How We Know the Bible is God's Inspired Word

[gzusfrk]

I'm sorry but you're not really making sense. The fact still remains that the Bible cannot both be and not be written in a way 'that all people can understand', and as we've seen there are numerous contradictory instances. Also there are many profoundly committed theists, including some who frequent this board, who have never claimed to understand the 'deep things of God', despite their diligent searching. But from what you say it would seem that you have a special insight and are privy to these 'deep things of God'? Therefore it would be expedient if you were to inform us of what those things are and how they are the 'truth', ie true because they cannot be false.

according to Hebrews 4:12 The Word of God is alive and active, it knows your thoughts and intentions of the heart and mind. Therefor it is my opinion that the Word reveils to you what it says according to YOUR heart

 

[waitasec]

according to Hebrews 4:12 The Word of God is alive and active, it knows your thoughts and intentions of the heart and mind. Therefor it is my opinion that the Word reveils to you what it says according to YOUR heart

is this a rebuttal to

The fact still remains that the Bible cannot both be and not be written in a way 'that all people can understand',

??
seems here you are in agreement with cottage

 

[Pegg]

Wait - are you talking about the initial attitudes we approach the Bible with, or the conclusions we draw from ii?
Because in the first case, I don't think I approached the Bible with the attitude that it was necessarily false. At the very least, I tried to come at it open to having my mind changed.

may I ask you the method you used to read/study the bible? Was it a study of the bible, or was it a critical analysis? And do you actually believe in a God or Creator?

In the second case, I think that the more we discuss why we all came to the conclusions we did, the closer each of us will get to an understanding of what's actually true... IOW, I disagree with your implication that some people can never "get it" (if it's true, anyhow).

this indicates to me that you look at the bible through your own eyes. Well that is not going to help you see things through the eyes of the one who inspired the bible.
Some read the Bible with a critical eye, examining it from the viewpoint of human wisdom and philosophy, this only undermines faith in the authority of the Bible as the inspired Word of God.
Others only read it through someone else’s eyes. That is, they first of all accept the viewpoint and authority of one of their church and they bend the scriptures to conform to the traditions held by that church or group.

This is not the way to read the bible. If you want to really understand it, you have to allow it to be your guide. Have you heard the old saying that '..there are none so deaf as those who do not want to hear something contradictory to cherished ideas strongly entrenched'
These words ring very true when it comes to how we read the scriptures.

I don't think I see your point here.
Also, I don't see how opening onesself to the possibility of miracles points toward the truth of the Bible more than any other religion's miracle claims.

the point really is that there is nothing in the bible impossible for God. Do you think its impossible for God to flood the earth with water? Is it impossible for God to send fire from the sky?
Impossible for him to bring down the walls of a city? impossible for him to part water? impossible to bring a darkness on the surface of the ground while the sun is still present?

the miracles in the bible are often the very things which people reject as being untrue, they seek a naturalistic explanation because they dont believe the account was a miracle at all. They think it was natural phenomenon so they seek a natural cause or explanation. They attribute nothing to God...probably because they dont believe in God in the first place.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

may I ask you the method you used to read/study the bible? Was it a study of the bible, or was it a critical analysis? And do you actually believe in a God or Creator?

The Bible itself? I just sat down and read it. One of my Bibles has a suggested reading schedule to get through the whole Bible in a year; I was going by that for a while.

But I'm not sure how you're distinguishing between "study" and "critical analysis".

this indicates to me that you look at the bible through your own eyes.

Well, they're the only eyes available to me.

Well that is not going to help you see things through the eyes of the one who inspired the bible.

If I had approached the question of whether the Bible is true and what inspired it from the assumption that it is true and that it was inspired by God, then I would have been guilty of circular reasoning... IOW, I would have been guilty of a logical fallacy. By their nature, logical fallacies cannot reliably lead to truth.

Some read the Bible with a critical eye, examining it from the viewpoint of human wisdom and philosophy, this only undermines faith in the authority of the Bible as the inspired Word of God.

Again: I can't assume the authority of the Bible when trying to determine the authority of the Bible. This is circular reasoning.

Others only read it through someone else’s eyes. That is, they first of all accept the viewpoint and authority of one of their church and they bend the scriptures to conform to the traditions held by that church or group.

Well, since I didn't do that, I think it's rather irrelevant to my particular case.

This is not the way to read the bible. If you want to really understand it, you have to allow it to be your guide.

What makes you think I didn't do that? The mere fact that I didn't conclude that it's based in truth?

Have you heard the old saying that '..there are none so deaf as those who do not want to hear something contradictory to cherished ideas strongly entrenched'
These words ring very true when it comes to how we read the scriptures.

I would have been very happy to have been convinced the truth of the Bible. In particular, if I had been led to be a Christian, it would've made my (now ex-) wife very happy. The fact that I wasn't convinced led to significant pain and distress for her that I would have done just about anything (anything honest, anyhow) to avoid.

the point really is that there is nothing in the bible impossible for God. Do you think its impossible for God to flood the earth with water? Is it impossible for God to send fire from the sky?
Impossible for him to bring down the walls of a city? impossible for him to part water? impossible to bring a darkness on the surface of the ground while the sun is still present?

the miracles in the bible are often the very things which people reject as being untrue, they seek a naturalistic explanation because they dont believe the account was a miracle at all. They think it was natural phenomenon so they seek a natural cause or explanation. They attribute nothing to God...probably because they dont believe in God in the first place.

Well, I didn't approach the Bible with this assumption, so this is another thing that's irrelevant to my particular case. I didn't assume that the miracles in the Bible were false - if an all-powerful God does exist, of course he would be able to do things beyond normal human experience.

However, there's a big difference between not automatically excluding miracle claims in general and deciding that any particular miracle claim is true. I mean, I could tell you that God just made a unicorn materialize in front of me in my living room. Could an all-powerful god do this? Sure. Even if you already believe that such a god exists, would you have good justification to think it actually happened? Probably not.

Even when we're dealing with miracle claims, we can stil do our best to examine them and try to figure out whether they actually happened. The mere fact that an event would be miraculous if it happened does not necessarily imply that it actually did happen.

 

[Quagmire]

the point really is that there is nothing in the bible impossible for God. Do you think its impossible for God to flood the earth with water? Is it impossible for God to send fire from the sky?
Impossible for him to bring down the walls of a city? impossible for him to part water? impossible to bring a darkness on the surface of the ground while the sun is still present?

Would it be impossible for God to create Hobbits?

If not, does this mean the Lord of the Rings is a true story?

 

[gzusfrk]

is this a rebuttal to


??
seems here you are in agreement with cottage

Yes we could be like hearted.