Some Bible Stories as Representative

[Amigo42]

37 minutes ago, Riverwalker said:

Once you have discounted the inerrancy of God's word, you have left the reservation.

2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

The lesson here to be learned is that just because something does not make sense to you, does not mean it is untrue, it just means it does not make sense to you.

God's word is truth, it is inerrant, it is LIFE

It was written by men, but inspired by the Holy Spirit, and even after have been written over a period longer than 1000 years, it is perfect and harmonious from beginning to end, and no group of men could that. Mohammed couldn't keep his own word straight over 40 years.

Time to get humble my friend and bow to the greater intellect and wisdom of God.

 

 

I agree the Bible is profitable for doctrine, reproof, and correction.  However, to say it is inspired, which it is, does not mean every word is 100% correct.  I could write a book that the Holy Spirit inspired me to write.  Does it mean it will be free from error or some genuine mistakes.  No.  It would overall still be an inspired word of God.

[Riverwalker]

8 minutes ago, Amigo42 said:

 

 

I agree the Bible is profitable for doctrine, reproof, and correction.  However, to say it is inspired, which it is, does not mean every word is 100% correct.  I could write a book that the Holy Spirit inspired me to write.  Does it mean it will be free from error or some genuine mistakes.  No.  It would overall still be an inspired word of God.

All you  have done is demonstrate that you do not know what the word "Inspired" means.  It means God breathed. That is why it is called God's word. If you want to deny its God's truth you are free to do so, at your own peril 

[Hopefully]

5 hours ago, Amigo42 said:

Maybe a hundred people survived.  Maybe it was a thousand. Maybe a million.  I don't know. 

“So the Lord said, “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth. I will destroy every person and every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. And I will destroy all the birds in the air, because I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah pleased the Lord.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6:7-8‬ ‭

 

“So God said to Noah, “Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth.

“Understand what I am telling you. I will bring a great flood of water on the earth. I will destroy all living things that live under heaven. Everything on the earth will die. I will make a special agreement with you. You, your wife, your sons, and their wives will all go into the boat.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭6:13, 17-18‬ ‭
 

“Every living thing on earth died—every man and woman, every bird, and every kind of animal. All the many kinds of animals and all the things that crawl on the ground died. Every living, breathing thing on dry land died.

In this way God wiped the earth clean—he destroyed every living thing on the earth—every human, every animal, everything that crawls, and every bird. All that was left was Noah and his family and the animals that were with him in the boat.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭7:21-23‬ 

 

 

 

[Waggles]

8 hours ago, Amigo42 said:

However, we must remember that the Bible is a collection of stories that were written down after centuries and maybe a millennium.  Before that they were orally transmitted.  God is perfect, but humans are not so there will always be a degree of imperfection in anything that we touch.  However, that's ok.  God does use imperfect and flawed people to get his message to the world.  It's good to have an answer to well informed skeptics and those who will challenge you.

So then share with us all these stories that are not true - merely illustrative ?? or poetical ?? 

[Waggles]

8 hours ago, Amigo42 said:

However, we must remember that the Bible is a collection of stories that were written down after centuries and maybe a millennium.  Before that they were orally transmitted.  God is perfect, but humans are not so there will always be a degree of imperfection in anything that we touch.  However, that's ok.  God does use imperfect and flawed people to get his message to the world.  It's good to have an answer to well informed skeptics and those who will challenge you.

So then share with us all these stories that are not true - merely illustrative ?? or poetical ?? 

[David1701]

3 hours ago, Amigo42 said:

 

 

I agree the Bible is profitable for doctrine, reproof, and correction.  However, to say it is inspired, which it is, does not mean every word is 100% correct.  I could write a book that the Holy Spirit inspired me to write.  Does it mean it will be free from error or some genuine mistakes.  No.  It would overall still be an inspired word of God.

How would you propose to decide which of the words that God inspired are supposedly in error? Or do you think that some are inspired and some are not?

How would you know how much is in error and which parts? 

How could you trust any of it, if it contained an unknown quantity of errors that could not be identified?

How could you trust the overall gist of it, when that gist depends upon many of the details being literally and completely accurate?

You have not thought this through, have you?

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by David1701

[Jayne]

3 hours ago, Amigo42 said:

 

 

I agree the Bible is profitable for doctrine, reproof, and correction.  However, to say it is inspired, which it is, does not mean every word is 100% correct.  I could write a book that the Holy Spirit inspired me to write.  Does it mean it will be free from error or some genuine mistakes.  No.  It would overall still be an inspired word of God.

Ah, here is the problem - your misunderstanding of the word "inspired" when it comes to the Bible.

It is not inspired as in a beautiful sunset inspired [or gave you the motivation] to paint it or that events in your family's history inspired you [or gave you the idea] to write a book.

The word "inspired" in 2 Timothy 3:16 is the Greek word "theopneustos".  [The New Testament was written in Koine Greek].

It's found only once and it in the verse in question.  It literally means "God-breathed" or from the Holy Spirit. God has NOT inspired you to write his literal and very words.  God DID inspire the men of old to write down, via the Holy Spirit, the literal and exact words of God.  God did this supernaturally and he gave these men the literal words to say - miraculously

God may motivate someone to write a book today about Christian ideas, but today [or people may just think it's God] - but he does not dictate the exact words.  That's why we have a lot of books today that are in GREAT error.

We can be inspired today to do all kinds of things, but it doesn't mean that God is in it and it means more of along the lines of motivated in a NON-supernatural way.

If you doubt the truth of God's word by doubting the stories of the Old Testament - especially the ones that the New Testament confirm as real [Adam/Eve, Flood, Jonah, the plagues and leaving Egypt, and MUCH more]...

...then why do you think Jesus Christ is real?  Doubt the first passage and doubt creeps in and covers the rest.

 

[Amigo42]

39 minutes ago, Waggles said:

So then share with us all these stories that are not true - merely illustrative ?? or poetical ?? 

I never stated that any particular story is not true.  I just meant that I don't get caught up in straining at gnats.  I don't think Christians should get caught up on the details.  For example, did Jesus feed 5,000 or did he feed 3,000?  Before the account was written down, it was told and retold for a few decades.  When stories are told and retold, sometimes small details change.  It doesn't mean the story is not true.  I just don't think God wants us to get up on the details.

[Amigo42]

23 minutes ago, David1701 said:

How would you propose to decide which of the words that God inspired are supposedly in error? Or do you think that some are inspired and some are not?

How would you know how much is in error and which parts? 

How could you trust any of it, if it contained an unknown quantity of errors that could not be identified?

How could you trust the overall gist of it, when that gist depends upon many of the details being literally and completely accurate?

You have not thought this through, have you?

 

Edited 10 minutes ago by David1701

Thank you for your question.  I've indeed thought on that, but again, I focus on the overall arch of truth of the Bible.  The Bible has proven itself trustworthy through archaeology, prophecy, science, and experiential knowledge.  

[Amigo42]

31 minutes ago, Jayne said:

If you doubt the truth of God's word by doubting the stories of the Old Testament - especially the ones that the New Testament confirm as real [Adam/Eve, Flood, Jonah, the plagues and leaving Egypt, and MUCH more]...

...then why do you think Jesus Christ is real?  Doubt the first passage and doubt creeps in and covers the rest.

Thank you again for your thoughts.  That's actually my point.  There's a danger in focusing on the literal nature of each word because if a Christian is confronted with a genuine error, then one may panic.  My point is that there is no need to panic because the Bible is trustworthy, and those small errors or however you choose to describe them are not salvation issues.