Bible Simply Written By Men

 

Was the Bible Simply Written By Men?

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, May 8, 2024

Is the Bible the inspired Word of God, or was it simply written by men? Do you know how to respond to this question?

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NKJV)

A Bigger Problem Than You Might Think

It truly is a secular age. I had the opportunity to be at a state school a couple of years ago for a student led club. I began answering some questions that the students had at the end of the lecture. Even though there was a very negative tone coming from many of the questioners, I remained courteous in each response.

Most of the questions were common and fairly easy to answer. The questions first began with the creation-evolution debate, dealing with dinosaurs and radiometric dating. After those were answered, the questions became more impassioned and were directed towards God and the Bible: "Who created God?" and "Isn’t the Bible full of contradictions?" At the end, one question came up that I did not have an opportunity to answer. A student asked "Was the Bible written by men?" The bell rang and out they went. I wished this question would have come up sooner because it gets closer to the heart of the issue.

I didn’t realize the importance of this question until I saw a statistical analysis of young people who had walked away from the church. Out of 1,000 young adults who have left church, 44% of them said that they did not believe the accounts in the Bible were true and accurate. When asked what made them answer this way, the most common response (24%) said that the Bible was written by men (not God, albeit inspiring men). The remaining results are shown below.[1]

Even though 24% question the accuracy of the Bible because it was written by men, there are other related answers in this study. For example, 11% believe the Bible contains errors. This implies that “God could not have been involved,” since God does not make errors (Psalm 12:6; Deuteronomy 32:4; Hebrews 6:18). Also, 15% claim that the Bible contradicts itself. This implies that God was not involved since God cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13) and, thus, contradict Himself. So at least 50% would, in one way or another, dispute that a perfect God was responsible for the Bible!

So What Is The Answer?

When it comes to authorship of the Bible, of course men were involved. Christians would be the first to point this out. For example, Paul wrote letters to early churches that are included in the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:15–16). David wrote many of the Psalms. Moses wrote the Pentateuch, or the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). In fact, it is estimated that over 40 different human authors were involved.[2] So, this is not the issue.

The issue is this: did God have any involvement or not? Did God inspire the authors of the Scriptures?[3] When someone claims that the Bible was written by men and not God, this is an absolute statement that reveals something extraordinary.

It reveals that the person saying this is claiming to be transcendent! When one claims that God was not inspiring the human authors of the Bible, that person is claiming to be omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent!

1. Omniscient: they are claiming to be an all-knowing authority on the subject of God’s inspiration, to refute God’s claim that Scripture was inspired by Him (2 Timothy 3:16).
2. Omnipresent: they are claiming that they were present, both spiritually and physically, to observe that God had no part in aiding any of the biblical authors.
3. Omnipotent: they are claiming that if God had tried to help the biblical authors, then they had the power to stop such an action.

So, the person making the claim that the Bible was written by men is claiming to be God; but these three attributes belong solely to God. This is a religious issue of humanism versus Christianity. The person is claiming (perhaps inadvertently) that they are the ultimate authority over God and are trying to convince you that God is subservient to them. This needs to be addressed in responding to them.

What Is A Good Response?

I like to respond in ways that reveal this issue in a question—and there are several ways to do it. For example, you can address “omnipresence” by asking, “Do you really believe that you are omnipresent? The only way for you to prove that God had no involvement in the writing of the Scriptures is for you to be omnipresent.” Then point out that he/she is claiming to be God when they made the statement that God had no involvement in the Bible.

Or perhaps respond with the question, “How is it that you are powerful enough to stop God from inspiring the authors of the Bible?” Or you can direct the question to the rest of the listeners by simply asking, “Do the rest of you think that this person is God? The only way to refute that God inspired the Bible is by claiming attributes of God for yourself, such as omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience.” You may have to explain further at this point so that the listeners will better understand.

You can always lead them down the path by first asking an easier question: “How do you know that God was not involved?” But then you will have to listen to their response in order to know how to proceed after that.

Other methods of responding are to undercut the entire position by pointing out that any type of reasoning apart from the Bible is merely arbitrary. So, the person trying to make a logical argument against the claims of the Bible (i.e., that God inspired the authors) is doing so only because he/she is assuming the Bible is true—that logic and truth exist! It is helpful to point out these types of presuppositions and inconsistencies.[4]

Someone may respond: “What if I claim that Shakespeare was inspired by God—then you would have to be omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent to refute it.”

Actually, it is irrelevant for me to be omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent to refute it. God, who is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, refutes this claim from what He has already stated in the Bible. Nowhere did God self-authenticate Shakespeare’s writings as Scripture. However Christ, the Creator-God (John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 1), approved the Old Testament prophetic works and the New Testament apostolic works. The canon is already sealed.[5]

God has repeatedly authenticated the supernatural character of Scripture through prophecy. In Isaiah 40–46, God states that He is distinguished from the other so-called gods in many ways (He is the Creator; He is the One who sits above the circle of the earth; etc.). God alone can tell the future (see especially Isaiah 41:21–29). Since the Bible alone contains detailed predictive and fulfilled prophecy, it alone can qualify as being authenticated by God.

Conclusion

Sadly, in today’s society, children (churched or not) are being heavily exposed to the religion of humanism, which reigns in state schools. So, it is logical that the next generation would be thinking in terms of humanism and apply that to the Bible.

The student about whom I previously spoke was applying the religion of humanism (i.e., man is the authority, not God) to the Bible when he claimed that it was written merely by men. He viewed himself as the authority and not God. He further reasoned that there is no God at all, and, therefore, the Bible could not have had God’s involvement. Therefore, his statement that the Bible was written by men was a religious claim—he was claiming to be God. Many follow this same thought process but fail to realize its implications and problems.

You shall have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:3, NKJV).

If one can expose the false religion of humanism, then others may be more open to realizing the deception. After all, the person is not the enemy; rather, it is the false principalities and dark powers that are at work trying to deceive (Ephesians 6:12) that we must demolish (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Originally published: https://answersingenesis.org/bible-questions/was-the-bible-simply-written-by-men/. Reprinted with Permission.

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[1] Ham, Ken & Beemer, Britt, Already Gone, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2009, p107.

 

[2] McDowell, Josh, A Ready Defense, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1993, p. 27.

 

[3] That is, did he give them the words to pen as His own Words?

 

[4] Lisle, Jason, Feedback: Put the Bible Down, Answers in Genesis Website, December 5, 2008, http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/12/05/feedback-put-the-bible-down.

 

[5] Hodge, Bodie, A Look at the Canon: How Do We Know that the 66 Books of the Bible Are From God?, Answers in Genesis Website, January 23, 2008, http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/look-at-the-canon.

 

Force

 

God vs. The Force

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, May 3, 2024

 

“May The Fourth Be With You”

 

Echoing off of the famous Star Wars line, “May the force be with you”, May 4^th, has become synonymous as Star Wars Day. It’s hard to believe how much a science fiction movie series has captured the world at large. It is rightfully listed among other highly influential fictional series like Harry Potter (based on the religion of witchcraft), Lord of the Rings (based in Christian-themed paganism), and others.

When Geroge Lucas’s Star Wars hit theaters in 1977 (it was the first movie I saw in a theater!), incredible spaceships, realistic laser weapons, and of course lightsabers had us in awe—not to mention the special effects that transformed the world of movie-making.

But it was the Force that seemed to get people to stop and think. An all-powerful “force” that binds the all things together, has prophecies, and good and evil “prophets” if you will, who wield that power (Jedi and Sith).

Western Culture In The Late 1970s

 

Now stop for a moment and understand the culture that we were in at that time. 1977 was the emergence of the first fully immersed generation in the USA that didn’t have the Bible in the classroom (yanked out in the 1960’s). No longer was the Bible viewed as the standard of truth in education and culture at large.

When Christianity was kicked out of the classroom, religion wasn’t kicked out of schools. It was replaced with godless religion of secular humanism and its various brothers and sisters—like various forms of paganism and eastern mysticism like New Age that were hitting the scene. In classrooms, evolutionism was taught as fact and few realize this is just a rehashed ancient pagan religion called Epicureanism. Paul argued against these Epicureans in Acts 17 at Mars Hill in Greece.

But the backdrop of the USA and other Western nations was a secular and pagan takeover and Christianity was seen as “old news”.  Now take an entire generation of kids who have little basis in Bible knowledge (outside of their “Bible stories” at Sunday school and church if they still attended) and have been taught years of secular forms of humanism and paganism and see what happened when they watch Star Wars.

Many loved it and immersed themselves into it. I loved it but I had to remind myself it was fiction. But others, starting thinking about it from a religious perspective very soon after the movie release!

The Religious Love Affair of Star Wars

 

Frank Allnutt wrote a book in 1977 called The Force of Star Wars.[1] In the book, he draws out many comparisons to Christianity. Again, rightfully so:

·        Good vs. evil (a Christian concept)

·        Jedi are likened to prophets in one sense

·        The force is likened to “God”

·        Many other things

Although these concepts are borrowed from the Bible, this doesn’t make Star Wars “Christian” by any means. Allnutt recognizes this throughout the book, but uses these concepts as springboard to discuss Christian things.  

A closer look at Jedi and Sith reveal they are nothing like the godly prophets of old. I’m reminded of the quote from Obi-wan in Episode 3, “only a Sith deals in absolutes”, which is an absolute and thus self- refuting. The Force is impersonal unlike the personal God of the Bible.

Like many false gods, they echo or model after certain aspects of God (i.e., they counterfeit). But they are not God nor in a position to be competition for the true God. The point is that even though there are a few minor similarities between the Force and the God of the Bible, it is really just a pagan religion. But in reality, it is more than that. Let’s evaluate the religious thrust in Star Wars a little more closely.

 

The Jedi Church—A Dualistic Religion

 

Did you know that the Star Wars universe is now fully religious. For example, in New Zealand, there is a registered religion call the Jedi Church. This is not to be confused with church (the bride of Christ discussed extensively in Scripture). But like the Church of Scientology, they borrow the name from the Bible but church mean something different in their belief systems.

Though pagan in many respects, Star Wars branches out and mixes with other religions too. The Jedi Church website says in its welcome:

“The Jedi Church believes that there is one all powerful force that binds all things in the universe together. The Jedi religion is something innate inside everyone of us, the Jedi Church believes that our sense of morality is innate. So quiet your mind and listen to the force within you!”[2]

If this sounds like an Eastern religion like Hinduism or New Age, there is a reason for that. It is an Eastern religion. Eastern religions have an impersonal god who cannot communicate with man by revelation (communication is a personal attribute). Morality is innate which is a common pagan belief (i.e., you dictate your own morality and you are basically good enough to do that). When they say that the “force is within you!”, this is part of monism, a common belief in Eastern mysticism religions.

They want to borrow from the Bible that the Force is all powerful (an attribute of the God of the Bible) but the Force is not omniscience (knowing is a personal attribute anyway).  

Another aspect of this religion is that it is dualistic in its fictional universe. Both good and evil are equal and opposite.

Some might mistakenly think Christianity is like this too—having both God (good) and Satan (evil). However, this is not at all the case in light of Scripture. God is all-powerful, and Satan, a created being, rebelled and sinned and his power is next nothing compared to God who created him and sustains his very existence. God wins and Satan loses. Satan has an eternity of God’s wrath upon him in Hell.

Dualism is the name of this religious style (dualism is form of paganism by the way going back to its leading proponent—Plato) and it is intimately intertwined in the “Star Wars universe”. Although Allnutt recognized that Star Wars borrowed certain Christian elements and themes, the fact is that this is a pagan religion modelled after Eastern Mysticism.

Reminder—It’s Fiction

 

What we need to do is be discerning. Remember, Star Wars books and movies are openly fiction. Nothing more. They rehash pagan ideas, Eastern ideas, and even borrow Christian elements and themes for the purpose of entertaining (and money making too!).

Can I sit down with some popcorn and enjoy a Star Wars movie? Of course I can—the movies often offer great entertainment value. Simply put, keep it at that. For at the end of the day, it is still fiction. And remember God really does uphold and sustain all things into existence. With that, I bid you farewell and , “May the Lord be with you”.

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[1] Frank Allnutt, The Force of Star Wars, Bible voice, Inc., Van Nuys, California, 1977.

[2] Jedi Church, Welcome, accessed May 3, 2024, https://www.jedichurch.org/.