Does a Christian have to believe the Bible is literally God's words?

The Bible claims to be inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). The Greek phrase translated “inspired by God” literally means “God-breathed.” Great secu­lar writers, such as Leo Tolstoy, have been “inspired” by a variety of stimuli—including principles and events—but the Bible asserts that God Himself is its source of inspiration. Peter, an apostle and author of several New Testament books, wrote that biblical prophecies were not the result of “an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21).

1) Does a Christian have to believe the Bible is literally God's words?

No.

2) If it is God-inspired, then its scientific errors etc show that the human authors overcame God's actual breathed words (which is impossible since God is all-powerful).

The bible contains no known scientific errors. (So say I, Bach Sci in Physics)

3) So conclusively, due to its errors, the Bible is the words of men but is a historically accurate account of the history of God and the prophets etc.

This would only be conclusive if it were true.

4) So as a Christian, can I believe the Bible is not literally God's words, but human recordings (historical documentation) of everything? A history book, to say?

Yes.

Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

It's a belief. Just roll with it. The boat of life has many passengers, and not too many oars. Try not to rock the boat because I don't feel like swimming. To answer your last question, no. Your reasonable points will convince no one. It will merely reaffirm the beliefs of those who agree with you, and kind of annoy the Christians who believe the Scriptures were inspired by God. As the Bible says, "Do not cast your pearls upon swine."

Many Christians believe the Bible is allegorical. The reason why the Protestant and Catholic canon are different is because man could not agree what was or wasn't divinely inspired. The King James Version is the most obvious evidence of the editing process, removing and changing scripture to serve man's beliefs. If you compare even the English Standard Version to the Greek or Hebrew, it reveals many problematic translations from our modern bias. The Bible contradicts itself. Followers mistakenly look to Paul instead of Jesus. It's a learning tool, not God's words verbatim.

NO) I used to be christian now baha'i I know that this is a tricky question for christians .

Remember christianity is 2000 years old that means mankind has had the opportunity to corrupt these inspiring texts for that time.

Plus contradictions for the apostles. Like if jesus was born in bethlehem why is he called jesus of nazareth in the bible.

Do not take this as GOD's actual words but more inspired by GOD'S words.

NO you can't because in addition to you setting up the criteria for what the Bible is trying to say, you are also saying that God can't make Himself known through humans. And how do you know that ? You assume that. The Bible is not a science book. So ?

I agree that the Bible contains conflicting passages that prevent Chrisitians of today from taking a literal and fundamentalist view of the scriptures. I do think it is more than a history book. In fact, John contains soaring passages of beautifully refined Christology but is in conflict with the Synoptic Gospels on the historical sequence of events.

Absolutely not! I believe in God, but not all of us who live our lives by Christian principles believe the same thing, and the Bible is subject to quite a bit of interpretation. I don't think that I need to believe the Adam and Eve story is factual to believe in God, but every society and culture, and, like it or not, that's the one we get. More than that, everybody knows the story. I also don't think there has to be any inherent conflict between having spiritual and religious values and having a great appreciation of science. If you believe we have free will...I do...then it really is about how each one of us, believer or non-believer, chooses to live our lives and whether or not we are loving human beings to ourselves and our brothers and sisters. Best wishes to you!

No. A Christian does not have to believe that everything in the Bible is literal for it to be God's word.

You're right. Even though it has a lot of history, the Bible was not written to be a history book. Nor a science book.

It was written by inspired men, but "inspired" doesn't mean that God removed their free will in order for them to write down their revelations. There are contradictions, scientifically wrong details, and fiction in the Bible.

Anybody who says otherwise has never read the Bible.

It doesn't have to be literal for it to contain God's truth.

As a Christian who has studied the Bible, I have to confess I have not found any convincing 'errors' in it. Those error stories are lies of the enemy. The Bible simply is what it says it is, God's infallible word. Please note, I was raised by a feminist and a darwinist and came to Christ when I met him, I was 28 and very independent minded. It was a shock to find myself confronted by God's presence and I was determined to find out if the Bible could be relied upon. coming from the starting point that there is a God, I was able to look at the facts unbiased by 'science'.