Why do you believe the Bible is 100% inspired?

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TomatoHorse

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1. Think about the set of books in the Bible (the canon):
Historically, the way we got our canon of books is that humans got together, made up some criteria that made sense to them, and decided which books were in and which were out. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have very low faith in the fallibility of humans. To err is human, after all! So how do we know they didn't make mistakes?

Maybe we have too little -- There could be books that God inspired, that were lost or left out of the cannon.
Maybe we have too much -- There could be books that are NOT inspired, that made it in.
(Maybe NONE of it is actually inspired.... !?)

2. Think about the passages in the Bible:
Maybe God inspired some "chunks" of thought in the Bible, but not all. He was using human instruments. And we see down through history that he allows his human instruments to make errors - sometimes enormous, egregious errors. The good gets mixed with the bad. Why should we assume the Bible is any different?

3. Think about the words in the Bible:
Maybe God didn't "inspire" any of it, in the sense that it came from him infallibly. Maybe all of the words in the Bible are really just the writings of wise, godly men. These men were venerated because they were held to be saints and leaders, and thus their works took on a revered quality. It's easy to see how something could go from starting out as a wise writing by your mentor, to being a useful guide advising your church, to being THE guide for faith and practice, to being divinely inspired.
 

BreadOfLife

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1. Think about the set of books in the Bible (the canon):
Historically, the way we got our canon of books is that humans got together, made up some criteria that made sense to them, and decided which books were in and which were out. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have very low faith in the fallibility of humans. To err is human, after all! So how do we know they didn't make mistakes?

Maybe we have too little -- There could be books that God inspired, that were lost or left out of the cannon.
Maybe we have too much -- There could be books that are NOT inspired, that made it in.
(Maybe NONE of it is actually inspired.... !?)

2. Think about the passages in the Bible:
Maybe God inspired some "chunks" of thought in the Bible, but not all. He was using human instruments. And we see down through history that he allows his human instruments to make errors - sometimes enormous, egregious errors. The good gets mixed with the bad. Why should we assume the Bible is any different?

3. Think about the words in the Bible:
Maybe God didn't "inspire" any of it, in the sense that it came from him infallibly. Maybe all of the words in the Bible are really just the writings of wise, godly men. These men were venerated because they were held to be saints and leaders, and thus their works took on a revered quality. It's easy to see how something could go from starting out as a wise writing by your mentor, to being a useful guide advising your church, to being THE guide for faith and practice, to being divinely inspired.
I would answer it like this:

There are literally hundreds of prophecies about Jesus in the old Testament that He fulfilled. He couldn't have consciously fulfilled them all if he were a mere human being because some of them had to do with how He was conceived and how He was born.

Secondly - the OT types that were fulfilled in the NT are simply too complicated and and perfect to NOT have been planned by God. For example, takes Moses and Jesus:
- Moses was born and hidden from the Pharoah to save him from the Pharoah's death decree.
- Jesus was born and hidden from King Herod to save Him from Herod's death decree.

- Many innocent babies were killed in search of the "Newborn Deliverer".
- Many innocent babies were killed in search of the "Newborn King".


- Moses was the Deliverer.
- Jesus was the Deliverer.

- Moses gave the People of God the Law, written on stone tablets.
- Jesus gave the People of God the Law written on their hearts.


This is just one example of MANY types and fulfillments. There would have been NO way for men living in different centuries to conspire to make up the prophecies in the OT - let alone having them fulfilled in the NT.

It has been estimated that the probability of ONE man "accidentally" fulfilling ALL of the OT prophecies regarding the Messiah would be somewhere in the QUADRILLIONS. And those are only the prophecies about HIM - excluding the ones about everything else.

I think the onus is on the Agnostic or the Atheist to prove the bible wrong - in light of the overwhelming evidence . . .
 

aspen

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The Bible preaches the gospel clearly - love God and neighbor because God loves you......he proved it over and over again throughout the Bible, however his death on a cross was the true and clear message - he gave up his life for us
 

Windmillcharge

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made up some criteria that made sense to them
Not just random critera but specfic criteria.
Why should we assume the Bible is any different?
Don't assume anything, test it claims, check them out.
Question. When you discover that the bible is reliable and accurate, what will you do?
Maybe all of the words in the Bible are really just the writings of wise, godly men.

May be they are, maybe the bible is what it claims, inspired by God and that God used the different characteristics of his authors to write what he wanted.

Again how do you respond to the bibles claims?
What sort of evidence would make you a Christian?
 

amadeus

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@TomatoHorse
If God is, what believers believe Him to be, why should we doubt His ability to accomplish His purpose in guiding the hands of men to write as He directs? To quote the Book:


"And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." Mark 10:27

Would not this "all things are possible" include directing the writing of men by what is called inspiration?

What is/was God purpose in having men write the Bible with areas which men question as to content, apparently contradiction and even differences in books included of not included [e.g. 66 versus 73]. Why was there a Reformation? Why are there thousands of denominations claiming to be Christian, etc.?

Is not an omnipotent God able to answer every question in His time to satisfy every doubter in His time?

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:11
 

Vince

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Why would this concern an Agnostic? For you it would be irrelevant one way or another.
The teachings in the bible are not irrelevant to a non believer because they affect society in general when it is believed to be inspired. Belief in the bible has caused people to hate others, hurt others, deprive people of civil rights etc.
 

bbyrd009

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1. Think about the set of books in the Bible (the canon):
Historically, the way we got our canon of books is that humans got together, made up some criteria that made sense to them, and decided which books were in and which were out. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have very low faith in the fallibility of humans. To err is human, after all! So how do we know they didn't make mistakes?

Maybe we have too little -- There could be books that God inspired, that were lost or left out of the cannon.
Maybe we have too much -- There could be books that are NOT inspired, that made it in.
(Maybe NONE of it is actually inspired.... !?)

2. Think about the passages in the Bible:
Maybe God inspired some "chunks" of thought in the Bible, but not all. He was using human instruments. And we see down through history that he allows his human instruments to make errors - sometimes enormous, egregious errors. The good gets mixed with the bad. Why should we assume the Bible is any different?

3. Think about the words in the Bible:
Maybe God didn't "inspire" any of it, in the sense that it came from him infallibly. Maybe all of the words in the Bible are really just the writings of wise, godly men. These men were venerated because they were held to be saints and leaders, and thus their works took on a revered quality. It's easy to see how something could go from starting out as a wise writing by your mentor, to being a useful guide advising your church, to being THE guide for faith and practice, to being divinely inspired.
"To declare that the Bible is the one and only Word of God, folks most often cite 2 Timothy 3:16. There Paul seems to inform Timothy that the Bible is God-breathed, in stark contrast to other writings, which are the mere fumblings of man. What very few of these folks seem to notice is that just eight verses prior, Paul refers to the legend of Jannes and Jambres, which is wildly extra-Biblical (2 Timothy 3:16)…"
www.abarim-publications.com/Bible_Commentary/God_Breathed.html#.XHaoCvZFzIU
 

Marymog

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1. Think about the set of books in the Bible (the canon):
Historically, the way we got our canon of books is that humans got together, made up some criteria that made sense to them, and decided which books were in and which were out. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have very low faith in the fallibility of humans. To err is human, after all! So how do we know they didn't make mistakes?

Maybe we have too little -- There could be books that God inspired, that were lost or left out of the cannon.
Maybe we have too much -- There could be books that are NOT inspired, that made it in.
(Maybe NONE of it is actually inspired.... !?)

2. Think about the passages in the Bible:
Maybe God inspired some "chunks" of thought in the Bible, but not all. He was using human instruments. And we see down through history that he allows his human instruments to make errors - sometimes enormous, egregious errors. The good gets mixed with the bad. Why should we assume the Bible is any different?

3. Think about the words in the Bible:
Maybe God didn't "inspire" any of it, in the sense that it came from him infallibly. Maybe all of the words in the Bible are really just the writings of wise, godly men. These men were venerated because they were held to be saints and leaders, and thus their works took on a revered quality. It's easy to see how something could go from starting out as a wise writing by your mentor, to being a useful guide advising your church, to being THE guide for faith and practice, to being divinely inspired.
Read post #6 by @BreadOfLife for the best answer.

I suspect we won't hear from you again. You said what you wanted to say and will soon disappear.....
 
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amadeus

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Read post #6 by @BreadOfLife for the best answer.

I suspect we won't hear from you again. You said what you wanted to say and will soon disappear.....
Yes, it would seem your prediction is coming to pass. Only one post and that the OP here on 2-21-2019. Is he likely to come back just to be able to say, he did?
 
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farouk

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1. Think about the set of books in the Bible (the canon):
Historically, the way we got our canon of books is that humans got together, made up some criteria that made sense to them, and decided which books were in and which were out. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have very low faith in the fallibility of humans. To err is human, after all! So how do we know they didn't make mistakes?

Maybe we have too little -- There could be books that God inspired, that were lost or left out of the cannon.
Maybe we have too much -- There could be books that are NOT inspired, that made it in.
(Maybe NONE of it is actually inspired.... !?)

2. Think about the passages in the Bible:
Maybe God inspired some "chunks" of thought in the Bible, but not all. He was using human instruments. And we see down through history that he allows his human instruments to make errors - sometimes enormous, egregious errors. The good gets mixed with the bad. Why should we assume the Bible is any different?

3. Think about the words in the Bible:
Maybe God didn't "inspire" any of it, in the sense that it came from him infallibly. Maybe all of the words in the Bible are really just the writings of wise, godly men. These men were venerated because they were held to be saints and leaders, and thus their works took on a revered quality. It's easy to see how something could go from starting out as a wise writing by your mentor, to being a useful guide advising your church, to being THE guide for faith and practice, to being divinely inspired.
Hebrews 11.6: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." God's Word is self-authenticating; what we need to do is read it and trust it.
 
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Bobby Jo

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I would answer it like this:

There are literally hundreds of prophecies . . .

Deut. 18:22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him.

I agree with BOL, in that both Prophetic Scripture and History agree, -- so long as you get past the lies of the commentators. And getting past the lies, we actually find statistically impossible odds of Bible Prophecies being fulfilled EXACTLY as forecast, -- with the CORRECT lineage leading to the passages, the CORRECT participants, and the CORRECT events -- precisely preserved for the "end times", some 2,500 years after the Prophecies were written.



The proof is in the pudding, -- for all who would partake! :)

Whoda thunk?
Bobby Jo
 

Bobby Jo

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It takes inspiration to write books

So in about 1975 I challenged GOD to reveal HIMSELF to me, and he showed me in Bible Prophecy* 1. a passage on the Vietnam War; 2. the conduct of the Vietnam War; and 3. the Cuban Missile crisis. So I wrote a book, not published, to document and footnote all the Prophecies and fulfillments in this Book of the Bible. And yeah, they're all TRUE, but you wouldn't know it from the lying commentators.

* The "order" is skewed because I COULDN'T believe #1; then COULDN'T believe #2; so to confuse GOD, I read the verse in front of verse #1 and thus ended at #3; -- at which point I accepted the TRUTH of GOD and HIS Word, and was subsequently "saved" by Jesus.​

The point being, some things ARE "inspired". :)
Bobby Jo
 

ScottA

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1. Think about the set of books in the Bible (the canon):
Historically, the way we got our canon of books is that humans got together, made up some criteria that made sense to them, and decided which books were in and which were out. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have very low faith in the fallibility of humans. To err is human, after all! So how do we know they didn't make mistakes?

Maybe we have too little -- There could be books that God inspired, that were lost or left out of the cannon.
Maybe we have too much -- There could be books that are NOT inspired, that made it in.
(Maybe NONE of it is actually inspired.... !?)

2. Think about the passages in the Bible:
Maybe God inspired some "chunks" of thought in the Bible, but not all. He was using human instruments. And we see down through history that he allows his human instruments to make errors - sometimes enormous, egregious errors. The good gets mixed with the bad. Why should we assume the Bible is any different?

3. Think about the words in the Bible:
Maybe God didn't "inspire" any of it, in the sense that it came from him infallibly. Maybe all of the words in the Bible are really just the writings of wise, godly men. These men were venerated because they were held to be saints and leaders, and thus their works took on a revered quality. It's easy to see how something could go from starting out as a wise writing by your mentor, to being a useful guide advising your church, to being THE guide for faith and practice, to being divinely inspired.
It is understandable for humans to think of human limitations and error when it comes to the written word...but that would mean you've missed the circumstances entirely.

The word of God may appear to be words on paper, but it is not, it's spirit. The scriptures are a coded language, only understood spiritually. All that you are seeing is the worldly translation, which, yes, is at the human level, and full of errors to the same degree of the reader. In other words...you have [only] found and defined your own proper place in the scheme of things.

However, in saying so and explaining this reality and mystery of God, I in no way mean to be unkind. On the contrary, I mean to help answer your very legitimate question(s). Which, in a general sense, I have.

Is there something specific that you would like me to elaborate on?
 
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