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GodSaidManSaid received the following e-mail from Ryan. His message questions the Bible, God’s existence, and GodSaidManSaid’s authority to quote the Bible. GodSaidManSaid has answered these questions in the volume of this site, which at this time contains more than 800 pages of written text and over 30 hours of steaming narrative audio. The questions Ryan raises and the charges he makes have plagued the minds of millions, and we will attempt to set them in order once again. The pertinent part of Ryan’s message follows, which begins with his questioning on how the books were selected to be included in the Bible. It reads:
...Did not those men make human judgments about which writings were divinely inspired? What if they made mistakes, as humans often do? Is it possible that those writings which were cast aside should actually have been included? What if those possibly divine cast-aside writings directly contradict one of the writings which was included? Questions like this plague me. Folks say, "There is a God because the Bible says so," while at the same time saying, "The Bible is divine because God wrote it." One is used to prove the other while neither is itself proven. You don’t know what God said. You only know what men wrote. You have a website which makes claims to have authority which it simply does not have. The bedrock of our faith is not the Bible, as fine a book of ideas as any that was ever compiled. The bedrock of our faith is Faith itself. Faith is unassailable. It is incorruptible. It is eternal.
Signed,
Ryan
GodSaidManSaid responds:
Ryan’s first question was, "Did not those men make human judgments about which writings were divinely inspired?" The term and definition of the word canon," as used in the phrase, "canon of the Holy Scriptures," are foundational to this question. According to Noah Webster’s original 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, “‘canon’ is from the Hebrew word meaning ‘a cane, reed or measuring rod;’ a law or rule of doctrine or discipline enacted by a counsel and confirmed by the sovereign; the genuine books of the Holy Scriptures.” [End of quote]
There is a canon, or measuring stick, by which all books of the Bible are chosen. The Sovereign who confirmed these books of the Old and New Testaments is God and His son Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory. In regard to the New Testament, He chose and certified apostles and disciples who carried forth the Words of His testimony. The New Testament books were penned by Christ’s chosen apostles or by those who were endorsed by His apostles. Regarding writings which were cast aside that possibly, according to Ryan, should have been included in the Bible, it must be noted that men continue to speak and pen God’s Word. As long as it is transmitted faithfully, without additions or deletions to the original Holy Text, it is still God’s Word. Regarding the Bible and which books should be included, the standard of the canon rules.
A compilation of New Testament quotes made by just seven of the early church leaders of renown, whose lives spanned from 70 AD to 340 AD, tallied a staggering 36,289. Their quotations included the Gospels, Acts, Pauline Epistles, general epistles and Revelation. These men believed in the authenticity of the honored Bible books.
The Old Testament in the King James Bible is known as the Masoretic text, which means handed down. It has been faithfully preserved for thousands of years by the Levitical priests and scribes, and handed down to us. Jesus Christ and His writers of the New Testament quote from its passages more than 320 times, in addition to hundreds of references to it.
Ryan asks, “What if those possibly divine cast-aside writings directly contradict one of the writings which were included?” Over 40 holy, chosen men of God faithfully penned God’s Words and wrote 66 books over a period of about 2000 years. Satan’s most capable carnal minds have attacked and attempted to discredit and divide its writings, but have all failed miserably. These 66 books agree perfectly in one accord, simply because they were authored by one author—God. Those writings that Ryan is referring to which contradict God’s endorsed and confirmed Words, by their disagreement, prove themselves not to be His Words.
Ryan continues, “Folks say, ‘There is a God because the Bible says so,’ while at the same time saying, ‘The Bible is divine because God wrote it.’” What appears to Ryan as circular reasoning is actually the testament of a self-existing God who is His Word and His Word is Him. John 1:1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
God is His Word and His Word is Him. The Bible is only paper and printer’s ink when it is left on the shelf to collect dust, or when it’s approached without reverence and Godly fear. Jesus said in John 6:63:
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
When Moses wanted to know God’s name in order to tell the children of Israel who had sent him, God made a powerful statement of His self-existence. Exodus 3:13-14:
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Be assured that God and His Word are one and the same. Therefore, what appears to be contradiction is actually a colossal revelation.
There are, however, many independent proofs that God is, and there are many independent proofs that the Bible was authored by Him. Psalms 19:1-3:
...The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Creation itself declares the divine design. Only a fool would discredit the handiwork of God. As far as the Scriptures are concerned, their veracity is proven independently thousands of times by archaeology, paleontology, geology, general science, medicine, biology, psychology, history, mathematics, laws of probability, cosmology, and more. No scientific discovery has ever controverted the Words of God. This website is devoted to proof that God is and that He authored the Scriptures, and that all will stand before Him in judgment.
There is the ultimate proof that takes complete precedence over all of mankind’s analytic calculations. This ultimate proof is bigger than the universe, and it is the revelation that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and that by His blood we are saved. This proof is certified and sealed in the realm of God’s Spirit, from which all things find their source. Romans 8:14-17:
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Ryan also says, “You have a website which makes claims to have authority, which it simply does not have.” This website makes no claims of authority in itself, but in the person, authority, and blessing of Christ Jesus. All sons and daughters of God have the responsibility to proclaim their Father’s Words. Psalms 68:11:
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.
Jude 1:3:
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Ryan claims the bedrock of our faith is not the Bible. The Bible disagrees. Remember, God and His Word are one. God’s Word is not inert paper and printer’s ink. It is alive. It is spirit and it is truth. Romans 10:17 explains how faith comes into being. It reads:
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Our faith is a gift from God in the person of Jesus Christ and He is "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)" Revelation 19:13 speaks of Jesus Christ and His return to this earth in judgment and it reads:
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Man’s understanding of God and His own self is found in the self-defining Bible—the I AM THAT I AM. Those who reject the Words of the Bible find themselves in utter confusion, unbelief, and hurtful lies.
Ryan, if it were not for the God of the Holy Bible, you and I, like millions of others, might find ourselves worshipping a cobra snake, feeding the temple of the rats, embracing a "holy" cow, shouting, "Allah Achbar," and cutting off an infidel’s head, or bowing before the temple of Darwin. There is no other book like the Word of God, for there is no other God but Jehovah, the Great I AM. The Word of God is magnificent because God is magnificent.
References:
King James Bible
House, W.H., Charts of the New Testament, Zondervan Publishing House.
Morris & Clark, The Bible Has the Answer, Master Books
