In what sense, if at all, can the Bible be said to be the inspired word of God?

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Katie Barfoot

04/05/2007

In what sense, if at all, can the Bible be said to be the inspired word of God?

The Bible is the work of various authors, who lived in different continents and wrote in different eras. Furthermore, much of the text does not claim to have been ‘dictated’ by God and is not always God speaking to people. In parts it consists of people speaking to God, as in the Psalms, and people speaking to people, as in the New Testament letters written by Paul. In light of this, some maintain that it is not possible to treat the Bible as a book of divine oracles, delivered once by God and recorded by its authors through divine inspiration, since biblical authors were products of their time and subsequently their understanding of divine truth was culturally conditioned. Nevertheless, fundamentalist Christians hold that that the Bible is the revealed word of God.  Indeed, one of Jesus’ closest friends, Peter, wrote, “Above all, you must understand that no prophesy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God.”

In 2 Timothy 3:16, the apostle Paul reminded Timothy that “all scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives.” It seems that although the writers wrote from their own personal, historical and cultural context and used his own style, each wrote in accordance with God’s wishes. Yet, it is easy to see how interpretation of the scriptures may instate doubt in peoples’ minds; there appears to be much contradiction in teaching. For example, whilst in the Old Testament God sent the Israelites to fight, the New Testament emphasises the importance of peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers...” An omni -benevolent God would not present us with conflicting messages, so assuming the Judeo-Christian God exists, and the Bible contains contradictions, it is clearly not inspired by God. It should, however, be noted that biblical texts only appear to be contradictory when taken out of context. The importance of studying scripture as a whole is clearly illustrated by the happenings of September 11th: Muslim fundamentalists took the Koran’s teaching on Holy War out of its context and used it to justify action against America.

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Many liberal theologians engage in hermeneutics, the study of interpretation and application of Biblical texts. They may reject literal interpretations in favour of establishing general rules from the Bible, thus maintaining that the Bible is not the inspired word of God, but simply a text from which we can learn about God and Christian teaching, and then apply this knowledge to our own lives. Considering that this view overcomes the apparent contradictions in the Bible by, for example, claiming that the account of God sending the Israelites to fight is intended to portray his desire for justice, it holds strong. ...

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