The Way of Eastern Lightning Gave Me a New Understanding of the Bible (Part 2)

Is All Scripture Really Given by Inspiration of God?

During one meeting, I remembered how my mother had said that the Bible is adulterated with the thoughts and ideas of people, so I asked Brother Yang: “Paul said, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ (2 Timothy 3:16), the pastors also often cite this quote as evidence that all of the scripture in the Bible is God’s word. Why do you say that the Bible is adulterated with the thoughts and ideas of people?”

Brother Yang listened to my question and then patiently responded saying: “Sister, there are now many people in the religious world that believe that, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God and all the scripture in the Bible is God’s word,’ but they never stop to investigate whether what Paul said has the backing of God’s word and is in keeping with the truth. In fact, the Holy Spirit has never said, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God,’ nor did the Lord Jesus. There is also no mention of this in the prophetic books, this is fact. Actually, the Bible is just a record of the first two stages of God’s work. The prophetic books of the Old Testament contain prophecies made by the prophets under God’s instruction, but the rest is mostly a record of historical events. As for the New Testament, apart from the Lord Jesus’ words, which are the personal utterances of God Himself, the rest is mostly letters written by the apostles and disciples to various churches. It consists of nothing more than the experiences and knowledge of mere people. However, even if a portion of the letters of the apostles and disciples contain God’s enlightenment and can be of some help to us, how could they be considered God’s own words and revelation? We ought to know that Christ is the truth, way and life and only God can issue the truth. No matter how ordinary or profound, and no matter whether we are capable of understanding and comprehending or not, it is all God’s word. Besides God Himself, no one else is capable of speaking God’s words, much less issue the truth. God is God, people are people—the two can’t be lumped into the same category. By viewing the words of Paul or any other apostle as God’s word, we blaspheme God! So, as believers in God, we must, at the very least, understand the following: In the Bible, only the words of Jehovah God and the Lord Jesus, the words of God as revealed through the prophets and the words God inspired in John are God’s word, nothing else can be considered God’s word. The phrase, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ is based on people’s erroneous understanding—it has no grounding in fact.”

I agreed with parts of Brother Yang’s fellowship, but I couldn’t completely accept what he had said right away. I thought to myself, “The entire religious world upholds this interpretation (that all scripture is given by inspiration of God), so could it really be wrong?” I silently prayed to God in my heart, saying: “Dear God, if the Bible really isn’t all given by Your inspiration, I pray that You enlighten and guide me, so that I may gain an understanding of this issue.” Seemingly having read my mind, Brother Yang continued his fellowship, saying, “If the Bible really all is given by God’s inspiration, then that which it records should be utterly free of discrepancy and error. Yet, in fact, there are many discrepancies and errors in the Bible. Take, for instance, the account of Jehoiachin’s ascension to the throne in the Old Testament. Second Chronicles chapter 36 verse 9 states, ‘Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem,’ but in 2 Kings chapter 24 verse 8 it says, ‘Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.’ Both scriptures are accounts of Jehoiachin’s ascension to the throne, but one claims he was ‘eight years old when he began to reign,’ whereas the other states he was ‘eighteen years old.’ Furthermore, one source states he reigned for ‘three months and ten days,’ whereas the other source claims he reigned for ‘three months’ only. We can also take, for example, the differing accounts in the Four Gospels of Peter’s three-fold denial of God. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 26 verse 75 it reads, ‘Before the cock crow, you shall deny Me thrice,’ whereas in the Gospel of Mark chapter 14 verse 72 we have, ‘Before the cock crow twice, you shall deny Me thrice.’ The description of this same event in two different Gospels displays a very obvious discrepancy in the account of the timing of the event. Thus, the facts are sufficient to establish that a portion of the Bible derives from mere people and is not given by God’s inspiration.”

Brother Yang’s words left me dumbstruck, and I thought to myself, “Of course, how hadn’t I thought of that myself? These chapters record the same events, but with major discrepancies in the details. If these writings really came from the Holy Spirit, there would never be such large discrepancies!” I pondered this for a while and then opened up my Bible to the chapters and verses that Brother Yang had mentioned. It was then that I accepted what Brother Yang had said in my heart. I reflected on how I had never discovered these problems in the past, but still I believed I had a great understanding of the Bible, that the Bible was given by God’s inspiration and was without error. Only then did I realize that, in fact, not all of the Bible is given by God’s inspiration! I immediately felt my face turning red—I was embarrassed and didn’t know what to say.

After the meeting, I thought long and hard about what Brother Yang had said and about this passage he gave me: “Today, people believe the Bible is God, and that God is the Bible. So, too, do they believe that all the words of the Bible were the only words God spoke, and that they were all said by God. Those who believe in God even think that although all of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament were written by people, they were all given by inspiration of God, and a record of the utterances of the Holy Spirit. This is the erroneous interpretation of people, and it does not completely accord with the facts. In fact, apart from the books of prophecy, most of the Old Testament is historical record. Some of the epistles of the New Testament come from people’s experiences, and some come from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit; the Pauline epistles, for example, arose from the work of a man, they were all the result of the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment, and they were written for the churches, were words of exhortation and encouragement for the brothers and sisters of the churches. They were not words spoken by the Holy Spirit—Paul could not speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit, and neither was he a prophet, much less did he see visions that John beheld. His epistles were written for the churches of Ephesus, Philadelphia, Galatia, and other churches. … If people see the epistles or words like Paul’s as the utterances of the Holy Spirit, and worship them as God, then it can only be said that they are too indiscriminating. To speak more harshly, isn’t this nothing but blasphemy? How could a man talk on behalf of God? And how could people bow down before the records of his epistles and of the words he spoke as if they were a holy book, or a heavenly book? Could the words of God be casually uttered by a man? How could a man talk on behalf of God?” (“Concerning the Bible (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). This passage clearly tells us which parts of the Bible came from God and which are the writings of mere people, are adulterated with people’s experiences, interpretations and thoughts and cannot represent God. I felt confirmation in my heart that the Bible isn’t all given by the inspiration of God.

To be continue… 

From: https://en.easternlightning.org/testimonies/eastern-lightning-gave-new-understanding-of-bible.html 

If you want to learn more about the mystery of the Bible, please watch:

Faith Based Movie | Is Life From the Bible or From God | "The Bible and God"