Scripture is the word of God. Discuss

by nazias (student)

AS and A Level Religious Studies & Philosophy

A2 Philosophy Nazia Sultana 13TR

Scripture is the word of God. Discuss? 35 marks

Scripture can be defined by all Christians that the bible is in some way of a book. It tells the story of God’s dealing with the world through the creation of humanity and animals. It tells of the successes and failures of those who try to follow God’s commands and how to live their life. For those who are a theist, they believe in a God who communicates with people and reveals himself in revelation. People are able to believe that the scripture is the word of God through ‘propositional’ or ‘non-propositional’ revelation. A propositional revelation refers to God directly revealing truths about his nature to people. Whereas, a non-propositional revelation refers to the idea that God does not reveal facts or truths to people; instead the religious person recognises God acting in human experience. Also, non- propositional revelation is indirect and the bible is not literally the word of God, it is just people’s experiences of God. To Christians, God’s ultimate revelation is Jesus Christ; he is the ‘word’ of God. All Christians believe that scripture is absolutely the word of God, but they understand this in different ways.

Christians would argue that the bible is a propositional revelation. Some people believe that the bible is God’s direct word and it is omniscient as there can be no religious mistake of the bible. The revelations are called proposition because they are statements of facts. The main argument of the propositional argument is that the truth about God in the bible is known as proposition. As the propositional argument states facts about God, religious people believe that the propositions are true which means they are not false and therefore, could be argued that scripture is the word of God because ...

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Christians would argue that the Ten Commandments are revelations from God, so everyone must obey them as they are rules that must be followed because they are facts from God. Similarly, a Muslim person would argue that the Quran is a propositional revelation because it is the words from Allah and so all Muslims in the world must believe whatever is in the bible is the truth. As a result, it can be argued that scripture is the word of God because the bible is literally the word of God and it is entirely God’s words.

There are many different types of propositional revelations such as through holy books like the bible and the Quran, vision experience or religious experience. Propositional arguments are truths about God which cannot be shown using human experiences. For example, one way to show whether the propositional argument is the truth and not false is that if it can fit in with the church’s teachings about God. If it is the truth, then people are able to stop making assumptions about whether scripture is the word of God.

The strengths of propositional arguments are that people never have to rely on their own interpretation and judgment but instead they can look at the bible to see the principles instead of them using their own initiative. Moral decisions show few problems and it is clear and to some extent reliable and it provides protection for religious people. It is also a good starting point for explaining the beliefs of people who are not religious and do not believe in God. As well as, people are able to discuss the meaning of certain passages of the bible without having to explain to others. The background of the bible is not from the church but instead it is God revealing his nature to people.

However, it can be argued that scripture is not the word of God because the bible can be viewed as a non-propositional revelation because it is not God that is revealing facts or truths to people but instead it is about people’s experiences what makes the bible. An example of a non-propositional argument is that a religious person may see God in a beautiful natural scene and the scene reveals God to the person seeing it. Also, people may see nature as God revealing to them, but this revelation of God is seen as indirect. Therefore, this argument is called a non-propositional revelation because it is the people’s experience and recognition that is making them see God’s acts in the world. So as a result, it can be argued that through non-propositional revelation, scripture is not the word of God because the bible is not literally the word of God but instead it is people’s experiences of God.

In conclusion, it can be argued that scripture is the word of God through the propositional revelation. This revelation argues that the bible is divinely inspired and it refers to God directly revealing truths about his nature to people. The propositions are true and beyond debate and doubt and Aquinas said that revelations can be accepted as genuine if they agree with the church teachings.