2 Timothy 3: 16 Is the Bible really inspired?

by Bryan 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Bryan

  Timothy stated that "All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, ... . " (KLNT), but the Bible was assembled much later than his writing. So can each book which has been placed in the Bible, without doubt, be inspired by God?
  
  At his time, what was considered a "scripture"? Could any writings by those considered to be leaders of the Christian Congregation be considered scriptures?
  
  What do you think?

  
  Bryan Have You Seen My Mother
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  Balsam

  
  
  

  The pastorial books of 1st & 2nd Timothy and Titus are attributed to apostle Paul, but biblical scholars all agree they were written long after Paul's death. So who wrote them, it is unknown, and by the time they were written the founders of the Christian congregations were dead.

  By then the congregatons were under the care of Elders and patrons just as any association would have been. As for the collective memories of Jesus first disciples, they were very fuzzy and hardly appropriate for the task at hand of building more congregations. The early Jesus movements had not left any record of disciples that Jesus had trained to carry on his program. In fact it is for sure that Jesus had no such program for the spread of his message beyond his disciples. That came later from followers like Paul.

  These writing probably came about sometimes between 90 CE and 140 CE and were not written by Paul but the unknown writer said they were Paul's words.

  So the matter of belief comes into play. Is one to believe that the NT is inspired by God or not? Only the individual can decide

  Books worth reading are:

  Who Wrote the New Testament? By Burton Mack

  Lost Christianities: The Battle for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew by Bart D. Ehrman The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament by Bart D. Ehrman A Brief Introduction to the New Testament by Bart D. Ehrman Other Authors worth reading is Elaine Pagels, Karen Armstrong, and the http://www.teach12.com/teach12.asp?ai=16281 has some wonderful educational lectures on religion. So no I personally do not view that scripture to be accurate nor dependable.
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  Bryan

  Thanks Balsam,

  I hadn't realized the writer discrepency.

  Bryan

  Have You Seen My Mother
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  Crumpet

  Given the contradictions, failed prophecies, ridiculous accounts and I'm thinking of runningmans recent thread re Cain it could only be inspired of a very forgettful, petty minded, non - omnipresent God who can't see into the future.
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  mtbatoon

  Look at how the WT give their publications quasi scriptural status and think what it would have been like 2K years ago.
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  tetrapod.sapien

  i think none of it is inspired by god, unless one thinks that a loving, just and merciful omnimax god condones genocide, torture and child abuse. not to mention lying to us about creation and the flood.

  if one takes a step back, it reeks of meddling man hands, more than it suggests inspiration. OT or NT.
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  Terry

  I'm convinced that HOLY WRITING is a virus downloaded into society.

  It is a Trojan program that takes over and assumes power.

  Its purpose is to reproduce.

  Each of us hear has at one time or other been infected. (Others of us, multiple times.)

  The only cure, oddly enough, is rigorous skepticism and rational thinking.

  THIS IS HARDER THAN YOU THINK!
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  doogie

  it is inspired by god the way the song "Layla" was inspired by somebody named Layla. nothing more.
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  JamesThomas

  What do you think?

  Since the beginning of mans history, it seems we have been too often satisfied with anthropomorphic deity worship. The Bible fits nicely here, and if we believe this or some other book is inspired by our chosen deity, all the better; for now we have something physical we can hold in our hand which we can own and make ours. Nothing better than owning a piece of our personal little god.

  It is natural to feel awe and wonder for conscious existence and the infinite expression of life and universe. It is also natural for the mind to break everything into the smallest of pieces that it may some how encompass and comprehend. Fundamentally, the Bible, an enterprise of the mind, diminishes and belittles God to but another thing or object. Another fragment or piece floating about through space and time. In regards our real Source and Sustenance (God), nothing could be further from the truth.

  I understand why so many honor the Bible. Yet, in so doing, we often imprison ourselves in a tininess of mind with a tiny god far away, and become all the more blind to what is right here and now. That, which has no beginning or end.

  j
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  Bryan

  What about those of you who truly believe the Bible is inspired? If one book was written and said it was inspired, does that make all of them inspired?

  Thanks everyone.

  Bryan

  Have You Seen My Mother