The Word of God

Seventh-Day Adventist Beliefs: The Word of God

The Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are the written Word of God, given by divine inspiration through holy men of God who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In this Word, God has committed to man the knowledge necessary for salvation. The Holy Scriptures are the infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the test of experience, the authoritative revealer of doctrines, and the trustworthy record of God's acts in history.

--Fundamental Beliefs, 1

Next: The Godhead

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Muke says:

I think the Bible is God's Word. I don't think every word of it can be taken as literal truth taken out of its own context--there are a lot of stories told as stories, for example, and some things use a prophetic-symbolic style (like some parts of Revelation).

I know that a lot of things in it are unpopular now, but cultures change and have changed, hopefully for the better, with the inevitable side effect that looking back isn't always pleasant. And it may not be the best as a "history" textbook in the modern sense--especially as (if I understand correctly) the modern sense of history is really quite recent. (I could be wrong on that last bit.)

There is a vast difference between the authenticity of works supposedly inspired by God, and those that are said to be the actual words of God verbatim. Many different religious text claim to contain the words of God but only a few (eg the Quran) claim to be totally and completely Gods word without any alteration, addition, editing, deletion, or any other form of change. Also to validate that something is indeed divine and not simply the figment of human imagination and longing once must examine it's historical context, eg previous translations, and revisions throughout history, if these are identical or at least consistent, it goes a long way to allaying the fears that the "Word of God" myth is indeed a myth.

For all the scepticism, if any of these books do contain the actual word of God it is likely not to be immediately popular as it will ask for radical personal changes.