Why do you believe the Bible is the Word of God?

I've been told several times that the only reason to believe the Bible is the Word of God is that the Bible says so.

I personally have several reasons for believing it is but before I relate my reasons I would like to hear what has proven to others that the Bible is the word of God.

I know some will want to say personal revelation and not to discount that but that will not be convincing evidence to those who do not believe the Bible to be the word of God.

So other than that, what has proved to you that the Bible is the Word of God?

 

Other than personal revelation, I would say that Christian theology makes the most sense to me and seems to have no contradictions to it. It seems very rational, logical, and reasonable in comparison to other religions. Most religions center along a mystical story, while the Bible centers around real locations, leaders and people throughout history. For example, Hinduism will call out an area of location that has never existed... in other words its centered around a story and it seems to be more of a tale that expresses a a moral story, while the Bible centers around down to earth happenings of people (Drama, et al).

Christian theology expresses a type of love of God that no other religion expresses. While most, if not all other gods, seem to either think of themselves as being too good for their own creation or caring to a degree but not to the same degree as the God of the Bible is portrayed. While in other religions they express ways to deal with suffering and that suffering is just a useful part of reality, the seems to be expressing that both death and suffering are entirely meaningless and that our struggles is journey that we are all on to go back to what we once had. If God were truly loving, it makes sense to me that God would not only care enough to suffer along with us, but do everything that He can (without taking away our autonomy) to bring us back to His original plan for us (Eternal paradise).

Another reason why I believe the Bible to be the word of God is the numerous prophecies that have been fulfilled. Many religions touch up on future events and they can be accurate somewhat, but not nearly as accurate and precise as Biblical prophecy. The very fact that people gain this gift of prophecy around world customs and religions shows to me that God is an active part of all peoples that are collectively seeking the truth. That truth being the quest to find ultimate purpose/meaning and where humanity as a whole is not only responsible for, but where we should lead to in order to have to world that we all desire.

While the Bible seems to have numerous contradictions, it only appears to be that way when we pit one word or phrase against another phrase. The overall message seems to be uniform and for something such as this to be generated in this fashion by 40 imperfect men across a span of 1500 years seems to be impossible for me. The whole Bible appears to have one voice, one message, and one overall personality to it. It is as though a group of birds across thousands of miles from each other all sang the same song in order.

Archeological evidence is overwhelming and when the Bible mentions a land full of 'milk and honey', we would later discover a site where there are herds of cattle bones and mounds of bee hives. I don't see anything as rich in any other religion in this regard or anything that comes close to it.

The way the Bible has in expressing the same exact message to people regardless of their upbringing, culture, language seems to reconfirm that the Bible is something special. The Bible seems to be playing on a universal visual language. The despite the Bible version someone uses, even if a single word is changed it still does not change the overall message of the chapters and the Bible itself. For example, there will be a verse that expresses God will never let us go and one verse could say something like, "His grip will never loosen" or it can do a reversal but the overall message remains intact and it could say, "His grace never weakens our hold on us".

 

Thank you, I truly appreciated your expression of faith - the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.

 

To be God's word, God would make it available to all mankind.

First the Bible is a best-seller, it's the most widely circulated book in all history. According to the 1988 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, an estimated 2,500,000,000 copies were printed between 1815 and 1975. That is an enormous figure. No other book in history has come even close to the Bible in circulation figures.

Next, no other book has been translated into so many languages. The Bible can now be read, in its entirety or in part, in more than 1,800 different tongues. The American Bible Society reports that it is now accessible to 98 percent of the population of our planet. Imagine the huge effort involved in producing so many translations! What other book has received such attention?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

There are, of course, well established reasons not to use sales figures as an unequivocal indicator of popularity. Don't know whether that applies to divinity. Either way, it's nice to see And Then There Were None in that list.

Similarly, the translation thing... I mean, don't get me wrong, it's impressive, but The Bible's history with translation is checkered to say the least. It's been translated into so many languages primarily because of Christian missionaries pushing it on the needy in exchange for food and medical supplies, and it's not like its any stronger for it really.

 

I made no attempt to say that this was the definitive proof that the Bible was the word of God, I merely stated that it would be reasonable to assume that God would make his word available to as many of mankind as possible and that the Bible sure fits that bill.

I too found the list interesting. As for "And Then There Were None", the old movie made from it has always been a favorite of mine and I even have it on DVD.

 

Because eccentric people wrote it down thousands of years ago, claim that supernatural events were commonplace though they have not occurred since accurate record keeping has been available, and said that a voice in their head named god told them what to say.

It's clearly true beyond any reasonable doubt.

 

i'm posting an answer, before i read everyone else's, so please excuse any repetition.

IF there IS a God,

He IS Truth,

and He can make His word say whatever He wants it to.

Using my own personal version of logic,

if ANYTHING in God's Word is true,

then ALL of it is true.


Since He IS Truth,

and can't abide deceit,

He can't, and wouldn't, lie.


That, imho, is a major part of being a Christian ~

reading the Bible,

just you and the Lord,

because He speaks to each of us from those pages.


Okay, now i'll read the thread.

 

Just like Chairman Mao!

No, I didn't mean to imply that you had said that. It just seemed an odd explanation. I mean, even if I'll go out on a limb and say God wrote the Bible, I've not heard anyone suggest that God also publishes and translates it before. Its translation and widespread distribution is pretty indisputably the work of Man.

Did you know it was originally called Ten Little Niggers? Then that was seen as racially insensitive, so they changed it to Ten Little Indians. Then it was Ten Little Sailors, and I guess the gays complained or something, and now it's And Then There Were None.

 

Not stronger, but i found that using several translations opened my eyes to the MYRIAD meanings, and ways of looking at the same thing

and truly gave me a better grip on what all of this meant to my life.

i still have some "weird ideas" about certain things

(i.e. i believe that taking the Lord's name in vain has to do with calling yourself a Christian, and knowing that you aren't really a believer, to the extent that you'll actually someone else's beliefs AGAINST them, in order to manipulate them. i don't, in my heart of hearts, believe it has to do with saying His name in a discouraging manner.)

Thank y'all for this thread!!!

 

Wow!

GREAT Post!!!

i would have given you some rep, but i have to "spread it around" before giving you any more, evidently. Also, it would appear that we are limited to how many Rep's we can do in 24 hours. i think i need to read the Info Thread about Rep...

but as soon as i'm able to, i'll be adding more to YOU, my friend!

 

cause they say so

 

Oh, Lunar!!!

i thought of :

"Because Resistance Is Futile"

and thought of YOU!!!

 

I believe the the bible is the word of god because it says so. Why would it lie to us? It seems illogical to lie about something as big and as important as god.

 

lol awsome...that works too

 

was it in Oprah's book club?

If not, then its not worth reading

 

Actually no, the little red book makes no claim to be divinely inspired and Chairman Mao would probably have been appalled at even the thought of it, that would seem to pretty much eliminate it as the word of God.

First there many reasons for believing the Bible is the word of God and this reason is only one but when all the reasons are taken together they make a powerful reason to believe the Bible is the Word of God. Whereas I agree, its translation and widespread distribution is mostly the work of Man, still what ever the manner of translation and distribution, that does not change the fact that it is the most widely published and translated book in the history of mankind which puts in a class by it's self.

I really didn't know any of that. I just remember seeing the movie as a child and thinking what a great mystery and since then have watched it many times and still, even knowing the ending, I think what a classic twist in the plot.

 

It's the word of Mao. Merely making a claim of divine inspiration wouldn't prove much to me, to be honest. Fargo made a claim to being a true story, but it wasn't. Every other monotheistic religion makes a claim to divine inspiration of some kind, and by definition they can't all be right.

Or, in the case of Wikipedia, in a class with Thoughts Of Chairman Mao

 

You're taking these two reasons to believe the Bible is the Word of God separately but taken together they they pretty much eliminate both the Thoughts of Chairman Mao and the other claims of divine inspiration. In other words if you take both together only the Bible claims divine inspiration and is the most published and translated book in history.

That's not to mention that the Thoughts of Chairman Mao has not been translated into very many other languages and thus no matter how many have been printed it is not accessible to most of mankind in their own language.