Why do "believers" think that the Word of God is the Bible?

Question

The Word of God came to John the Baptist out in the wilderness... and I can assure you that a 1600 page Bible did not fall out of the heavens and on to his head.

Secondly, Christ used the term "Word of God" in the parable of the Sower, long before the New Testament came along. And I feel quite confident that he was not "sowing" out those Old Testament scroll to the multitudes.

So why in the world do "believers" think that the Word of God is a book that did not even exist when Jesus and John were around?

If you say Jesus is the word, then does that mean that Jesus joined John the Baptist out in the desert when the word of God came to him?

Answer 1

What I don't understand is, what did the people who followed Jesus do? They never read the full Bible, so did they go to hell, or what?

Answer 2

definite, "be conscious of God" is the content fabric, message that the bible attempt to place across, because of the fact the catholic and the protestant theory are diverse, they gained't use their counterpart's Bible and make that declare. And the declare has no longer something to do with the wording too, there are multiple bible in diverse languages and interpretations like NIV, KJV and so on. despite the fact that the message is an identical. as nicely the Bible isn't a e book of dogma, it inviting investigations, examine from persons, so the content fabric and the appliance of this is the authentic deal. Ethnic(Jews) rituals or community(center east) information relationship returned to early advert might influence the validity of the training telling. If somebody upload/burn some website or the entire bible together with his unfastened will, it makes no distinction the e book burnt is quite the Bible that maximum Christians retaining expensive or "Javascript Bible", a reference for information superhighway website developer. The be conscious of God is the message believers can get from the Bible, no longer equals the Bible in its actual form.

Answer 3

From what I can tell, some believers think the Bible is one of the manifestations of the word of God that has been told by human beings and passed down through the centuries. What's also true is that many people find great lessons in the Bible, and it serves them well as a source of strength, love and wisdom. Maybe the real question is why somebody who supposedly holds such Christian values would want to take that away from all those people.

Answer 4

Put on the full armor of god - Interesting response, however it still relies on the assumption that the bible is accurate in the first place for the argument to be relevant.



I am the lord remade in flesh, you will follow me for I will lead you to the gates of heaven.



Whoa better read what I have written. after all I am the lord, it is written in the internet... It is not hard to have delusions of grandeur. The hardest part is getting the first 100 people to share your delusion. After that its a cakewalk.... (see Scientology)







Regardless of my ramblings. Give Full armour of god the best answer as I believe it fits the criteria of your question. It well and truely explains "why they think this way".

Answer 5

John the Baptist wasn't an author at all, only a prophet. I believe it's God's Word, because I choose to. I have faith that's it's Truth.



Edit:@Kevin Art-they didn't have to read the bible. They accepted Jesus as their Savior from listening to Him and following Him.

Answer 6

In the begging there was the word and word was god and the word is god and from it all creation began - or alog those lines - God is the word - the bible is God's words written down.



I have never heard any believer say that a 1600 pages book/bible fell out of the sky - have you? Or did you come up with that one??

Answer 7

Well, the Bible IS the main Christian text... I suppose some people must think it's worth reading.



Anyway, isn't the whole 'word of God' thing a little subjective?

Answer 8

Giving a little credit to Pres. Clinton, it depends on which definition of the word 'is' being used.





From my understanding, Jesus is the 'Word of God.' However, scripture is the Word of God in that it transmits the fullness of salvation. When one hears scripture, one hears God.



Check out more from Vatican II's Dei Verbum:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html

"12. However, since God speaks in Sacred Scripture [Word of God] through men in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words."



Peace

Answer 9

It is part of the entire belief.



"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God"



The Word of God is used to destroy Satan's army at Armageddon.

The Word of God created the heavens and the earth, and all things in it.



The Word of God is multi faceted. It is Him. It is what He uses. It is His message old and new.

Answer 10

It's circular reasoning that is concluded with faith(as a number of answers have admitted here). The problem is that faith is one of the worst ways of deciding if something is true. It also means you do not have any evidence, which is what is needed in order for you to "know" it or have knowledge of it. They just hope and desire for their faith to be correct and that's about it. The misuse of the word "know" is a way of appearing to be more sure that their faith is well placed, but the mere fact that faith is required disputes that.

Answer 11

Some are raised that way, and told that to question the idea is tantamount to treason/sin - and will result punishment (like burning in hell). It gets drummed into them when their brains are still forming, and the fear never leaves even after they are grown.



Others are just too lazy or confused to think for themselves, and want everything in a tidy little package = the Bible.

Answer 12

The Bible says so and I have faith.



John F: You are using word play to make us look bad.

Answer 13

One of the objections raised by critics of biblical inspiration is that the Bible is not the word of God but that it contains the word of God. Is this accurate? No. First of all, this doesn't fit what the Bible says about itself. The collection of 66 books that the Christian Church recognized as being inspired speaks as the very words of God in many places.



"Thus says the Lord" occurs over 400 times in the Old Testament.

"God said" occurs 42 times in the Old Testament and four times in the New Testament.

"God spoke" occurs 9 times in the Old Testament and 3 times in the New Testament.

"The Spirit of the Lord spoke" through people in 2 Sam. 23:2; 1 Kings 22:24; 2 Chron. 20:14.

Of course, the errantists (those who say the Bible in its original documents had errors)



Jesus called the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (all of the Old Testament) Scripture and he says that the Scriptures cannot be broken, cannot fail.might say those are instances of verses that "contain" God's word, but that it doesn't mean the Bible is God's word. The problem with that response appears when we look at what Jesus said.

Luke 24:44-45, "Now He said to them, 'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. "

Notice that Jesus speaks about what is written regarding him in the Old Testament. Then John the apostle writes that Jesus opened their mind to understand the Scriptures. What Scriptures? The Law (Moses), the Prophets, and the Psalms. This was a common designation for the Old Testament. Therefore, Jesus says that the written form of the Old Testament is Scripture. Jesus goes on to deal with the religious leaders who would violate these Scriptures which he called "the word of God."



Matt 15:6, "he is not to honor his father or his mother. And thus you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition."

Mark 7:13, "thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

John 10:35 “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken)."

Jesus never said the scriptures contain the word of God. He said they were the word of God. Therefore, we can see that the word of God is the written form of Scripture. In fact, we are told by Paul not to exceed what is written. Note, Paul doesn't say to not exceed the parts of the scripture that contain God's word, he says not to exceed what is written!



1 Cor. 4:6, "Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other."

It is the written form that is proclaimed as being Scripture, unbreakable, the word of God, and the standard of which we are not to exceed. This can only be true, if the written form is the Word of God, not just something that subjectively contains the word of God.



What does it mean to be the Word of God?

The Bible is full of citations where it quotes God. However, it also has citations of non-inspired individuals, such as Judas, Herod, etc. Satan, for example, lied when addressing Eve in The Garden of Eden. This means that the Bible contains a record of a lie. But how can such an error be included in the Word of God and still have the word of God be inerrant, since a lie is an error?



The answer is that the Bible inerrantly records the lie. It makes no mistakes in its reporting of events, in its proclamation of truth, and in its revelation of God's will. Where it may record the lies, failures, deception, etc. of various individuals, it does so perfectly and without error. Likewise, when it records historical events, genealogies, etc., it does so using the idioms and cultural norms of the time -- yet it is without error.



Jesus acknowledged this when he said that the Word of God, the Scripture, cannot be broken. This means that it cannot fail. Why? because the written form of the word of God, which is Scripture, is inspired; and because it is inspired, it cannot fail, it must be fulfilled. Remember, Jesus called the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (all of the Old Testament) Scripture and he says that the Scriptures cannot be broken, cannot fail. He was obviously referring to the written form of the Old Testament:



Luke 24:44-45, "Now He said to them, 'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures."

John 10:35 “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken)."

If a citation of a city was incorrect,

Answer 14

Because they all are trapped in God's faith, except me.

Answer 15

We believe because it is.