Bibliolatry is what is known as worshiping the Bible as a form of idolatry. Now, I don’t know of anyone who actually worships the Bible even bowing down, singing, and praying to it. I haven’t heard of any temples or gold Bibles that people worship. “Bibliolatry” is actually used to refer to the act of worshiping God’s law rather than God or slander against Christians who follow Jesus’s example relying upon “all the Scriptures” for teaching.
“Bibliolatry” is usually used as a slanderous label for those who believe the Scriptures to be the word-for-word inspired and all-sufficient collection of writings for all Christian doctrines and practices (2 Timothy 3:16–17). The use of this label comes from those who do not accept the Scriptures as God-inspired and, or as complete revelation. If a “Bible worshiper” or a “bibliolater” is just someone who believes in the inspiration of Scriptures, then this label would be referring to the Lord, His apostles, His prophets, and the church who believe and teach the inspiration of the Bible.
Worship the Christ
Christians must worship the Word in the flesh (John 1:14), but they must not worship paper, letters of a language, or books, even leather-bound books. Truly, the faithful must not worship the Law of Christ but worship Christ trusting in the law of His grace. The Bible is the collection of inerrant inspired writings revealing the Word, so Christians, therefore, respect the Scriptures and spend a lot of time reading them for the Spirit’s revelation is there. This is not worshiping the Scriptures.
Strangely, those using the label of “bibliolatry” for slander are either missing the importance of the Word, are willingly ignorant, or more likely lack the faith to accept the Word of God as it is written. Many elaborate scenarios asserted upon a little history to assert that the Bible was collected by men, polluted by men, and inspired by the imaginations of men. The Scriptures stand because Christ stands. The Scriptures are inerrant because Christ is inerrant. As Peter preached in Acts, the predictive prophecies of Christ, Jesus’s empty tomb, and various witnesses of Jesus’s resurrection prove Jesus is the Son of God. Because Jesus is the Christ, His words given to the apostles and prophets are revealed in the Scriptures.
The Written Word
The reason to respect the saving Word is that the Word is alive and active with no need of revival or any new life to be blown into it (Hebrews 4:12). The Word gives life (John 6:63; 1 Corinthians 15:1–2). One must be born of the Spirit to enter the kingdom of Heaven, and Christians are born of the Spirit by the Word of God (1 Corinthians 4:15; 1 Peter 1:23). The Word sanctifies Christians (John 17:17). The Word comforts (1 Thessalonians 4:18). Furthermore, the Spirit guided the apostles unto all truth for the writing of the Word of God (John 16:13). The Word presents the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22; James 1:18). God’s Word also produces love (Romans 5:5; 1 John 2:5). The written Word of the Scriptures is not just another religious text or guidebook for life.
The Word and Words
The wonder of the Word does not stop here. The “words” of the “Word” of Christ will judge the world (John 12:47–48). In John 3:34, John the Baptist affirmed that Jesus has the Spirit and the words of God. Jesus stated that the words He spoke are spirit and life (John 6:63). Jesus also said that His words would never pass away (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33).
Jesus revealed that He is ashamed of those who are ashamed of His words (Luke 9:26). Those who do not hear the words of God are not of God (John 8:47). Then Jesus stated that He had many more things to say that He would speak all things by the Holy Spirit to the apostles (John 16:12–13). The apostle Paul wrote that the apostles’ words were not by man’s wisdom but from the teaching of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:13). The Spirit teaches through Jude that Christians are to remember the words of the apostles (Jude 17). First Timothy 6:3–4 teaches that man’s godliness is dependent upon whether he or she follows the words of God.
Should we read these words? Yes. Where are these words? You should know. Where does everyone go to find the words of Christ? Even those who believe the Bible to be man-made come back to the Bible for the words of Christ.
Loving Christ and His Words
Christ’s words are not just symbols written on paper. His words are spirit and life (John 6:63). Can anyone else say the same thing about their words? Upon these words, the faithful must live. By these words, Christians know Christ to worship and love Him. We may have a general love for strangers lost and saved, but to really love someone, one has to know that person. No one can love Christ without knowing Him and the more we know Him, then the more we’ll love Him. The sole verbal source to get to know Christ is the written Word and all other sources learn from the Bible. I wonder how many people who label Bible followers as “bibliolaters” are themselves biblically illiterate, worshiping their own imaginations of God, their own lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes, or their own life’s pride. Most don’t know the Scriptures and just rely on their own philosophy and the traditions of men.
No one should be accused of the horrible sin of idolatry because they submit to Christ’s words presented in the Scriptures. The Bible is not just laws, but it is also not just a love letter. The Bible is so much more than what people can summarize. We must love the principles and ideals that Christ presents for the church, which He has built and bought with His own blood. My heart aches to know that so many are changing to their own version of Christianity because they think of the Scriptures as cold pages disconnected from knowing and loving God and His Son. However, the faithful love God by obeying Jesus’s commands (1 John 5:3; 2 John 9). Where are Christ’s promises and commands written? His promises and commands are in the book for which some would like to think is an idol of worship.
The Breath of God 
I have a question. My mother has been trying to tell me that the only true word of God is the Old King James Bible. She says the others were written by evil men. She has now even gotten to the point of getting angry with me because I disagree with her. She has been reading websites that are saying this so she believes them. How can I help her to see that what she is saying just isn’t right? Maybe I am wrong but isn’t this kind of treating the Bible as an idol?
Hi Melinda,
That is a good question. I like the KJV, but it is old. It has 419 archaic words for which the meaning of these words do not mean the same today and are no longer accurate to the Hebrew and Greek. By the way, the Old Testament is usually translated from Hebrew, and the New Testament from Koine Greek. I use a word-for-word translations. These include the KJV, NKJV, ESV, NASB, and ASV. There are others.
I would not disagree with your mom. She is right that secular scholars started the critical Greek used for some other translations. However, believers are improving that text now. I also prefer the Majority Text that is used for the KJV and NKJV.
Christian scholars seek to use the best, but the two forms of the Greek divide them. There is the Minority text that uses a few older texts, and there is the Majority text that is made of the majority of the texts. The former is used in the NASB and ESV. The latter is used in the KJV, NKJV, and ASV. From the KJV to the ESV, scholars from different churches help translate these. This is good for removing much bias.
All translations have subtle inaccuracies. I encourage you to use more than one. Also, read the preface to the ESV. It is informative. Do that also for the KJV and read the NIV preface too. After that, I think you may have a better conversation with your mother, but you may not be able to convince her otherwise unless you learn Greek.
God bless your studies, Scott Shifferd
I would tell your mom that you are going to use more than one translation including the KJV.
I do not think that she is idolatry for preferring the KJV.
You can go to the website EYA and get a lot of information on what you are looking for. And pray for your Mom to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit for herself.
I meant EYA youtube channel.
Isaiah 44:13-19 ESV / 6 helpful votes
The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
Bottom Line: Love me or be tortured for eternity is not a choice, it is an evil coercion of a monster created by man in the image of man. No, I won’t love anything that permits torture and permits it for eternity. Bible idolators have hell for me in the afterlife and their values and ethics create hell in this life. Those who live for the afterlife perpetuate war and violence. “9/11” was our modern day example of how fundamentalists continue to war with other fundamentalists. George W under the delusion that god spoke to him responded with more violence and torture. Thus is the way of man under the influence of a good brain washing. f there is a god it ain’t what you are wishing for here and you too will answer for your idolatry and perpetuated misery in this life. Nope, I ain’t willing to give up my brain which was a gift of god. I don’t need to go to hell to experience it while in the presence of self-righteous bible idolators who think abortion is killing, but, if a child goes astray as an adult it is OK to kill him because capital punishment is OK, according the book you idolize. And I am certain you will substantiate your evil views with yet another book verse that you selectively choose to satisfy your underlying evil tempers.
You want me to believe in an all powerful skygod who had people write his book for him. Really??!! Your god doesn’t know how to write? Your god chooses a book to reveal himself……a BOOK written by men, changed by men, interpreted by men, and resulting in denominations of believers whose beliefs differ drastically while worshipping the same book. Sorry, if he was willing to be born as a man to die for our sins, he could have written his own book that didn’t create so very much confusion and hatred. I tried faith but was forced to lose my mind.
Wow! :-) Amazing comments! You should know the God of the Book that you oppose. You have shown yourself a person free of much moral standing and fulfill scripture (Rom. 1:32). Do some good by at least reading the Gospel of John, 1 John, and Matthew 5-7. Read the New Testament first before criticizing it. Find an moral standard and authority for examining the Bible in the study of moral philosophy in Stoicism. If you did this, you would understand the appeal and effective of the Bible’s teachings. Since you cannot even comprehend why good people believe in God and Christ, how can you judge them yet (or even judge them for judging)?
1) You must read and understand that Hell is a result of a person separating oneself from God for eternity (2 Thess. 1:7-9, Eph. 4:18, Col. 1:21). That spiritual place is described more by Christ than all other Bible writers combined speaking of fire and Gehenna. All sin is the disregard of love or hatred, and separates one from God, who is love (1 John 4:8, 16), who created all in His image of love (Gen. 1:27). It makes sense that if we do not live in love, then we will be will not have mercy and be eternally separated from God in a place without love. Yet, if we pursue love, we will serve the God, who is love. You reject a straw-god and do not know the God of the Bible.
2) You need to really understand what a fundamentalist is. Muhammad used violent force, and Jesus did not. The fundamentalist of Christianity would not be violent, but the heretic would be. Add to that the fundamentalist atheists and Darwinists who have killed millions like Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mau, etc., and these makes the violence erroneously claimed to “Christ” minimal in comparison.
3) As you admit, you support eugenics and appear to support nationalism socialism. Abortion is the dismemberment of a human fetus with his or her own DNA, heartbeat, and brainwaves after 3 weeks from conception. That is murder. How can you ally yourself with genocidal atheists and Darwinists?
4) The Bible does not require or demand capital punishment for going astray as Jesus spoke in Luke 15 of the “Prodigal Son”. Deuteronomy is a command of permission within the Old Testament, which is referred to as imperfect in the New Testament (Heb. 7, Rom. 13:8-10). That instruction was to permit parents to be able to bring their rebellious son, who has committed crimes worthy of death to be executed (Deut. 21:18-21). The Jewish law protected the parents. You should not be anti-Semitic in condemning the constitution of ancient Israel’s republic.
5) You should first study and know that the Bible is in pristine order and better than any ancient book. The early church writers in the first 4 centuries quote the whole of the New Testament as is even recognized by skeptics, who have read these writers. Add 60 manuscripts from the first century with the internal evidence of these actual men living real lives and writing legal records and affidavits in the ancient casebook of the Gospels and the whole New Testament. Why then does the New Testament writers record the accounts of numerous eyewitnesses in the 1st century? Their names, accounts, locations, and times all agree. Add to that the other 5700 Greek manuscripts from the 4th c. to the 15th c., and the other 20,000 manuscripts in other languages, and you really have no grounds to make baseless accusations that the Bible is corrupted. Sadly, you are guilty of defamation for slandering the authorship of a written work. Only the prejudice bigot would pick up a book by someone and publicize that the presented author is not the author without any evidence. You only do so to console your guilty conscience. You would rather stay in the darkness than to have you evil works revealed in the light (John 3:17-21).
6) The New Testament predicts heresies and people twisting the Gospel (Gal. 1:6-9, 2 Tim. 3:1-6, 4:3-5, 2 Pet. 3:15-16). The existence of denominations only go to prove the predictions of the Christian scriptures. The Bible predicted and condemned denominations and those who promote the practice them are not really Christians (Gal. 5:19-21).
Get reading with an honest heart! :-)
I read the book you idolize and it was just as bizarre and twisted as the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, Book of Mormons, the Torah. But, Right!!!!!! God breathed the words of the bible and only your interpretation is the right one. Yep, god so wanted to reveal himself to his creation that he had humans write it for him. Right???!!! Not impressed. Couldn’t write it himself, nope, had to involve evil imperfect man. Truth through revelation. Right???!!!. Religious tolerance has only encouraged mental illness. Being born after the death of your christ allows me only the possibility of eternal torture. I guess too if I was alive during the great flood I would be in hell now. Am I right? Or am I right? Wow, he suffered on the cross. He ain’t got nothing on the eternal torture I will experience for eternity so I am not impressed. Anyone demanding conditional love at the consequence of being eternally tortured can in no possible way expect unconditional love in return. According to your values it would have been better for me to have been aborted as a fetus. But wait, even that fetus is born evil with original sin. Oh #$@&^, where does the aborted fetus go? If you say it is with god, then again, if I want to guarantee my child goes to heaven, abort it. I do read, not one book but as many as I can from as many sources and cultures. Faith by its very definition means no matter what you experience in reality, if it conflicts with your wishful thinking and dogma, the reality must be wrong. Well, have fun. The Armageddon you so desperately wish for, so you can say “See, I told you so” will be brought about by your hands and your values. Keep on warring with other fundamentalists and the rest of us will try to carry on. Those who fear hell in the afterlife create hell in this life. It is the words and behavior of the likes of you that have so many of us living in a way that guarantees no more time with you. The thought of eternal pain is far more agreeable than an eternity with mindless robots worshiping their watchmaker. Your god knows how the likes of self-righteous men as yourself have turned so many away from him. So, I hope it all comes true for you. Then I will see you in the eternal lake of fire. [edited]
You think the Bible teaches original sin? So you haven’t read the Bible, and you do not know about the God that you oppose. You clearly do not have know of His love. You do not understand that Gehenna fire is a reference to a spiritual place of separation from God where you have caused the torment not God. You prefer contempt and worship your own thoughts and desires. You fulfill scripture (Psa. 14:1).
Nope, you worship your righteous view and interpretation of what you read. And it differs around the globe. My perceptions are open to scrutiny while yours will forever remain blind. You would rather preach what to think rather than how to think.
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I only read the Bible when drawn to it. It doesnt benefit me to pour over it. Accept Christ- Receive the Annointing- and let it teach you in all things. You need no man to teach you with the Annointing and sometimes no man includes myself. Scripture should validate you and also show you where you are wrong. I dont worship the literal word but the spiritual Word- Jesus.
Who taught you this?
Concerning the anointing, 1 John 2:24-27 states, “Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. And the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
1 John 2:20-21, “And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”
1 John 2:14 stated, “I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.”
1 John 1:1-4, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life — the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us — that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. ”
1 John 3:24, “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
Why then, “Every scripture is God’s breath and profit for doctrine, for admonition, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the person of God should be complete fully equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:15-17, cf. 1 Tim. 5:18)?
Why “how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:” (Eph. 3:3-5)?
Scott, It’s not a matter of the scriptures being God breathed. That in itself does not guarantee spiritual understanding of those scriptures. You seem to indicate that just reading the scriptures and applying those word’s to our lives is the purpose of our Christian walk, and this simply is not true. It is certainly virtuous to do this but does not guarantee that we got the intended message. The message is deeper than the sum of the words that attempt to describe the truth.
Michael is describing something that seems to have evaded you. I agree with him wholeheartedly. You are assigning value to words that were never intended. The words in the bible should not create the truth but should remind you of the truth that exists in your consciousness as benefit of indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
I think it’s accurate to say that the bible was made for man, and not man for the bible. You seem to indicate that man was made for the bible. This is concerning.
Amen – I wonder how the author squares this quote of his: “The sole source to get to know the Lord is the written Word…” with the fact that during the times after Jesus’s death and indeed for many years after, large segments of the population were illiterate. Also, Bibles were not commonly available for hundreds of years – how did people who may have never owned a Bible live? How did they know the Lord? (Maybe by his indwelling Spirit?) How did they live and communicate with him? (Maybe by his indwelling Spirit as well?)
If the written scriptures are the “SOLE” means of getting to know the Lord, how did all these people who couldn’t read or never had a Bible know the Lord?
Doesn’t this elevate the written scriptures over the Holy Spirt, who is the author of them? Since he resides in us, how can it be that the “SOLE” way to know him is to read words on a page, inspired though they are? Does he not communicate directly to us as well?
Hey Marty,
The Bible in portions was available when written the texts. However, the first century churches had and needed prophets of whom the Spirit spoke directly giving them God’s Word. Scribes copied the texts and spread collections of Paul’s writings as far as Christians in Cappadocia, Pontus, and Bithynia (1 Pet 1:1; 2 Pet 3:1–2, 15–16). Peter also noted his writing and John’s among the Scriptures too (2 Pet 1:16–21). The apostles and prophets wrote these epistles for disbursement in the first century. As a practice of rhetoric to write and publish letters addressed to specific people (1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1). Furthermore, the apostle Paul noted that Luke was Scripture as he quoted Luke 10:7 with Deut 25:4 in 1 Tim 5:18. Luke recorded in his Gospel that ministers who were witnesses wrote previous narratives (1 :1–3).
Today, the written Word is the sole source for which the Spirit speaks to all Christians. I perceive an integration of the Spirit working through the Word whether spoken or written (as a source). The Spirit specifically spoke to the Apostles and prophets, and they wrote the Scriptures (Eph 3:3–5). The Spirit is the author of the Scripture and Christian must not quench the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19–20). The indwelling of the Spirit is through setting on the mind on the Spirit (Rom 8:1–17). The indwelling of the Spirit is when God dwells in Christians by love (1 John 4). Christians can recognize the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit through the guidance of God’s written Word (1 John 4:1–6; Gal 5:16–24).
Also, first-century people of the Greco-Roman world and especially Jews were broadly literate as the Christian Scriptures indicate. This is in contrast to critical historians. The reading of the Word in the Christian gatherings will resolve any illiteracy (Col 4:16).
I hope that clarifies my perception and position. Thank you, Marty, and God bless your reading of His Word.
“That’s foolishness. The scientific foreknowledge, fulfilled predictions, missing body of Christ, and conversion of Paul prove the Scriptures to be true and then there is even more evidence, which anyone may readily access if one would search. Seek and you will find. Then again, people believe what they want to, which usually does not include the Truth.”
It’s somewhat humorous that you would accuse those who don’t take the bible literally of believing what they would prefer to be true. I say that because the ideas presented right before that accusation seem to imply that you have an intense cognitive confirmation bias when it comes to biblical information. To imply that fulfilled predictions and scientific forethought somehow “prove” biblical literalism is to suggest that you have accepted everything in the bible as true BEFORE looking for evidence (of course, if you hadn’t you wouldn’t have written this article), and only searching for evidence to support your thesis. To search for evidence after formulating a conclusion is the height of wishful thinking.
While I can argue in favour of epistemological contextualism, I feel as though this isn’t the time or place to spend hours espousing epistemological postulates. Instead, I’ll give you some practical examples of why historical context is important when studying the bible. I can only hope that your definition of “scientific forethought” does not extend to 1 Kings 7:23 (where it is claimed π = 3) or Lev. 11:13 where it is claimed the bat (mammalia: Chiroptera) is in fact a bird (Aves). One would assume that our all knowing and all powerful God would be aware of the flawless mathematical laws which he himself created. It makes much more sense taken in context of course. For example, having studied hebrew history, one would know the hebrew classification system for animals involved their function and form. Those animals which could fly were called “owph”, which meant “the owner of a wing”, taken from the word to fly. Likewise, having measured the inner circumference of the bath in 1 Kings would have given a much closer result of π = 3.158. While these passages make much more sense scientifically having studied them, they imply regardless that the bible cannot be taken literally.
Furthermore, I would like to address your use of bible passages to justify your bible literalism. You seem like an intelligent fellow, and your heart seems to be in the right place, but to take bible passages literally in order to prove that they are true literally is circular reasoning, and is therefore a logically fallacious argument. Just as i cannot say “I’m always right” and then justify it by saying “you know I’m right because I just told you I’m always right”, you cannot take passages literally in order to justify taking them literally. It’s a form of begging the question, and it accomplishes absolutely nothing but discredit your own argument.
If one thing can be said, I agree with you, Scott. It is true that the Bible is not just laws, but it is also not just a love letter. It’s so much more. It truly is, and as a priest I’m happy to see that people like you have accepted it into their lives. However, I also believe Jesus was a brilliant philosopher, and to truly understand his teachings, you must try to understand his thought processes, his logic, and his REASONING for why he held the beliefs that he did. Jesus spoke in parables because his ideas were so complex and so groundbreaking he knew men like you and I would not understand unless we reflected upon his teachings. Through reflection, through study, and through the acceptance of the word we can truly achieve enlightenment, but to coldly accept the words written in the bible with no understanding of the context behind them is doing a great disservice to our Lord.
God Bless.
Hi John,
Thank you for your comment and the gentleness of your admonition. As once being a skeptical believer, I did not come to my understanding and faith of the scriptures via bias as I hear you proposing. I know that with greatest diligence in my heart and with the purest of motives, I sought to be completely honest and consider whether Jesus was the Messiah or not. I consider His witnesses as He proposed in John 5, and I found His witnesses to be consistent and without contradiction.
Yes, I considered these proofs that mentioned above within an historical context. I am not opposing using history at all, but rather I do oppose revisionist history that proposes that the New Testament was collected by men, who were not inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit.
I absolutely agree with you concerning the Bible being interpreted literally and figuratively as I understand you. As you noted in regards to parables, these are figurative parallels of literal truth. Christ is the most wonderful philosopher. Concerning interpreting the literal from the figurative, interpretation is simple when we consider if the subject can literally accomplish the verb. I plead with you to consider further. Only prejudice would lead us to first consider anyone’s statement figurative until proved literal rather literal first and then figurative. Clearly, “the trees clap their hands” and “the trees sway” can be understood between the literal and figurative. I find the Book of Revelation to be signified in symbols and thus figurative, but whereas for the Creation in Genesis, God can literally create the Universe in 6 days. I accept His words as they are and confirmed by Jesus Christ (Mark 10:6ff). Only God’s revelation can tell us otherwise. Would it not be greatly insulting to presume someone’s literal revelation of oneself is first figurative and then possibly literal? Rather we can consider both at the same time and have little sense of humor, or consider a statement literal first and then figurative.
I appreciate the discussion. May God bless you in your studies of His Word.
The way I see Bible idolatry played out is usually over arguments of translational preference or in cold hearted scholarship in a person that loves to study but is hard toward God & His people. I believe that is the most appropriate use of the term in our western context.
Jesus had it right when he said,
John 5:38-40
38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
“I don’t believe you. If your professors tell you that Moses wrote the first five books of the bible, as you claim, they are lying and should stop teaching. “ALL” theologians know of the “Documentation Hypothesis.”
Omar, I took a trip through your postings and see your points regarding interpretations both regarding the Bible as well with the fossil record. I think that we can conclude that much of our knowing about any subject can be reduced to the words of a “who” and therefore we put our trust into such words accordingly. Hence, in debates like this the student has usually picked up the sword of his sensei in an vicarious attempt at defending his own mind and understandings. Perhaps that sword is pointing in the wrong direction though. Jesus questioned the leading teachers of the day, the lettered-rabbis, frequently gut-checking their interpretations for contamination. Why not follow in His manner?
Therefore, in the context of this argument, appealing to theologians or scientists scarcely acknowledges the problem of bias and even further obscures the crux of the argument. I challenge you, find a human being alive without a theological leaning and you will quickly see the absurdity of the “but this person said…” argument. Facts out of context can quickly obfuscate truth. Beware of the ax to grind theology, my pet rock theology, the leading researchers theology, and the my momma/professor/pastor/grandpop/[insert influential figure] said theology. Just a tidbit that’s helped in my truth quest immensely is taking the extra second to question:
1. Who would benefit from my (or of every person’s) accepting this position/philosophy/ideal?
2. What are they trying to take from me?
3. What are they trying to give me in exchange?
If the answers aren’t everyone, lies, and depth with the I AM, respectively, then it’s a waste of breath and brain power. Now, if you are inclined, take those questions into consideration in your analysis of the JEDP hypothesis and the darwinistic evolutionary framework and see how that works out for you. Truth ALWAYS liberates. Never underestimate that the sensei may be full of it.
I don’t believe you. If your professors tell you that Moses wrote the first five books of the bible, as you claim, they are lying and should stop teaching. “ALL” theologians know of the “Documentation Hypothesis.” Now, if you claim that there are Catholic Theologians or even Evangelical Theologians, they are not real academics. Just indoctrinators. You have been lied to. Read or listen to the audiobook “Biography of the Bible” by Karen Armstrong. Or any one of millions of other “Who wrote/ History of the Bible”
And I agree there are still many unexplained circumstances in evolution theory, but that does not make it false, unless another theory can explain those “holes” (as you call them). Saying “God did it” is no more of a valid point now than it was thousands of years ago when we used “God” to explain lightning.
Look. It’s not that I am against Moses. It’s that I actually go to a University and take theology classes, which teaches how the book of the bible came to be canonized and who the authors where. Because of this, I happen to know that you don’t even have “half” a witness to any of your claims, only indoctrinated opinions. I already told you to go to a museum and educate yourself. But if you still insist on idolizing a book of which you know obviously know nothing of, you have that right. I just think that it is hipocritical to say that you want evidence for something already widely established when you don;t have any yourself for “any” of your claims.
It is also sad to see that you don;t even take the time to check out what I say, just because you’ve been taught that a book, written, and re-written over thousands of years, which you have never read says otherwise.
I graduated top of my class in Theology, and you say things contrary to my professors. Professors aside, we can study and honestly see for ourselves the truth. I just wanted you to consider these things and maybe you show me the holes in them. I’m neither an idiot nor ignorant. I’ve been to the museums and I’ve seen the fossils. I know that there are massive holes in evolution and irrefutable evidence against this. Add some honest diligence to your skepticism and you’ll join me.
Your professors are probably giving you the Catholic history of the Bible and how the NT was put together in 4th c. They neglect to tell that the Bible talks about its own canon and collection. I have an article on that on here. Peter spoke of Paul’s writings as scripture (1 Pet. 3:15-16). Paul spoke of Luke’s Gospel (1 Tim. 5:18). Luke spoke of Matthew, Mark, and possibly John’s Gospel (Luke 1:1-3). John spoke of the Apostles’ writings including His own (1 John 1:1-4). Peter also spoke of John and His own scriptures (2 Pet. 1:16-21). That’s a confirmation of 25 books of the NT alone. James was an Apostle(Gal. 1:19) and Peter was influenced by Jude’s epistle (2 Pet. 2). There are all 27 texts confirmed. Also, there were only 28 writings that came out of the 1st c. AD, and these were all apostolic. Only Clement of Rome’s epistle did not claim inspiration, but also quoted the NT books. The Catholic revised history is a power-play for church dominance. I’m sorry, but I’m going to listen Jesus first, who said that His words would never pass away (Matt. 25:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33).
Where are your three witnesses?
You have the witnesses of scripture and the witnesses of science from the post that I noted before. Certainly, you have consider the Law of Biogenesis and the Law of Cause and Effect.