Christians, do you believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God?

In one way, the Bible is like a historical scripts, catering to a completely different age, cultures and mindsets. It has been modified many times in the past to suit the laws desired by the church authority. As a believer in Christ, I pick all the good stuffs in the Bible (and it does contain countless good teachings). So, no, I don't believe that the Bible is the ultimate, infallible word of God, but I do believe that it consists mostly of word of God.

The Bible was written by God with human hands, God has given the writers exactly what he has wanted them to write. The translations are not that varied to make the whole bible invalid, the bible has been proven right more times than wrong by mixed archeological surveys in different parts of the Holy Land. If you truly believe in the bible you are doing something right. And if the bible is wrong for some reason at the very least christians have put some positive values into the world and not hate and negativity every time they type the keys on the keyboard.

Some fundamentalists say the story of creation in the first chapter of Genesis must be taken exactly as it is: God created the world in six 24 hour-days, then rested onthe seventh day. Other fundementalists teach that the days stand for longer periods of time. Fundamentalists actually interpret every passage of the Bible; they explain how the Bible should be understood.

This only shows that the Bible MUST be interpreted. We've seen that passages calling God a "Rock" and those demanding that we "hate" members of our family require interpretation. So does nearly every passage of the Bible. The real issue is: What principles will we use to interpret the Bible?

Catholics are encouraged to interpret the Bible according to objective principles endorsed by the Church. The first principle of interpretation is that given by Pope Pius XII. We should use the contextual approach to discover the literal meaning of any passage intended by the authors.

Another important principle expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (C112) is that we must be attentive to the content and unity of the whole Bible. We should interpret a given passage in light of the other passages that relate to it.

A third principle for interpretating the Bible is that there is a unity and consistency to the truths God has revealed for our salvation.

A fourth principle is that the languages of the Bible use colorful expressions not meant to be taken at face value (ex: "If you had faith the size of a mustard see, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you (Lk 17:6))

A fifth principle is that the Old Testament passages should be interpreted in light of Jesus Christ and of the New Testament (C 129). Some excerpts from the OT make us wonder:"Can this really be part of the spiritual message God sends to guide us?" The Psalmist's cry for revenge, "Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us---

who take your babies and smash them against a rock.(Psalm 137:8-9), is such a passage. It is certainly not a part of the message of Jesus. We can presume, therefore, that it is a reflection of the imperfect theology of the OT, not an indication of God's will for us.

As a general rule, it is safe to say that if an OT passage attributes something to God which we cannot attribute to Jesus Christ, then that passage should be interpreted in light of Christ's life and teachings. For example, it is not likely that God actually commanded OT military leaders to slaughter every man, woman, and child in the cities they overran. It is far more likely that these leaders mistakenly believed God to be behind their directives and that their erroneous attitudes are reported as they perceived them.

God Bless

Robin

You speak out of context, without knowledge of the meaning of scripture. As far as literal and figurative writing portions, the Bible is literature and this is how it is written. If you do not understand what the context and meaning is of a passage, then you will miss the point. The Bible was written by men, inspired by God and guided by God's Holy Spirit. The Bible is inerrant. I would recommend reading-"How to Read the Bible For All It's Worth" by, Fee and Stuart. I hope this will help you to understand the Bible.

The problem that people have today is not as much in deciding which texts are literal and which aren't, it's in understanding how the readers of the day would have understood the text. Just like any other book, the bible was written in the style of the day. Because of that, the bible often seems strange and difficult to understand. However, if you were to study the bible with the mind of someone who would have read it 2,000 years ago, it makes quite a bit more sense.

If we do not accept the whole Bible as inspired by God, then how can we accept any of it. Some of the verses that you asked about were for the Isrealites. When reading the Bible ask who, what, why, where and when.

There are actual stories that are true, there are parables that are examples and there are past and future explanations for us that we as humans can not fully understand yet. For an example, when Moses was told to write about creation and Adam and Eve in Genesis, He was not there so, he didn't fully understand creation and therefore, we don't either but, God tells us that He is the creator. And then, there is the Revelation. Even though John saw and wrote what will happen in the future, we can not fully understand until we are there. God tells us that we now know in part but, when we are face to face with Him we will know everything. This is found in 1 Corinthians 13:12.

The whole point and reason for God's written Word to us is the Gospel, written for us to understand that He came to the earth in the form of the man Jesus to die and pay for for our sins in our place. And to give us eternal life if we accept Him as our Lord and our Savior. The rest is to verify Jesus and teach us how to live our lives for the benefit of ourselves, His church and other people.

The Bible is God's written Word to us.

It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit.

“Above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21. (New International Version)

Breakdown of the Bible

36 human authors inspired entirely by God over 1600 years.

66 separate books

39 Old Testament

Genesis- The creation of the world, sin, flood and birth of Israel

Exodus to Esther- History of the nation of Israel

Job to Proverbs- the books of poetry and wisdom

Isaiah to Malachi- Prophecy or foretelling of the future events to come.

27 New Testament

Matthew to John - Four Gospels representing the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ now with all authority in Heaven and earth.

Acts- Birth of the Church (The Bride of Christ)

Romans to Jude - Letters to the Churches

Revelations - The ultimate future plans for: The Church, Heaven, Hell, a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Here are some Bible Study Resources for anything you may want to look up:

http://www.biblegateway.com/

http://www.ntgateway.com/

http://www.bible.org/

http://www.bible-history.com/

http://www.answersingenesis.org/

The King James bible had actually been translated word for word from the original tongues. I have yet to find an error or a contradiction in it. All I've found so far is people's misunderstandings of how to read it.

I have seen seen errors, misinterpretations in the other bibles, including the Catholic's, NIV, NWT, NKJV, The Oral Torah. I have yet to see another bible that hasn't been mistranslated, without errors.

I have yet to read the Muslim's bible, but from what I have heard from people so far, there's errors, misinterpretations in it. That's according to what I have heard, I have yet to verify that.

From What I have seen from the original Torah, I have yet to see errors, misinterpretations in it.

As for the Dead Sea scroll's that had been on a tour. I didn't go see it, but from what some of the things someone told me that's in it the writings are correct, although, that person told me there's many religious leaders who dispute some of the writings in it. That person just asked me about some of the parts that are being disputed. The rest of those dead sea scrolls I had not seen or heard about yet.

Anyway, The reason why the KJV is hard for people to understand how to read is because the people are unaware of all the methods and techniques that were used for writing and arranging.

The KJV is the most unique written book I have seen. The methods and techniques used were like no other book I have seen.

What helps to make it unique and hard to understand to read is that the author didn't use his own hands to do the writing. So, you're talking about a book in which the author isn't the writer. That technique alone can cause a lot of confusing in understanding on how to read and interpret it. Also, that can cause the writer's not to be able to interpret what they wrote. Meaning the writer's themselves couldn't have been able to go out and explain the what they wrote to others accurately, without misinterpreting what they wrote.

Which means that the so-called errors and contradictions are intentional. What isn't actually contradictions the readers assume they are.

The other bibles actually do contradict, because the translators of the others were unaware of the methods and techniques that were used to write the KJV and the original.

An example: The bibles say that Jesus never did go to heaven the same day he died on the cross. The KJV is the only bible that Jesus told the thief, "Today you will be with me in paradise". The other bibles, Jesus told him, "Heaven".

All of those bible clearly says that Jesus never did go to heaven the same day he died on the cross.

So, then why did the translators in the other bibles wrote that Jesus told the thief Heaven, while the KJV says paradise?

Apparently the translators didn't notice the verse in the very bible they were writing said he didn't go to heaven the same day.

Here's another thing translators and preachers hadn't noticed:

The KJV says that Jesus was naked when he was walking on the beach and seen Peter in the boat and Jesus called out to Peter.

The other bibles that were retranslated says that it was Peter who was naked, not Jesus.

Why would the KJV say it was Jesus who was naked, not Peter. While the retranslated versions say it was Peter who was naked, not Jesus?

The KJV was translated word for word from the original tongues, not according to men's own understanding.

The other's were translated according to what they translators wanted people to believe.

That's very clear and obvious.

The James of Scotland at the time he requested the KJV to be translated word for word, was suspected of being gay. The bible, even the KJV speaks against gay. If that King was actually gay, then why would he had approved of a bible that spoke out against his own life style?

He didn't want it translated to men's own understanding, but according to the actual word for word, regardless what it said.

Nothing in the KJV was translated to his own benefit.

The other's were translated to the translators own benefit.

By the way, there's no study guides available that reveals how to actually read and understand the verses in the bible.

Those who wrote those study guides doesn't know the techniques that were used to write the original, and the KJV.

Those study guides are actually useless in helping how to read and understand the KJV.

im sure this is something that rests heavily on the hearts an minds of our spiritual leaders, but 4 me, an average young christian, i dont believe that the bible is completely accurate. I kno that it was written (tho spoken for the most part by God), re-written, and translated by man again and again over the centuries. therefore, i follow some of the word as best i can, but i simply ask God for guidance on interpreting the rest. as an almighty loving and forgiving God, im more than certain that He sees the condition of my heart and forgives me.

as for the issue of spiritual leaders, its got to be hard to teach your flock 'the word' when, in fact, the word mite not all be His word. even teaching your interpretation of the word could meet disapproval, because someone is going to question it. In a sense, this matter fuels the atheists of the world, because they criticize our interpretations as being false, or being used for personal gain. then they turn to the bible, and call it an interpretation of the same level. I guess it all leads up to faith. A christians personal relationship with God should lead their life, not the Bible.

You sound just as bad and close-minded as the other extremists in saying that the Bible is the end-ALL OR NOTHING!

Of course there is a third option. And that is, in spite of the fact that the Bible has been altered and corrupted by the early Church to suit their needs at the time, you must recognize that the MESSAGE of Yeshua's/JC's teachings REMAINS INTACT within its pages.

Obviously, through other research and from other sources, one must BE MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE as to which parts of the Bible have been ALTERED and CORRUPTED by the early Church scribes.

Needless to say, such knowledge cannot be obtained by hanging around here in this R&S forum for the answers you may seek.

Peace be with you.

Some could be mistranslation, more is misinterpretations. I believe when the Word was first given, it was God inspired, and perfect. Over the years due to the changes in language, something could have happened. But the basic meaning of salvation is the same.