The Bible and the Word "Inspire"
According to the Random House Dictionary, the word inspire means "to infuse an animating, quickening, or exalting influence into, or to communicate or suggest by a divine influence." This definition indicates, when applied to the scripture, that the stories and writings in the Bible did not come solely from the minds of the respective authors, but rather from a divine source. This suggests that the authors were scribes, reproducing what was instilled in them by God. This idea is strengthened by looking at distinct examples from the scripture that show that scripture is inspired, and not made up. By using the form of criticism known as literary criticism, we can analyze certain installments of the scripture and use them to prove that the scripture is, in fact, inspired, not a collection of false statements.
There are times in the Bible and in Biblical history that the prophets themselves are confronted with people doubting the validity of the scripture, and trying to discredit it. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Here Timothy is relating a charge given to him by Paul. As a story that is being told, it can be easily inferred that Paul had confronted opposition to the belief that scripture was in fact inspired by God, and therefore val...
The Bible, for many centuries, has impacted society, culture, and religion in innumerable ways. Included in the Bible’s impact, is fictional literature (Erickson, 2015). Biblical allusion, defined as an ancillary reference to Scripture ("Definition," 2015), can be a useful tool for fiction writers to draw the attention of the reader to certain biblical truths. Mixed in with the writer’s style and language, biblical allusion, assists in building plot lines, themes, and influence over the reader’s beliefs (Erickson, 2015). Nevertheless, the real magic of biblical allusion lies within the author’s creative genius and ability to infuse biblical themes, metaphors, images, and characters in with the story to allow the audience to reach certain
not take a stand in the situation. He took care of Paul when he (Paul)
In conclusion, Willa Carther’s “Paul’s Case” is an interesting glimpse into the world of a young boy, who’s individuality is constantly in conflict with the conformist society that surrounds him. In attempts to escape this reality, Paul loses himself in a fantasy world of art, lies, and thievery. In this attempt to escape, Paul slips into isolation and depression. Carther in this regard is very careful on how she portrays Paul, to brink about some sympathy from the reader as he is simply a troubled young man. In the end, Paul’s individuality and societies refusal of him leads to Paul’s demise. The sympathy Cather creates for Paul leaves one questioning if society simply should have supported Paul’s individuality, instead of letting him slip away. Paul’s death seems to support this theory, as not a single reader would have wished such a cruel ending to the life of a dreamer.
The Bible clearly explains the role of government in society and the framers of our nation built America on Biblical principles. Since economics is the science that deals with production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, Christian economics entails how men use God-given resources, ideas, and energy to meet their human needs and to glorify the Lord. Christianity produces internal liberty in man, which is the foundation for a Christian economy. The internal change of heart that Christ brings produces Christian character and self-government which is necessary for an economy to be prosperous. Christian character and self-government produce people who do not steal, who have a strong work ethic, and who save and invest to
Scripture,” the idea that the Bible is God’s perfect word, the clearest expression of God’s plan
...nature of God, the world, and human beings, the Bible is a source from which a reasonably comprehensive worldview may be constructed. Many narratives or teachings of Scripture speak directly to the various elements of a worldview” (Palmer, pp 93) .
The Hebrew Bible, better known as the Old Testament, is a collection of tomes that form part of the Biblical canon. Many scholars around the world do not think that a single author wrote the books contained in the Hebrew Bible, but rather that it represents centuries of stories frequently compiled after the events they describe . The stories were created with visions for the future, in order to allow audiences insight into communities and beliefs that were common thought during their era. The stories responded to the issues and problems of their time, but also addressed contemporary climates. While the stories themselves may not be true, they convey truth without needing literal readings. For example, the creation stories in Genesis, portray God as creating the universe, and while this is considered as not ‘literally true’; the stories communicate theological truths about mankind’s relationship with God through the eyes of Hebrew writers .
It is known to most that the gospels often differ from historical facts due to the writer of each gospel putting significant emphasis on particular actions and attributes of Jesus. Also a major part in this difference is the fact that the gospels were written 35-60 years after the death of Jesus and some of these memories have altered over time. Differences in conflicting evidence, writing to different communities, writing during a different time period, and with different intentions are all more reasons as to why these gospels conflict with historical facts. There is said to be six accounts that are subdivided into two separate traditions. These two traditions are those having to do with the appearance of Jesus in Galilee and the others are the appearances of Jesus to the eleven disciples in Jerusalem. These two traditions seem to not have any knowledge of one another and when the two were attempted to be combined into one tradition it was proven that this is not only impossible but it is unbeneficial.
The Mythmaker is a book about how Paul takes the stories of Jesus that existed during his time and rescripts them to invent the entirely new and different religion of Christianity. For Maccoby, the historical Jesus was simply a Pharisaic Jew who had some new and interesting things to say and nothing more. He claims that the historical Jesus never intended to create a new religion separate from Judaism, but rather it was Paul, through his writings, who helped to inject pagan and gnostic elements into the Christ-Myth. The idea of Jesus as a dying and rising god was purely Paul's invention. From there, the gospel writers, who were influenced by Paul’s writings, helped to reinforce this new view of Jesus that was completely separate from who Jesus actually was.
From the outset of the story, the reader is shown Paul's thoughts. Through this the story tells us that Paul has a very active imagination. This is shown when Pauls says, "Then,
The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and useful for teaching, for conviction, for correction and for disciplined training in righteousness in order to fit and fully equip the man from God for every good task. (2 Timothy 3:16,17)”16,17
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
Inspiration of the Bible is not based on a mentally stimulating force, influence, or mood. Rather, biblical inspiration is grounded in God’s authoritative nature found in 2 Timothy 3:16. Moreover, the words “breathed out” affirm God’s creative authorship. Therefore, inspiration refers to the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the authors of the Bible. These sacred writings, while involve man as an agent, are not based on human initiative. In fact, the prophetic accuracy of Scripture confirms divine initiative because “prophecy never had its origin ...
Scripture holds a prominent role in the sermon. In 2 Timothy 4:2, it states to “preach the word in season and out of season”. The Greek word for preach is ‘Kerusso’. It means to be a herald (proclaim) and to preach (announce) a message publicly and with conviction (persuasion). In this verse, Paul gave Timothy and the others ministers a charge and a commission to preach the Word. In order to be an effective preacher, the Word of God must be the foundation. In 2 Timothy 3:16, it states that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”. In other words, the Word of God was written by man, God-breathed and divinely inspired. The Scripture is important because it creates an argument or appeal that is persuading the audience to do something. The substance of our preaching must come from the Bible because the Bible comes from God. As messenger and ambassadors of God, we are obligated to speak the mind and thoughts of God.