Airplane

  Yes... The central message is Zionism...
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  Witness My Fury

  Nope. Your view is too simplistic and seeks to confirm your bias.

  Have a read of Karen Armstrongs The Bible - The Biography for starters.

  Until you know how why and when it was written and then how it ended up as the work you know today you are only ever going to get it wrong.

  Edit: Sorry I obviously missed the paragraph about helping your pastor friend and your views not being the same, so i jumped the gun.

  Two words: Redaction, rewritten.

  Is he saying God guided that part, but not the original? Note; we have no original.
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  WTWizard

  The message is about enslaving the "nations" to "God's chosen people". In fact, the whole damnation book is a damnation working against "the nations" and a curse against each and every one of us. Now, I might not blame it for hyperinflation (the banks directly set that up). But, I do blame the curses contained therein for many of the disasters on earth (causing them or making them worse). The whole damnation book is also to blame for most of our major wars, and is directly responsible for communism.

  Any more reason to throw your LIE-ble away?
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  OnTheWayOut

  Those who see a central theme are probably seeing how various authors added to the thoughts that God is the ruler. I don't think the Old Testament pointed to Jesus, but the writers of the Gospels quite expertly wrote to make it seem like it did. I would assume most OT writers similarly were familiar with what was already available before trying to write their own additional thoughts.

  But to really say that, you still have to ignore glaring inconsistencies. Sometimes, the writings say that God doesn't punish future generations for the errors of their forefathers and other times it says the opposite. Certainly, the message of the NT ignore the personality of the OT God. In the OT, God is vengeful, a warrior, jealous, His anger leads to death quite often. In the NT, God is love, is patient and understanding of human weakness, it lists the fruitages of the spirit that do not reflect the OT God at all.

  Even "in the beginning," Genesis chapters 1 and 2 seem to differ from each other in the order of creation. Genesis chapter 1 shows that God was pleased with his creation, then chapter 6 shows that God was not pleased with his creation. (You can say that something changed, but it conflicts with the Bible's message that God has omniscience.) There are differing accounts within the flood story about how many animals came aboard.

  I could go on to Exodus and point out inconsistencies with the plagues. And I could go on to other portions of the Bible. Anyway, my point is that you can look for a central theme in that it all points to obedience to Almighty God, the God of Christianity (or just Judaism if you drop the NT), but to suggest that means inspiration ignores so many other things.

  Couldn't you suggest a central theme in any series of books which are written about the same thing? And if you ignored the authors' different opinions on the subject, couldn't you suggest they are in harmony, therefore they are inspired?
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  designs

  Paul tries to put a theme to the OT and his new ideas. Most Evangelical pastors and Evangelical scholars follow that line of thinking, Romans 1-12.
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  leaving_quietly

  WTBTS teaches that the central theme of the Bible is God's Kingdom. Well, after reading the Bible for myself, I can say, most assuredly, that that is not the case. While the OT largely has prophecies relating to Christ, there is an even more overarching theme that I picked up on, and that is, very simply: take care of those who are less fortunate than you... widows, orphans, the poor. It's one of the main reasons Sodom was destroyed (Eze. 16:49), and it is named as the form of acceptable worship (James 1:27). The Mosaic Law has numerous portions in it related to this, and God removed his support of the Israelites for ignoring the poor among them.

  If I were asked, what is the theme of the Bible, I would say (to quote Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure): "Be excellent to each other!"

  Does it prove inspiration? No. That isn't provable, in my opinion.
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  galaxie

  Take 40,50,66 even, murder mystery books by different authors written at different times.

  You wanna find a central theme eh? Let me think! That's it! Got it.
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  GreenhornChristian

  Witness my Fury

  No I have not read Karen Armstrongs The Bible - The Biography for starters. Thank you for the recommendation. Our discussion is not about translation or whether scholors have the originals. Right now I'm focusing on inspiration.

  On the Way Out

  Good points. each writer just builds on the core beliefs of the Torah. (All written by one author we're told) and yes the inconsistancies seemed to be ignored or explained away. And what about all the writings that we never get to see because they were not preserved but we're referenced in the Bible. Apparently the writer thought they were important enough to mention.
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  GreenhornChristian

  Designs

  Its true. When you do not use the other books of the NT to explain each other you can see that there

  objectives are very different. And the stories dont alway match. Luke tried to convince its readers that

  there is unity in the Church. Paul seems to always try to convince he is not taking direction from anybody.

  Leaving Quietly

  The JW's are not the only religion to say the Bibles central theme is the Kingdom. But all of them are just

  trying to make sense of what's there because they feel they are inspired writings.