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The Bible(as it stands now)has been translated multiple times and edited by the powers that be so it is a much different document than originally written.
It(the original) wasn't "written" by God but inspired by God, but at some level that is all moot now due to the modifications made to support whatever position the powers that be at the time had.
Correct, all scripture is inspired by God. Further, the same God who created all things and inspire the scriptures by His power ... still has the power to keep His Word inspired.
To suggest otherwise, is to contend that people have somehow wrestled power away from God by robbing His inspired Word of its inspiration.
The answer, quite simply, is because an infallible Church tells us that He did. Here's the logic:
The Catholic method of proving the Bible to be inspired is this: The Bible is initially approached as any other ancient work. It is not, at first, presumed to be inspired. From textual criticism we are able to conclude that we have a text the accuracy of which is more certain than the accuracy of any other ancient work.
Next we take a look at what the Bible, considered merely as a history, tells us, focusing particularly on the New Testament, and more specifically the Gospels. We examine the account contained therein of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
Using what is in the Gospels themselves and what we find in extra-biblical writings from the early centuries, together with what we know of human nature (and what we can otherwise, from natural reason alone, know of divine nature), we conclude that either Jesus was just what he claimed to be—God—or he was crazy. (The one thing we know he could not have been was merely a good man who was not God, since no merely good man would make the claims he made.)
We are able to eliminate the possibility of his being a madman not just from what he said but from what his followers did after his death. Many critics of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection claim that Christ did not truly rise, that his followers took his body from the tomb and then proclaimed him risen from the dead. According to these critics, the resurrection was nothing more than a hoax. Devising a hoax to glorify a friend and mentor is one thing, but you do not find people dying for a hoax, at least not one from which they derive no benefit. Certainly if Christ had not risen, his disciples would not have died horrible deaths affirming the reality and truth of the resurrection. The result of this line of reasoning is that we must conclude that Jesus indeed rose from the dead. Consequently, his claims concerning himself—including his claim to be God—have credibility. He meant what he said and did what he said he would do.
Further, Christ said he would found a Church. Both the Bible (still taken as merely a historical book, not yet as an inspired one) and other ancient works attest to the fact that Christ established a Church with the rudiments of what we see in the Catholic Church today—papacy, hierarchy, priesthood, sacraments, and teaching authority.
We have thus taken the material and purely historically concluded that Jesus founded the Catholic Church. Because of his Resurrection we have reason to take seriously his claims concerning the Church, including its authority to teach in his name.
This Catholic Church tells us the Bible is inspired, and we can take the Church’s word for it precisely because the Church is infallible. Only after having been told by a properly constituted authority—that is, one established by God to assure us of the truth concerning matters of faith—that the Bible is inspired can we reasonably begin to use it as an inspired book.
A Spiral Argument
Note that this is not a circular argument. We are not basing the inspiration of the Bible on the Church’s infallibility and the Church’s infallibility on the word of an inspired Bible. That indeed would be a circular argument! What we have is really a spiral argument. On the first level we argue to the reliability of the Bible insofar as it is history. From that we conclude that an infallible Church was founded. And then we take the word of that infallible Church that the Bible is inspired. This is not a circular argument because the final conclusion (the Bible is inspired) is not simply a restatement of its initial finding (the Bible is historically reliable), and its initial finding (the Bible is historically reliable) is in no way based on the final conclusion (the Bible is inspired). What we have demonstrated is that without the existence of the Church, we could never know whether the Bible is inspired.
The advantages of the Catholic approach are two: First, the inspiration is really proved, not just "felt." Second, the main fact behind the proof—the reality of an infallible, teaching Church—leads one naturally to an answer to the problem that troubled the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:30-31): How is one to know which interpretations are correct? The same Church that authenticates the Bible, that attests to its inspiration, is the authority established by Christ to interpret his word.
Last edited by Miss Blue; 02-05-2012 at 08:11 AM..
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They were referring to the writings of old 'Prophets'.
They did not consider their letters as scripture.
The apostles most certainly did regard their letters as Scripture.
In 1 Peter 3:16 Peter compared Paul's letters with 'the rest of the Scriptures'. By the reference to the rest of the Scriptures Peter meant the Old Testament Scriptures. Peter placed Paul's letters on a par with the Old Testament Scriptures.
Good questions. I am going to have to come back and read the replies with time. How do you feel about the answers you've gotten so far?
Still haven't seen anyone address what I consider to be absolutely critical to the discussion.
From my reply in post #10 of this thread:
Since you are saying the bible is the source of ALL information about God and the gospel, what do you think the billions who have lived an entire life unable to read at all are to do in order to understand God's will? What are those who are living in places where they have yet to even see a bible supposed to do in order to know what God wants?
And for the idea that the Catholic Church is the hierarchy and the priests are to be looked to for the answers and finding the truth, what are the billions of people who have lived in parts of the world where there is no catholic church supposed to do for answers and finding the truth?
Correct, all scripture is inspired by God. Further, the same God who created all things and inspire the scriptures by His power ... still has the power to keep His Word inspired.
To suggest otherwise, is to contend that people have somehow wrestled power away from God by robbing His inspired Word of its inspiration.
AMEN!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TXboomerang
Still haven't seen anyone address what I consider to be absolutely critical to the discussion.
From my reply in post #10 of this thread:
Since you are saying the bible is the source of ALL information about God and the gospel, what do you think the billions who have lived an entire life unable to read at all are to do in order to understand God's will? What are those who are living in places where they have yet to even see a bible supposed to do in order to know what God wants?
And for the idea that the Catholic Church is the hierarchy and the priests are to be looked to for the answers and finding the truth, what are the billions of people who have lived in parts of the world where there is no catholic church supposed to do for answers and finding the truth?
That question has been asked and answered many times here, Romans 1:20 is your answer, of course if you don't believe the Bible, those Words will mean nothing to you.
was it given by God?
the ideas were from God, not the ink and paper
why so many contradictions,
rewritten 30,000 times.
why is it so hard why cant it be easy
the wrong road is easy, the difficulty is in trying to listen to something we dont wana hear
why do bible readers judge others
no judgement --that comes later
they are just trying to pull u away from that oncoming truck.
That question has been asked and answered many times here, Romans 1:20 is your answer, of course if you don't believe the Bible, those Words will mean nothing to you.
I have seen that verse many times. It is rather short and lacks any clear application. That verse speaks of the nature of God's presence in all of creation. It does not speak of a canonized bible that churches say people must read and study in order to understand God's will for their lives.
Again, I grew up in church and read the bible and prayed for 30 years. Prayer brings me peace and understanding. Reading the bible takes that sense of peace and understanding away.
I started wondering about why the bible was held in such high regard when I thought about a few things. Like why most preachers/priests/pastors don't read a section of the bible in order as the sermon. It is usually a jump from book to book, verse to verse, and new testament to old testament to piecemeal some idea the pastor was convinced God was trying to tell everyone. Why would God make it such a challenge to put together a clear message that would be relevant and understandable to all cultures and generations without the need for theologians to explain why it makes sense?
There are so many things that make no sense in the bible and actually seem to run opposite of what is known in nature.
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AMEN!!!
