Scripture

LearningToLetGo

LearningToLetGo

I understand why we call the Bible holy: it is the inspired word of God as written by men.

I don't, however, understand why we call the Bible exclusive.

What reasons are there to believe that other men in other lands weren't equally inspired by God?
 
LearningToLetGo said:
What reasons are there to believe that other men in other lands weren't equally inspired by God?
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Dear LearningToLetGo,

This is a good question and should inspire some discussion.

My intention in not to poke a stick in a hornet’s nest, but we could take this a step further and amplify your question:
What reasons are there to believe that other men on other planets weren't equally inspired by God?
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LearningToLetGo said:
I don't, however, understand why we call the Bible exclusive.
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For example: A Jew would call the Torah (Old Testament) holy scripture but not the New Testament while a Latter-Day Saint would say the Book of Mormon is inspired but a Catholic or Protestant would not. Oh, and let's not forget the Muslims since they claim lineage from Abraham too.

In some ways we're all dancing around the same pool. We agree to the one God but differ in the details. (I know, Jesus is a pretty big "detail", but you hopefully see my point). I do want to understand this.
 
Hello LearningToLetGo, the human authors of the Bible were all the Lord's direct disciples and/or they were the students of the Apostles themselves (like Luke, for instance).

Also, the Christian faith began and was centered in Israel (salvation was to the Jew first .. cf Romans 1:16, which is confirmed for us by the Lord Himself, who told us that He was sent to Earth to minister to the lost sheep of the house of Israel alone .. e.g. Matthew 15:24), which is also why all of the authors of the Bible were Jewish (save Luke, who could have been either a Hellenistic Jew OR a Gentile, there seems to be Biblical evidence for both).

It is also true that the Apostles knew that they were writing Scripture as they were doing so .. e.g. 2 Peter 3:15-16 (which is why it is a fallacy to believe that it required a church council to decide which books/epistles belonged in the NT and which did not .. we know that, for instance, at least 22 of the 27 books/epistles of the NT were understood to be "Scripture" and were in regular use in churches all over the world by the middle of the 2nd Century).

2 Peter 3​
15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. ​
16 He writes the same way in all of his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the ~Scriptures~, to their own destruction.​

So, by the time the Apostle Paul and the other Apostles were travelling about on their missionary journeys to the Nations, the faith had already been fully established and handed down (it only needed to be taken and taught to the future saints living in the Gentile Nations at that point).

Jude ​
3 Dear friends, although I was making every effort to write to you concerning our common salvation, I considered it a necessity to write to you to encourage you to contend for the faith which was ~once for all~ delivered (handed down) to the saints. ​
4 For certain men have slipped in unnoticed, who were designated long ago for this condemnation, ungodly ones, who change the grace of our God into licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.​

You might find this recent, VERY well-done movie (documentary) interesting, as it discusses this topic in much detail (as well as other topics concerning the Bible). Here are the links to the official trailer and to the movie itself (which is free to stream right now).

The God Who Speaks - Trailer

The God Who Speaks - Movie

Movie Cast (of well-known theologians, pastors, evangelists, apologists, historians and linguists)

thegodwhospeaks.org

The God Who Speaks | Contributors

The God of the universe is a God who speaks. But how do we know the Bible is the Word of God and not merely the words of men?
thegodwhospeaks.org

God bless you!!

--Papa Smurf
.
 
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LearningToLetGo said:
I understand why we call the Bible holy: it is the inspired word of God as written by men.

I don't, however, understand why we call the Bible exclusive.

What reasons are there to believe that other men in other lands weren't equally inspired by God?
Click to expand...
The next question might be, 'Which God?'
The Bible is exclusive because it testifies to the One who claims exclusivity, for example...

John 14:6 ESV
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 4:10 KJV
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.


Isaiah 46:9-10 ESV
remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, [10] declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'

Isaiah 42:8-9 ESV
I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. [9] Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."


Besides, many of the other 'inspired' writings either contradict each other or contradict the bible and so God doesn't contradict Himself.
 
LearningToLetGo said:
For example: A Jew would call the Torah (Old Testament) holy scripture but not the New Testament while a Latter-Day Saint would say the Book of Mormon is inspired but a Catholic or Protestant would not. Oh, and let's not forget the Muslims since they claim lineage from Abraham too.

In some ways we're all dancing around the same pool. We agree to the one God but differ in the details. (I know, Jesus is a pretty big "detail", but you hopefully see my point). I do want to understand this.
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Hello again LearningToLetGo, let's take a quick look at the other religions that you mentioned, starting with the Mormons.

The first question that I would ask a group of Christians, Jews, Muslims & Mormons is this, will the real polytheists please stand up :)

The Mormons have as different of a "god' from the other three faiths as you can get, starting with the fact that they believe/teach that their "god" was once a man, just like we are now (and on the flipside, that we can rise up from this lowly mortal state that we are born in and become a "god" too, just like he is now 😧🤫).

That is the hope of all Mormon men and women, that they too will become "gods" and "goddesses" who populate their own planet or planets in their own solar system, just like the Mormon "god" and his "goddess wives" did for us/did for our world 🤔😳

Finally (for now), Mormons teach that after the death of the last Apostle (the Apostle John, I believe), the Christian church fell quickly into sin, heresy and apostasy. They refer to this event as, "The Great Apostasy", and they believe that because of it, God withdrew from the earth and left the Christian church without a witness (for about 1,800 years).

But then along comes Mary, WHOOPS, I meant "Moroni" (the formerly unknown angel who brought the Golden Plates to earth to a man called, Joseph Smith, so that he could translate the Book of Mormon into English while looking at a seer stone in his magical hat, instead of at the Plates themselves).

That's enough for now!

God bless you!!

--Papa Smurf
p.s. - one of the many parts of this story that makes it so incredible (at least to me anyway) is this, the Mormon Church believes/teaches that a formerly unknown angel came to earth to meet with a formerly unknown man in 19th Century America, and that together, they succeeded in doing what God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and the 12 Apostles failed to do in the 1st Century.

SERIOUSLY :rolleyes:
 
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LearningToLetGo said:
I understand why we call the Bible holy: it is the inspired word of God as written by men.

I don't, however, understand why we call the Bible exclusive.

What reasons are there to believe that other men in other lands weren't equally inspired by Go
Click to expand...
Excellent question and I am blessed to respond. IMHO there are several reasons why the Bible is unique and exclusive.

TIME!
Consider how long that men have opposed this one book. THOUSANDS of years and yet it still stands.
It has long been named the bestselling and most distributed book of all time.
The uniqueness of the Bible extends beyond its wide distribution, however. In many ways, the Bible is more than just another book.

The Bible is unique in authorship.
IT is the ONE production which claims that God was the author. YES, He used many human authors to compile the 66 books of the Bible. Around forty different human writers in the span of about 1,500 years were involved in the collection of Scripture. These writers came from different time periods, backgrounds, occupations, and geographical locations. The writers include kings, prophets, fishermen, shepherds, servants, priests, and a physician. This broad authorship explains the variety of writing styles. There is also a plethora of genres in the Bible, including poetry, prose, narrative, prophecy, and letter-style writing. The different authors and writing styles make the Bible unique from other religious books, and it’s stunning to realize that the entire canon of Scripture shares a common theme—God’s salvation of mankind—and points to a central character—Jesus Christ.

The Bible is unique in content.
There are lots and lots of religious texts that teach good morals and righteous ways of life. Unlike other religious texts advocating good works to please an unreachable god, the Bible uniquely teaches that salvation is a gift from God that does not require human works. Whereas other religious books present a set of rules and regulations to follow, the Bible presents freedom in Christ.
The Bible reveals that Jesus is God and that He saves us through His death and resurrection.
No other sacred book claims that a religious leader rose from the dead to save humanity!!!!!
The God of Scripture is not a far-off, uncaring god but the Creator of all things who is intimately involved in the lives of His creation.
No other religious text gives the assurance of eternal life.
No other religion’s book is without error or flaw.

The Bible is also unique from other religious books in that it contains prophecy. In fact, by one count, about 27 percent of the Bible is predictive.
Source: (Payne, J. B., The Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, Baker Pub. Group, 1980, p. 675).
This means that, when written, over one fourth of the Bible—more than one in four verses—was prophetic. Hundreds of the Bible’s detailed prophecies have come true in literal fashion. No other religious book in the world contains prophecy to this extent! ******KEY******* EVERY SINGLE WORD OF PROPHECT HAS HAPPENED EXACTLY AS THE BIBLE SAID!*******KEY********

The Bible is unique in its language of writing.
Most books are written in one language. For instance, the Quran of Islam was written completely in Arabic,
Hinduism’s Vedas were composed entirely in Sanskrit.
The Book of Mormon was written entirely in English.
In contrast, the Bible’s authors used three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

The Bible is unique in its compilation.
The Old Testament Scriptures were written as the prophets of God received God’s word, with little to no reliance on oral history. The New Testament Scriptures were written by eyewitnesses to the events soon after the events took place, within the first century.
The Quran has very few early manuscripts, as the process of recording the Quran was controlled by Islamic leaders who burned any copies that contained variant readings. The Hindu Vedas were passed down orally over thousands of years before being written down. Who knows the actual original thoughts.

The Bible is unique in its results.
God uses His Word, the Bible, to bring about the results of His choosing. One of those results is changed lives. Countless people give testimony around the world of freedom from substance abuse, destructive lifestyles, lying, stealing, habitual anger, etc., due to their following biblical principles and their faith in Jesus Christ.

Without a doubt, the Bible is unique among all religious texts, and the Bible stands alone in presenting Jesus Christ, God’s one-and-only Son, as the only way to salvation.
 
blueskies said:
Dear LearningToLetGo,

This is a good question and should inspire some discussion.

My intention in not to poke a stick in a hornet’s nest, but we could take this a step further and amplify your question:
Click to expand...
THAT is a "loaded" philosophical question!!!!

The idea of life on other planets might just ne a NO problem at all. The claim that God is involved with and moved by humans has never required an Earth-centric theology.

For an example, The Psalms, sacred to both Jews and Christians, claim that God has given names to all the stars.

Then according to the Jewish Talmud, God spends his night flying throughout 18,000 worlds.

And Islam insists that “all things in the heavens and on the Earth” are Allah’s, as the Koran says, implying that his rule extends well beyond one tiny planet.

Dr. Billy Graham once said............ I “firmly” believe God created alien life “far away in space”.
Source: Billy Graham in 1976 to the National Enquirer.

Personally, I think that evangelicals who take the Scriptures LITERALLY might have a problem with life somewhere else than earth.
Our hermeneutical heritage extends back to Luther’s Sola Scriptura, a Reformation rallying cry that affirms “Scripture alone” is necessary for understanding God’s plan for salvation. For example, Darwin’s theory of evolution, which most Evangelicals reject on the grounds that the Bible says God created the world in seven days.

SEE WHAT CAN YOU HAVE OPENED?????

However, there’s another possibility. Salvation as we know it might be exclusively an Earth concept.

Theology doesn’t require us to believe that sin affects all intelligent life, everywhere in the Universe. Maybe humans are uniquely bad. Or, to use religious language, maybe Earth is the only place unfortunate enough to have an Adam and Eve.

Who is to say our star-siblings are morally compromised and in need of spiritual redemption? Maybe they have attained a more perfect spiritual existence than we have at this point in our development.
 
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