Is the Bible God's word? Help please.....

Freeandclear

Hello everyone. So real quick, I know this comes up now and then and I've looked over some of the posts from the past but here's the thing.

When I was a JW I drank all the cool aid, I was 100% and so I have all my own arguments (from the JW's) for why the Bible is inspired. I no longer believe this but I'd really like to read something that is pretty much 100% academic on this subject. I want to read what scholars have to say about the authenticity of the Bible and it's claim at being the inspired word of God.

Do you have any suggestions for good books dealing conclusively with this subject? Or if you want maybe you can just put a list in your comments of why the Bible can not possibly be God's word.

Thank you so very much. This has really been on my mind lately.

cofty

Bart Ehrman is a good introduction to this topic. His books are very easy to read and informative.

For example...

"Misquoting Jesus" and his new book "Forgery - Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors are Not Who We Think They are"

cofty

if you want maybe you can just put a list in your comments of why the Bible can not possibly be God's word.

One compelling reason in my opinion is the ethics of the Old Testament. In it god advocates slavery, kidnap, forced marriage/rape, genocide and the cold-blooded murder of thousands of infants.

Since this cannot be reconciled with a god of love we can say with confidence that either the god of Jesus does not exist or at least the bible is not his inspired word.

xjwsrock

I heard about this book on a podcast I plan to read -

God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction

by Dan Barker

Heaven

Hey Freeandclear... researching the history of the Bible and previous belief systems (eg read up on the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" and pagan beliefs) helped educate me on the false claim of the Bible being inspired by any sort of god.

As cofty stated, the issue of Theodicy, why an all loving, all powerful god allows evil to persist is an issue most believers have to face at some point. Once again, I will reference Bart Ehrman, as cofty did and recommend his podcast on The History of the Bible:

Bart Ehrman - The History Of The Bible: The Making Of The New Testament Canon

Phizzy

Another good book is "Unearthing the Bible" ,I think you can find it on You Tube too as an hour long precis of the book.

This book looks at the Archaeology of the Bible lands, and finds the Bible accounts wanting in several areas. When you add up the problems this book unearths, pun intended, you can say that a god of truth would not endorse the Bible !

James Mixon

The OT is a joke but lets talk about the NT.

How is Jesus's crucifixion the ultimate sacrifice if he isn't dead? He has

been immortal since the beginning of time, and he's still alive and immortal today,

so where's the sacrifice? God" I will put you a sleep for a minute, it will be OK you

can't die".

If Jesus removed our sins, then how come we still have to avoid sin and accept him

as our savior to avoid an eternity in hell? What did it accomplish?

xjwsrock

To add to what Cofty said, there are a few more things that opened my eyes. I read a few essays by Thomas Paine. They are really good. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

He pointed out the spinning sword in the Garden of Eden story is a blatant anachronism. It is a bronze age tool in a stone age story. It would be like writing a story about Christopher Columbus and having him answer his cell phone while sailing on the Santa Maria.

Reread the story of Babel. It actually is quite short. Gen 11:1-9. It is written from the perspective of a person who believes the earth is flat, and that's just the beginning of the problems with the story.

Actually Gen chapters 1 - 11 or so is enough to put the book down and never pick it up again. Flood? Take a look at ancient Chinese History and tell me civilization had a divine reboot 4000 years ago. Yeah right.

maninthemiddle

My favorite Bar Ehrman book was Lost Christianities. I'm don't recall how well it fits the OP request, but I think it said more for the context (at least the Pauline books) of the bible than his other books.

Also for an amazing book on the old testament check out Richard E. Friedman "Who wrote the Bible"

Amazon

Anders Andersen

The Bible's own claim that it is God's word is an extraordinary claim. Such a claim should be backed up by extraordinary evidence, but it's not.

Just saying 'look, some of the history in the Bible is correct' and 'some of the writings are scientifically correct'....that's not nearly enough. Everyone and their dog can write books that have that.

Actual prophecies being fulfilled...that would be something. Unfortunately no Bible prophecy can be verified to be fullfilled from other sources than the Bible itself. And everyone and their dog can write a book than claims a future event in chapter 1, and then claim it's actually happened in chapter 10.

So there is no evidence in favor of divine origins. But is there any evidence against it? Yes.

Contradictions.

Despicable Bronze Age morals that improved over time...just like in the rest of society. But condoning rape, slavery and murder is not very godly.

And statements that are completely wrong scientifically speaking. Some examples of what is wrong:

Order of creation is wrong, no matter how you spin it.
Mankind is proven to be much older than roughly 6000 years*.
There is no evidence of a global flood...ever*.

*) only clashes with a literalist interpretation...but one could wonder why a God would write down easy stuff in a confusing way...couldn't he at least say it's just some allegorical story?

So, extraordinary claim (I am a Nigerian prince wanting to make you rich!), no evidence in favor, much evidence against the claim...my conclusion: the bible is just a much divinely inspired as the Quran, the book of Mormon, and the Lord of the Rings series.

Is the Bible God's word? Help please.....

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