Claim CH103:
The Bible is special because it is inspired; its writers claim that their
thoughts came from God.
Source:
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1989. The Bible - God's Word or
Man's? Brooklyn, NY, p. 10.
Response:
- Other works claiming divine inspiration include the Qur'an,
Mahabharata, and The Book of Mormon. Many traditions of
North
American Indians claim to be divinely inspired (Vecsey 1991). Some
contemporary New Age books claim divine inspiration, such as The
Urantia Book and Talking with Angels: A Document from Hungary.
- Claiming divine inspiration does not mean having it. I could easily
claim divine inspiration even for this web page.
- Even if the Bible is divinely inspired, one's interpretation of it can
still be entirely wrong. The Bible has been invoked to justify burning
innocent young women (supposedly witches), maintaining slavery, and
other atrocities. Divine inspiration, even if true, is no reason to
accept ideas that someone gets from the Bible.
References:
- Vecsey, Christopher, 1991. Imagine Ourselves Richly. San Francisco:
HarperCollins.
created 2003-5-2, modified 2003-9-23
