Inspiration

Okay, my consultant Gary Sattler tells me the post below on the Bible is okay, but really just opens up the question what do I mean by "inspiration." Here's what I mean. When a human being sees a beautiful sunset, they may be inspired to write a poem or paint a picture, or just talk about it with a friend or lover. The man or woman writing the poem (let's assume they went that route) will -- if they are talented -- write a poem that inspires others, a well-crafted poem that reflects the beauty of the sunset the writer saw. If not talented, the person will write a clunky, Hallmark poem that makes people say "Oh, how lovely," and then gag. And if the person is a Nazi, the poem will have something of that in it; and if they're a buddhist priest, something of that. But in either case, the sunset does not "possess" the person and literally dictate to him or her in a trance the words of the poem.

In other words, "inspiration" is the internal response to an external stimulus, which then (maybe) generates an external expression of that response, which itself is colored by all of the other stuff going on inside the responder.

In short and in sum, this means, I believe, that the Bible's "inspiration" consists of a response to the revelation of God within the person of the writer of the particular book, the response being colored by the mental capacity, prejudices, culture and other crap going on inside the "inspired" person.

Now, God may well have carefully chosen those to whom He made special revelations, knowing their capacities and flaws. And it probably is the case, based on my review of the historical record, that the men who put the Canon together were themselves "inspired" in some way. All of which is only to say that I have no doubt that the Bible is especially inspired, and not just a book of poems about sunsets. Because the subject of the revelations -- God, not sunsets -- is an active person who participates in the expression of the revelation in a way the sunset cannot. Again -- not by dictating -- but perhaps on occasion by offering that "still, small voice," and perhaps on occasion,actually being heard.

"Okay, that makes no sense. So, God doesn't dictate the books, He just talks to the guys who wrote them? Whaddya nuts? That's the same thing!"

Alright, I agree it's not entirely clear. Let me put this as succinctly as possible and see if this helps: God inspires because of who He is. Some people, out of amazement, wrote down what they saw. What they wrote down was affected by who they were. God worked on them. They responded to that work imperfectly. Their writings reflect that work and those imperfections. And that's as close, in this life, as we're gong to get.

Okay, Gary -- how and or why is this wrong?