# The bible as the word of God. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 31, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bible-as-the-word-of-god/165446 "2003-03-31T15:07:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bible-as-the-word-of-god/165446/21 "2003-04-03T13:11:54Z")
How do we know that it’s God’s word? Because it _says_ so, of course! ---
**Author:** ![Scarf-Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Scarf-Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarf-Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bible-as-the-word-of-god/165446/22 "2003-04-03T14:02:22Z")
That does it for me. Although I find it difficult to beleive that the pentateuch is Moses writing word-for-word the word of God. I mean even if God did transmit the contents of these books, what are the chances that poor old Moses would have scribed them with 100% accuracy? I suppose that lending more credence to his writings goes hand in hand with his ability to perform miracles. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bible-as-the-word-of-god/165446/23 "2003-04-03T14:35:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meta-Gumble \* > \*\*I mean even if God did transmit the contents of these books, what are the chances that poor old Moses would have scribed them with 100% accuracy? \*\* I would imagine that if God is taking the trouble to tell Moses the Pentatuch word for word; and it’s in our (and His) best interests to “get it right,” that He’ll make sure Moses doesn’t make a transcription error. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bible-as-the-word-of-god/165446/24 "2003-04-04T22:32:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > **…The only perfect words of god, from this perspective, are the words of Jesus. As for the veracity of the others, some people will argue that the Bible is sort of evolutionary in it’s understanding of God. The Bible grows more revelatory as it goes along, culminating with JC, of course, and supplemented especially by the commentaries of Paul…** It’s too bad that Jesus didn’t write any of the books of the Bible. Worse yet that the words attributed to him were written by his friends (who clearly had an agenda) decades after he supposedly said them. ---
**Author:** ![Shaolinrabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Shaolinrabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shaolinrabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bible-as-the-word-of-god/165446/25 "2003-04-05T03:01:57Z")
Actually, most scriptural historians would agree that His words were written by His _Apostles_ soon after His death. Many of the Gospels were composed with the earnest desire to record an accurate history of Christ’s life. Many early Christian writers were disciples of the Apostles, and research would indicate that the sayings of Christ were taken from written sources pre-dating the canonized Gospels. The primary sayings of Christ were recorded in several sources before the canonized Gospels, and passed to several different writers rapidly after the death of Christ. The Gospels of Thomas, Peter, Nicodemus, and the writings of the early churches indicates that there were other existing sources. We can say wityh some certainty what Christ did, and did not actually say by cross referencing uncommon sources. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bible-as-the-word-of-god/165446.md?page=1)