How Do You Know Which Parts of the Bible are 'Properly Inspired'?

[jankren]

So many Western Christians keep saying that the Bible is not entirely 'divine' because it is only a collection of books written by men who were inspired by God so to speak. But Im wondering then how do you know which parts of those books are from God and which ones are not? If you just pick the ones you think are from God out of your own conscience then isnt it like as if you ended up being your own God or something like that?

[Rich86]

Interesting question....

[Aziel]

That's what I asked Ummon. No answer was recieved.

[Ummon]

That's what I asked Ummon. No answer was recieved.

Incorrect: you received an answer, but perhaps forgot or ignored the answer you received.

All the Bible is inspired, but for moral purposes only.

[Aziel]

Incorrect: you received an answer, but perhaps forgot

Mmm, perheps. I'll check it again.

Bovril, my bad. Acorrding to Jewish tradition it was given to Moses, not acorrding to the OT itself.

[Bovril]

All the Bible is inspired, but for moral purposes only.

How does one go about extrapolating moral precepts from the Bible? I mean, I don't think you'd propose taking at face value accounts of the righteousness of mass murder. Or perhaps you would? But if not, there must be something more complicated going on here.

[morteduzionism]

Most Bibles change the color of the text to show it's the words of Jesus. <----------------- I couldn't resist.


EDIT:
On a more serious note. I've asked a similiar question before...

If two identical beings appeared before you both claiming to be god. Of course the other is the devil (you can't have the god of Abraham without his nemesis -- they go together like peanut butter & jelly)...

How could someone say with absolute certainty which was which?

Jankren, I don't think people high in the heirarchy of religious organizations worry about those types of questions. That's a question the people at the bottom of the totem pole (in other words the true believers) worry about.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[AWZC]

None of them are

[The Cobra]

The bible was once the book of God, now...it's merely a book written by men, altering the words and orders God set...i no longer call it the words of God, for it's false.

[Bovril]

The mainstream Catholic stance is that the Bible is theologically inerant, but claims about history, science and so on are fallible. This is a problematic answer (there are apparant theological contradictions) but an answer none the less.

Another aproach is to say that the Bible is inspired in as much as it was written by 'holy' men. They may not have got everything right, but their interpretation of God and theology is in some sensed privilaged, perhaps since their knowlege of God was greater than the norm. This is a sort of indirect theory of inspiration.

Yet another approach is to say that as part of a general project of trying to acheive knowlege of God, you both use the Bible, and restrict the parts of it you use, discriminating of the basis of the knowlege you've aquired. I suppose this reminds me of Witgensteins idea about using a ladder to get up to the next level and then discarding it.

[Vladimir Lenin]

So many Western Christians keep saying that the Bible is not entirely 'divine' because it is only a collection of books written by men who were inspired by God so to speak. But Im wondering then how do you know which parts of those books are from God and which ones are not? If you just pick the ones you think are from God out of your own conscience then isnt it like as if you ended up being your own God or something like that?

Here is my rationale for why the Mind must have Primacy over the Bible.

The Bible was inspired by God.

The Mind was created by God.

There is a lot of great things in the Bible but there is also a lot of silliness. Revelations, the story of Sodom and Gommorah, Noah's Ark, Jericho, Virgin Birth etc.

You must use the God created Mind to interpret and sift through these facts.

[Bovril]

Here is my rationale for why the Mind must have Primacy over the Bible.

The Bible was inspired by God.

The Mind was created by God.

What's your model of inspiration?

[Vladimir Lenin]

What's your model of inspiration?

Visions, miracles, etc...

Some natural disasters are falsely attributed to be Miracles, i.e sodom and gommorah.

[Bovril]

Visions, miracles, etc...

Some natural disasters are falsely attributed to be Miracles, i.e sodom and gommorah.

So the Bible is inspired in as much as it talks about divine events and the divine (or tries to) but God has no direct role in creating its content. Am I understanding you correctly?

[Vladimir Lenin]

So the Bible is inspired in as much as it talks about divine events and the divine (or tries to) but God has no direct role in creating its content. Am I understanding you correctly?

Perfectly.

[Aziel]

The Torah - the five first books of the OT consists historical mistaks, but were, acorrding to the text itself [and people believe that because the text says so; Circular logic, someone?] it was given to Moses by God in the mountain of Sinai. Thus, if there are mistakes in the Torah [and there are] - God was mistaken. Is that possible?

[Bovril]

The Torah - the five first books of the OT consists historical mistaks, but were, acorrding to the text itself [and people believe that because the text says so; Circular logic, someone?] it was given to Moses by God in the mountain of Sinai. Thus, if there are mistakes in the Torah [and there are] - God was mistaken. Is that possible?

I was under the impression that only the 10 commandments were supposed to have been given to Moses at Sinai. If it was the whole Torah, then God would have been telling Moses what was going to happen next. There is a tradition that Moses wrote the Torah. In the light of textual analysis however, this is basically absurd.

[Ummon]

I suggest reading: Mythes, Rêves et Mystères by Mircea Eliade, for a considerate outlook on the meaning of religion in general.

[Bovril]

I'll bear that in mind. Will it answer my question about how to extrapolate moral axioms from the Bible?

[Vladimir Lenin]

I'll bear that in mind. Will it answer my question about how to extrapolate moral axioms from the Bible?

You use your mind, and study the Bible carefully with different translations, if you can look at Original Language, and then interpret it with Logic and Reason.