Isa po sa mga paboritong objections na naririnig ko ay “Bakit [daw] paniniwalaan ang Bible eh gawa lang naman 'yan ng tao?”
It challenges the authority and veracity or katotohanan ng Bible with the reason that it is man-made. It puts a value judgment sa phrase na “man-made” as if in each and every case, something man-made is without authority and veracity. It suggests that the Bible is false advertising because while it says that it is the word of God, in actuality it is just the words of men. This implies that people might have constructed the idea that this is divine origin para mayroon siyang authority. Nagibigay din siya ng suggestion na if it is made by men then it is not immune to errors and if it has errors then it is not the word of God. Marahil dagdag pa dito ay irrelevant ito sa atin ngayon dahil it was written far removed sa panahon natin ngayon.
The whole argument is: “Ang Bible ay hindi God’s Word because it is written by mere men.”
So, ganon nga ba?
Sa totoo lang po, ang Bible po ay Word of God even if it is written by men.
First of all, that Christians believe that the Bible was written by men ay isang ideya na galing mismo sa Diyos. Sa 2 Peter 1:21 naka indicate mismo na ang pahayag ng Panginoon to "prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." Ina-affirm talaga dito ang katotohanan na ang Word of God ay sinulat ng tao. Kumbaga, hindi dapat nagugulat ang mga Christians when you tell them that the Bible is written by men. Jesus himself would refer to the word of God and at times just name the name of the prophet who wrote it. Meron kasi talaga tayong dynamic sa pagkaunawa natin ng biblical authorship at ang dynamic na yan ay sa susunod na reason.
And that is, although it is written by men kinasihan (inspired) ito ng Diyos. We could say that the source is God Himself. Sa 2 Timothy 3:16 eto ang sabi, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” It means ang source niya ay Diyos mismo. We call this divine inspiration. Sabi ni J. Hampton Keathley,
Some thirty-eight hundred times the Bible declares, “God said,” or “Thus says the Lord” (e.g. Ex. 14:1; 20:1; Lev. 4:1; Num. 4:1; Deut. 4:2; 32:48; Isa. 1:10, 24; Jer. 1:11; Ezek. 1:3; etc.). Paul also recognized that the things he was writing were the Lord’s commandments (1 Cor. 14:37), and they were acknowledged as such by the believers (1 Thess. 2:13). Peter proclaimed the certainty of the Scriptures and the necessity of heeding the unalterable and certain Word of God (2 Pet. 1:16-21). John too recognized that his teaching was from God; to reject his teaching was to reject God (1 John 4:6).*Also, God did not just inspire and reveal His Word, He also preserved His revelation through men. Ang pagbibigay ng Panginoon ng katotohanan patungkol sa Kaniya at sa Kaniyang nilikha o ang ating reality ay isinagawa sa kaniyang kapahayagan. Ito ay dumadaan sa proseso na magpapahayag muna ang Panginoon sa pamamagitan ng pag inspire o paggabay ng pagsusulat ng mga napili niyang tao na maglimbag ng Kaniyang pahayag sa pamamagitan ng mga karanasan at kaalaman ng mga tao ding ito tulad ng mga propeta at mga apostol. Pag ito’y naisulat na, ito nama’y pinapangalagaan ng Panginoon na hindi masira o mawala sa lupa. Gumabay ang Diyos ng tao sa Kaniyang pahayag, tinulungan Niya rin ang Kaniyang mga anak na ito'y pangalagaan.
Bago mag 1950s ang pinakamatandang kopya ng lumang tipan ay ang Leningrad Codex. However na-break ito when,
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a series of twelve caves around the site known as Wadi Qumran near the Dead Sea in the West Bank (of the Jordan River) between 1946 and 1956 by Bedouin shepherds and a team of archeologists.†All of a sudden ang oldest copy ng Old Testament ay nai-atras sa mga 300BC. One interesting copy doon na kumpleto ay ang Great Isaiah Scroll. Nang ikompara ito sa Isaiah ng Lengingrad Codex identical siya despite na the more than 1000 years na separation nila. Ang point ko lang diyan ay mukhang napaka serious ng ideya ng pagkokopya ng salita ng Diyos noon pa man. Seryoso sila talaga to preserve it. In fact may mga professional scribes pa to do this.
Pagkatapos ng preservation na ito, ang Panginoon ang nagtalaga sa people of God na ito’y maisalin sa iba’t ibang linggwahe. This is what we call the tradition of translation. Then etong translation na ito would be heard in every tongue and tribe through the preaching of trained or learned interpreters. May napakalalaking ambag ang bawat believer sa pagpreserve at pagbabahagi ng Salita ng Diyos sa pamamagitan ng mga Bible Study atbp.
Mapangahas ang claim ng Scripture to its own authority ayon kay Wayne Grudem, author ng isang magnum opus on systematic theology. Sabi niya -- "The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God."‡
Totoo naman. Bilang patotoo ng mga early believers and in fact hanggang ngayon pala, many of them died upholding this truth, that Scripture is the Word of God. Many today who believe it is true pattern their lives on what it says, submitting to its truth. And as I’ve shared earlier kanina about the preservation ng Scripture, many people have devoted their lives in preserving it. So along with the Scriptural claim, meron pa siyang outworking sa buhay ng mga tao that provide warrant that we understood the Bible to be authoritative despite it being written by men.
So totoo pong sinulat ng tao ang Bible, subalit ito ay nakaugat sa kapahayagan ng Diyos at hindi galing sa kung anu-anong devices lang ng tao.
(C) Photo Credit
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*J. Hampton Keathley, "The Bible: The Written Word of God," in Bible.org (website); https://bible.org/seriespage/4-bible-written-word-god#P197_29615
† Wikipedia, sv Dead Sea Scrolls, accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls#Discovery
‡ Grudem, Systematic Theology, 52.
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