Ok, just asking if you are open minded to it but…

What if the story goes around between God and Lucifer’s romantic story? How will they become so close and how will the other angels react to their relationship? Would you even like the relationship if they get along so well?

Hmm I’m a bit unsure what you’re asking. Do you mean, basically, what if ABM was about God x Lucifer (or, rather, what if God x Lucifer worked out) and what would happen?

To be honest, I don’t think it could have ever worked out. In ABM, their relationship is never more than predatory, though other angels don’t see it as that – why would they? Everything is good and perfect and wonderful in Heaven and God is good.

I mentioned a long time ago (?) that I was inspired by the story in Ezekiel 16 where God grooms Jerusalem (in a very literal way by making her enter puberty), marries her, then becomes wrathful when she falls in love with someone else and discovers her beauty, then assaults her in punishment.

But this is’t really the only instance where God has a weird romantic/sexual relationship with someone that is very obviously unhealthy. Mary comes to mind. Since I was young I always found the story of Mary’s pregnancy to be very odd (in Mexico, Mary is especially very very venerated.) Some people argue that Mary was too young; I haven’t seen the sources for that, so I can’t say if it’s true, but regardless of her age, I feel creating a perfect girl without sin to carry your child once she’s old enough to be uncomfortable. Some argue that it was all consensual, (Gabriel asked Mary and she said yes), but realistically, why would a young and impoverished woman say no to what could have changed her life for the better? Isn’t there a very obvious and clear power imbalance here? Mary having been born pure also leads to the conclusion that this was all pre-ordained anyway. Catholics’ obsession with her “perpetual virginity” (despite biblical lines that reference other children (Matthew 13)) and purity make it all feel borderline predatory on God’s part, in my opinion; I’m not even going to get into the fact that he’s also her Father.

On that note, there’s not a healthy way for God to have a relationship at all, is there? He can make you do anything, his safety as a partner is entirely contingent on his mercy, he knows everything about you, and he made you. He made you knowing you’d love him, he made you love him.

But the question is about Lucifer x God, and I think there’s an alternate ending where Michael doesn’t exist, Lucifer never learns any basic self respect, and he falls in love with God romantically. I think this would be a horror story. God is incapable of being a good partner, Lucifer acts like an obsessed servant, and the other angels would justify God’s actions because to say God is being, in easier terms, a creep is completely unimaginable. They don’t understand it, don’t have the language for it. And that’s it. An eternity of abuse with no one able to call it out. (Except Uriel, but Uriel would probably look away and pretend it isn’t happening).

You asked if I’m open-minded to it, and well, it’s definitely something I think about. The romantic idea of God making a most beautiful and perfect creation (like a lonely Dr. Frankenstein desperate for a lover) isn’t lost on me. I’m always struck by how Satan and God chat in the Book of Job (it feels very cute to me). But God is God and there is only one God and love can’t be unequal (in my opinion). Maybe if Lucifer indeed became a god, maybe.

Kunsel’s Origins

. . . . .

Kunsel looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then sighed and reached up towards his head. “We all have our secrets, Cloud.” He began unbuckling his helmet.

Cloud’s eyes widened. Kunsel never took off his helmet. As far as Cloud knew, no one had any idea what he looked like without it. He’d apparently never shown anyone, not even Zack.

As Kunsel pulled his helmet off, and their eyes met, Cloud realized why. “You’re Wutaian,” he breathed.

Kunsel smiled bitterly, and gestured for the blond to sit with him. Cloud complied, still staring at him in shock. Suddenly a lot of things made sense.

With a sigh, Kunsel began talking. “I’m actually from Umigake. It’s a town along the coast of Wutai,” he added at Cloud’s confused frown. “It wasn’t the first town to be hit during the war, obviously, but it was one of the earlier ones. It wasn’t particularly important, so it’s not mentioned in any of the books.” He grimaced. “Just one more obstacle conquered on the way to the capital,” he sighed, shaking his head. “It was my first experience with Shinra. And,” his lips twisted up wryly, “my first experience with General Sephiroth and his two commanders.” He reached up, fingers brushing the crisscrossing scars along the top right side of his face, the large burn scar across his temple that disappeared beneath his hair.

Cloud’s breath left him as the implications of that information sank in. “Kunsel…” he breathed, horrified.

The other sent him a wry smirk. “Pretty much. Course, they weren’t so high ranking then. They were still pretty young at the time, thirteen or fourteen and still trying to prove themselves, but… they were effective nonetheless.” He ran his hand through his sleek black hair, styled with sidebangs and a short ponytail that he hid beneath the helmet. “I was pretty young at the time, around seven or eight, so my main memory of the event is all the fire.” His eyes glazed over as he remembered. “We didn’t hear what was going to happen until about five or six hours before it did. We already had plans in place, of course, for when something did happen, but… it was terrifying nonetheless. When they did get there, all of us, the children, elders, and most of the women, were hidden beneath the false floors of the houses. Everyone else was outside, ready to fight back.” He swallowed quietly. “Not that they ever would have stood a chance. When Shinra arrived they gave the option to surrender. We could still hear them even inside the houses. They refused, of course, and said that everyone else was gone, that Shinra would have no place to hold there,” he let out a shuddering sigh.

“And that’s when everything was set on fire.” He chuckled bitterly, “Commander Rhapsodos has a natural ability with all Materia, but especially so with Fire. A mastered Fire with a mastered All is a very, very dangerous combination. And not very much survives when it’s put into action.”

Cloud swallowed, feeling sick, thinking of how often Kunsel and Genesis worked together, both on missions and off. They were friends, almost. That was… that was awful. “How… how did you… how do you…?”

Kunsel glanced over at him, seeming to come back to himself. “How did I end up here, and how do I stand it?” he asked, quizzically.

Cloud nodded mutely.

Kunsel huffed, leaning back against the loveseat. “Well, Kaa-san and I survived out of luck. A few others hiding did as well. Tou-san and the others were… not so lucky. I don’t know who killed him, I didn’t look to see. And I don’t think I want to. I admired him, and I don’t want to have to go on an honor-bound revenge trip if it turns out Genesis, Angeal, or Sephiroth did it. I’m happier not knowing, I think. But those of us who survived decided that we had a better chance of surviving in a place that wasn’t a war-zone. So we, using certain secret ways that don’t actually exist,” he winked at Cloud with a secretive, if wane, smile, “got smuggled across two continents and into Midgar’s slums. As I’m sure you can imagine, life didn’t get much easier from there.”

Shaking his head, he got up and disappeared into the kitchen of the Second Class apartment he shared with Zack, returning a moment later with two bottles of water. He tossed one to Cloud, who caught it gratefully, and flopped back down on the loveseat next to the couch. He took several swallows of it before setting it aside.

“Money was constantly tight, and a lot of the time we scraped by on one meal a day and constant work and haggling. It was hard, but it was possible for a while. And the Kaa-san got sick, and suddenly it wasn’t enough anymore. Friends helped where they could, but they were just as bad off as we were. I joined Shinra out of desperation, because I had no other options. I met Zack in the cadet program, and I’ve wondered many times if I did something to convince Leviathan to give me his blessing, because I’m still convinced that Zackary Fair is a literal god-send.”

Cloud snorted, but didn’t disagree. He’d had a few of the same thoughts himself before, wondering if he did something to make Odin favor him. Zack was the closest thing to an actual angel that he’d ever met, not that he’d ever tell him that.

Kunsel flashed him a small smile that told him the other understood. “He never asked why I kept my face concealed, though everyone else wondered and speculated. He just shrugged and said if I wanted to be a ninja, go for it. His literal words, mind you.” He added, shaking his head. Cloud hid a grin. That sounded exactly like Zack. “He’s the main reason I’ve been able to stand being here. Any time I feel like I just can’t take anymore of the company’s bullshit, I just think of him and how much he really, truly, wants to help everyone. He’s not the only reason,” Kunsel added quickly, “even if he is the main one. But there are good people here, even if they’re often overshadowed by the bad. There’s you, and your squad which are fairly decent despite containing a Turk spy.”

Cloud snorted and shook his head. “Don’t let Isa hear you calling her that. She might stab you for blowing her cover. We’re not, strictly speaking, supposed to know that ‘failing out’ of the Turk program doesn’t mean you’re not a Turk.”

Kunsel chuckled. “Perhaps if she guarded her cover better…”

“Maybe if you didn’t know everything…” Cloud retorted back.

Kunsel inclined his head. “Fair enough, I suppose. Though your squad seems knowledgeable enough…”

Cloud shrugged. “She… isn’t quite as good at keeping secrets as she thinks she is.”

“My point remains.”

Cloud hesitated for a brief moment before returning to the previous point. “What about… Sephiroth, and the others?”

“Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal…” Kunsel mused, considering. “I guess that’s a fair question, considering. Mostly, I look at them as humans. Which shouldn’t be shocking, I know, but when you consider everything you hear about them… I look at them, not as the monsters that Wutai considers them as, or as the gods the the easterners consider them to be, but as humans thrust into war as children, as unhappy to be there as I was. It may be a bit incorrect, as they were far more willing to participate than I was, I’m sure, but… it makes it easier. And they aren’t awful people, either. I actually rather like Angeal. Zack has, no doubt, created a bit of a bias in that respect. It helps me deal with it. Genesis has an awful temper, and he’s impatient and arrogant, but he’s a decent person at heart. And Sephiroth…” he winced, “he’s… probably more of a victim than anyone else.” He huffed out a wry chuckle. “And yet, despite everything, I can’t even say I hate it here. Despite everything, Midgar, SOLDIER, has become home. Maybe if things had turned out differently, maybe if the war had ended sooner, if Kaa-san hadn’t died, I would have resigned and returned to Wutai. But now… I don’t really want to. I’ve lived in Midgar longer than I lived in Wutai, and I have more emotional connections here than I ever had there.” He shook his head, running his hand through his hair. “Maybe that makes me a bad person, or a traitor to my culture. I don’t know.”

Cloud shook his head. “I don’t think that it makes you a bad person. After everything you’ve been through, after all the effort you’ve put in to be brave and to survive, I think you deserve a bit of a break to do what you want.” He let out a wry huff, clasping his hands in his lap. “I don’t think I’d be brave enough or strong enough to do any of that.”

Kunsel reached over and ruffled his hair. “I think you’d be surprised what you can do if you feel it’s necessary.”

Cloud raised his brow skeptically. “If you say so.”

“I absolutely do.” Kunsel replied firmly. “Besides, Zack believes in you doesn’t he?”

Ducking his head slightly, embarrassed, Cloud nodded.

“Well, there you go!” He paused for a moment, listening, before he reached over and snagged his helmet, pulling it on. “Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” he noted.

Cloud snorted. “If he’s a god-send, wouldn’t he be an angel?”

“Fair point. Though he’s got to be the most accident-prone angel I’ve ever met.”

“That bad?”

“Well, there was this one time when we were cadets-”

“Hey guys, I’m back!” Zack bounced into the room with a grin. “You two played nice while I was gone, right?”

“Of course,” Kunsel retorted instantly, “I was just telling him about the Marlboro incident in the Slums when we were cadets.”

Zack’s eyes widened in horror. “No, no, no, no, no! Don’t do that!”

Cloud glanced between them curiously, playing along. “Now I have to know. What happened?”

“Nothing!”

Kunsel grinned wickedly. “I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else. It’s my favorite blackmail material on him.”

“Nooooo…”

Cloud read the message underneath, and smiled at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t.” He knew what it was like to have an unspeakable secret, after all.

. . . . .

This is basically just a headcanon bit that applies to most of my FFVII stories. Not necessarily an active part, but background story. I don’t know why, it just is. But it’s my baby and I love it. (And Kunsel needs more love. Even if he has to undergo pain for it to be shown.)

Any thoughts on this? I’m curious about other people’s headcanons about him.

(Also this may or may not be an excerpt out of Bruises and Bitemarks. Just. You know. An interaction that’ll happen at some point in later chapters that haven’t been written yet. Cloud’s a vampire, and thus has an unspeakable secret as well, so he and Kunsel understand each other on a level that comes from keeping a long-term life-threatening secret.)

“Babel”

I watched my TV screen weeks ago as state after state bled the color red, foreshadowing a death that would break across not only my TV, but my America. Subtle whispers of profanity escaped my lips the same familiar way they have when tragedy affected my life, as every border dripped into the next, like a color by number sent from hell. The only thought that kept coming back around, “This is America. This is America. This is America.”

So many of you called me to weep into the phone, asking the static silence between us to change the outcome. Your fears were sent to me from other countries. The defeat that landed on your bones you gave to me that night and we tried to carry it together. You ranted, screamed, went silent. We all processed in a myriad of ways. I walked onto my school campus and familiar faces were gone. Protests broke out, everyone split like the Red Sea, and that night I cried myself to sleep because I realized I wasn’t Jesus and I couldn’t hold the weight of your emotions in my hands. I was tired for you. I was tired for me. I was tired.

I told a friend the other day that if the phrase, “God is in control” has become a language that is only used to silence you, I will not say it right now. I won’t erase your pain with empty Christian jargon.

You are mourning, I am too. I am listening. There is nothing but love in my heart for you. Before I say more, know that if I have any internalized racism in my body, I don’t want it. I never did. But we have the choice every day to love or hate each other. This is humanity.

Friends, we were destined to fall. From Genesis to now, we are still falling into some bad dream. Whether it’s Greek mythology or it is literal, whether the world was created in seven days or Charles Darwin’s view on creation wasn’t that far off, whether you kiss the bible or you want it to burn in the hell it speaks of, we are still broken. This is America. This is the world. This is sin. Hate me for bringing God into this conversation. Hate me for talking about sin; but look around, is anything else working? Do people, on an individual basis, suddenly believe you and fall at your feet when you argue? Are we getting anywhere?

I tried to remember as I sat in my astronomy class that this world is a dot in an expansive universe. It’s still spinning, at just the right angles, to keep us alive and well. We have made it through the Depression, two World Wars, the Holocaust. I am not decreasing those events, nor invalidating the present. But we are still here. We have felt deep loss and time has given us just enough to keep growing through and out of the pain. We watched 9/11 as children-we feared that day as something so strong and mighty fell. As dust storms chased after people like a horror film and fires choked them out of life; we wondered if we would ever recover. We are still standing.

But we will never have perfect stability.

Former wars, pointless like Vietnam took innocent lives as it depicted faulty images on our televisions. Media took us in its grimy hands and left us isolated, confused, devastated. Language made blanket statements out of us, human documents that anyone could read and somehow understand, instead of individuals who have been written by complex experiences, loss, love, heartbreak, humiliation, triumph. It became “us” and “them”. Power, privilege, oppression, entitled, injustice, white supremacy, woke-there are a lot of hot words floating around, and not everyone knows what they mean. The words reinforced the borders; pathways to individual people are getting caution taped. Dialogue is broken and conversations are dead-one word out of someone’s mouth is suddenly cause to crucify them, instead of educate.  I hear a tower of Babel; we’re all speaking a language that no one will listen to. The definitions have trapped us all. Enough.

We were told to love our enemies. We were told to bear with one another in love. Anger is good, hate is not. Focus. Fight for people, instead of just fighting.

We will never have perfect stability.

There will always be angry, ignorant, white men in the middle of America who hate African-Americans, the LGBTQA community, women, immigrants, Muslims. There will always be people in those groups who hate those white men back. Social media will always be a faulty platform to write atrocious things to people in anger.

Honestly, we chose to hear what we wanted to hear. We were living in the fear of the question, “Is it this bad? Is America this bad that these are the best candidates?” And then as politics progressed the fear ate us alive and vulnerability gave us no other choice than to believe a lie. That politics was all we had. That media from terrible sources defined us. And we became the borders that Trump talked about. They were both racist, corrupt, aggressive in sexual assault or passive in preventing it, drunk on power, drunk on money, fallen-whether they said it like a badge of honor on national television or did it behind closed doors. They still are. We lived within the walls of corruption before Trump even talked about his damn wall. Before he got elected, we chose hope against all odds in unimaginable filth. And then the nightmare came true and we threw out hope and fell back into filth. Hate. We let a single man get inside our heads and spin us in circles.

It’s a shame, it’s embarrassing and surreal. Because I look at the rest of the world, having been to third world countries, and their generosity is uncanny. They have nothing and their hands are open and they say, “Here. Take it from me. Take the shirt off my back.” Their hands are open for not only us, but for the seemingly improbable truth of hope.

And we are here, screaming our own pride into every facet of communication available, and to be honest, it’s making me sick. The story isn’t about us. Other countries seem to understand this.

We’re all yelling about self-love, and that’s important, but I have more things to do than to just love myself. There are a lot more people who need love, and it’s about time we start doing it.

Fighting for the orphan and the widow isn’t optional. Fighting for immigrants isn’t optional.

We are better than this.

We’ve worshiped fear. We’ve set up an altar and bowed down. One side mentions God and the others say they are privileged and white and don’t understand pain. Another side speaks out about their very real oppression and injustice and the others tell them that it’s not happening. Our experiences are not the same, you’re right. I am not you. But to be honest, I told myself that God was in control because I had nothing else; I was horrified at the state of our country. I didn’t say that God was on the throne to suddenly diminish that systems are still broken and people are still in need. I didn’t say it as a means to turn a blind eye to injustice, and I know many did. I say that God is control because I cling to nothing else, our world is chaotic, and I have nothing left that brings the sweet waters of peace. Maybe that sounds privileged, but it’s what I have right now.

The divide is getting wider, we have to stop it.

We somehow thought we should stack up our pain and struggle next to each other and let them compete. We’re not the same but we have both held hands with fear, and eaten depression for breakfast, and been paralyzed by tragedy. I don’t want to be in this game anymore, and nobody wins when we compare scars. Fear is real, fear is valid. But fear is still just that-fear. It’s easy, it’s natural, it’s a reflex, and it is something we can fight. Whether you are more affected by this election or not, we still have choices to make about the demons that tuck us in at night and how we are going to send them back to hell. We’re in this together, let’s act.

I don’t ask for ignorance. I don’t ask you not to feel, not to cry, not to see darkness, because we have faced a death of sorts. But I urge you, in this time, to look around at the people taking care of one another. I urge you to look back and see the ways people took care of one another in times of war, disaster, tragedy and learn from them. Look at how people love each other and wake up when nightmares become realities. We can do the same-give, share, find peace in calamity. People are reaching out with both arms in places they cannot see light for others doing the same. If we generalize others into groups without families, personalities, capacity for love and loss, capacity for understanding, we become our own boot camps of hatred. If we don’t help each other realize that, we will be alone, aching over an unstable America, asking it to be heaven. This is not heaven.

By the same token: I didn’t go to church for 5 years because I disagreed with a lot of the things the evangelical church was doing, or not doing. I was questioning, and I was frustrated that the church was not doing one of its primary jobs, to seek justice, peace, and love. This is what I proclaimed obstinately and obnoxiously over people who argued their case. I recently just sat in the car with my best friend after our church service. She has been a church-goer her whole life. She is someone who has watched me go in and out of churches most of my adult life, going once and picking it to pieces like a 5 year old at dinner. I consistently found something to be angry about. She told me that day, “I never wanted to argue at you about how church and community was right because I knew you had to come to that conclusion by yourself. I just knew I was always going to be at least your one friend who always went and I would let that speak.” I almost cried because her patience astounded me. She is a loyal friend because she doesn’t try to make me believe her, she’s just there for me, exemplifying what it’s like to live a life pursuing a God who loves all and waits for all.

So my point is, if I’m not around people who are different than me, how does anything change? If she didn’t stick around, I would have never been part of a group that has changed my life and pushed me forward into change and made me a better person. And if someone like me who is frustrated doesn’t stay, then how does the culture there ever change? Turn your frustration into finding solutions. Otherwise it’s for nothing.

We can’t afford not to change.

So I’m still going to sit next to someone who doesn’t agree with me politically. Do you know why? Because if I wait for them, like I know God waits for me, then maybe we can bridge the divide. My silence and cold shoulder only closes all doors between us. And you know what? This waiting doesn’t take any energy out of me, not nearly as much energy as it takes to be angry.

It doesn’t mean I’m not going to fight for justice; it just means I am going to focus on the people who are in need, instead of fighting at the people who are not.

There are times under the sun for everything. Right now, it’s time to grow up, even when the adults or the peers in our lives haven’t, even when mom’s we barely know get on our Facebook to scold us. We live in a time that people our age spend nine hours a day on social media; we can talk all day about change, but we have to live it. And quite frankly, it’s time to disregard the thoughts of people who don’t believe in peace. It’s time to forgive, even when it’s difficult. In the end, a bitter heart is only hurting you.

Don’t burn bridges. Light a flame to lead people out of their shadows. That’s more important.

History does not dictate how we move forward. Be present. Move. There will always be people who live in the past; we get to be the minorities, whites, women, men, LGBTQA community, immigrants, Muslims who don’t. So let’s move the conversation forward, too. Embrace your ancestry, but ask yourselves-who are we? Who do we want to be? That’s the question we have left, let it propel us forward into truth.

We can’t say that “Love trumps hate” and then cut someone out of that, regardless of who they are, no matter how much they piss you off. You have to give them margin to change, because you would want the same. Redemption is a story and it’s rolling, but we’re going to miss it if we don’t wake up. That means pursuing love when it’s difficult and grace when you don’t want to in a culture that tells you to do whatever feels right for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t really work because whatever feels right for you is often easy, and it means to hate people and stay bitter.

We can’t do anything about the way we grew up, but we can do something for the way the ones after us get to grow up. We are not our ancestors. We don’t have to be our history books. We don’t have to lick our wounds. We are not our Facebook statuses. We are all made of the same stuff, flesh and bone; please recognize that.

Can we work together? I’m so tired of not working together. I’m so tired of division.

The color of my skin does not erase the fact that we are called to forgive each other, just as much as the color of my words don’t erase the oppression you encounter because of your skin color.

We will never have perfect stability.

But stability is stone cold cement, founded by old ideas, like the walls of Jericho.

Like the walls of Trump’s hate.

We are built by truth, love, grace, courage. And we move.

The sound of your voices are bleeding through. Can you hear them?

 P.S. This article doesn’t give you an excuse to suddenly start bashing millennial “snowflakes” and call them lazy, entitled, and stupid. It also doesn’t give you an excuse to bash all white people, all people of color, or the church. If you are, you’ve done a tremendous job in missing the point. And please don’t read one paragraph of something and say you understand all of it.

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All Scripture Is Given by Inspiration of God, True or Not? – Bible Questions

The moonlight was hazy and the stars were shining faintly. Under the dark blue night sky, the grounds were perfectly still.

 The chirping of the crickets and the occasional bark of the dogs made the streets even more quiet. It was already late in the night, but Siyuan was not sleepy. He was attentively preparing the sermon for the second day. While thinking of preaching on “faith,” he intended to fellowship Job’s testimony with his brothers and sisters. So he immediately turned to the Book of Job, and happened to see that Satan made the following accusation against Job: “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have not you made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1:9-11). Siyuan thought: Satan is really evil and base. It actually thought out such a trick to accuse Job. Was it not just because it wanted to make people not whorship God and follow it to do evil things? Satan is truly Satan. Even its words reek of evil. Just then, a clear thought came into his mind: This is Satan’s words! Siyuan was stunned: Isn’t it said that all the words in the Bible are God’s words? Why are there Satan’s words? What is going on here? Siyuan stopped writing and went on to flick through the Bible. Only then did he find that the Book of Job is not the only book in the Bible that records the words of Satan. For example, in Genesis, there’re words that Satan spoke to entice Eve; the New Testament also records some words that Satan spoke to tempt the Lord Jesus. At the time, Siyuan thought: From the time when I began to believe in the Lord till now, and when I studied theology, the pastors and elders have always told me that the Bible is inspired by God and all the words in the Bible are God’s words, and I also preach this to brothers and sisters. But now it seems that there is a big problem with this saying. If Satan’s words are said to be God’s words, isn’t this blasphemy against God? The sin of blaspheming God shall never be forgiven! At this thought, Siyuan couldn’t help feeling horrified, and a cold sweat burst out on his brow. Siyuan found he didn’t understand the Bible at all. Although he could recite some passages of the Bible backward and forward, was familiar with the people in it, and clearly knew the background of their times, he had never thought that there are many Satan’s words in the Bible. This made Siyuan confused: Since what the Bible records is not all God’s words, then is the Bible inspired by God? If it is not inspired by God, why did Brother Paul say “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16)? Being extremely puzzled by these questions, Siyuan decided to go and have a discussion with his classmate Zhang Yi, who once studied theology together with him.

After hearing Siyuan’s puzzlement, Zhang Yi said to him, “Siyuan, I was also confused about these questions previously, and just couldn’t figure out whether the Bible was inspired by God. Later, I remembered the Lord said: ‘seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’ (Matthew 7:7). Then I realized: The Lord is faithful. As long as we seek sincerely, God will surely enlighten us. Thank the Lord for His guidance! My confusions were released by studying several verses.”

Upon hearing this, Siyuan asked eagerly, “Tell me please! Which verses did you study?”

Zhang Yi said with a smile, “You haven’t changed at all. Take it easy. Just listen to me please. Do you still remember 1 Chronicles 21:1 says ‘And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel’? 2 Samuel 24:1 also records the story of David numbering Israel, which says: ‘And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.’ These two verses all record the story of David numbering the Israel, but one verse says that it is Jehovah God that moved David while the other says that it is Satan that provoked David. Obviously, there’re discrepancies here. Besides, 2 Chronicles 36:9 records: ‘Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign,’ while 2 Kings 24:4 says: ‘Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign.’ We can see that the records of the same event are different in these two verses. Then I began to ponder: If the Bible is all inspired by God, can it be that God gives different inspirations to one thing? God never commits errors. So we can say that the Bible is not inspired by God.”

Astonished by Zhang Yi’s words, Siyuan immediately turned the Bible to these verses, and found that, just as what Zhang Yi said, the same thing is recorded differently in these verses. Siyuan was astounded: Yeah. If the Bible is all from the inspiration of God, it should contain no inaccuracies or errors. How come there’re discrepancies in it? With this confusion, he asked, “I agree with what you just said. The Bible truly has discrepancies. Then why did Brother Paul said all scripture is given by inspiration of God? How do you interpret his words?”

Zhang Yi fellowshiped carefully, “I was once puzzled by this question, too. These years, by studying some relevant materials, I got to know how the New Testament of the Bible came into being and finally figured out this question. We all know that the Revelation of the Bible is the record of the vision that John saw on the island of Patmos in A.D. 90s. In A.D. 300s, the religious leaders from various countries chose the four Gospels at a council in Nicaea, and selected some epistles written by Paul, Peter, and some others from those many letters. Then they compiled the four Gospels, those Epistles and the Revelation written by John. So, the New Testament was formed. And later, they put the Old Testament and New Testament together. Thus the Bible came into being, that is the Old and New Testament today. Upon closer reflection, it’s not hard to find that the New Testament was compiled into a book in A.D. 300s, but 2 Timothy was written by Paul in A.D. 60s, which was over 200 years earlier than the formation of the New Testament. So it’s evident that in the letters Paul wrote to Timothy, the ‘scripture’ in ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ does not include the New Testament but only refers to the Old Testament.”

At this time, Siyuan felt brightened: It turns out that there was no New Testament when Paul said the words ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God.’ That is to say, not everything in the Bible is inspired by God! Then, he went on asking, “Just now, you mentioned that the ‘scripture’ Paul spoke of referred to the Old Testament. However, the Old Testament also records some words spoken by Satan and some mistakenly recorded words. So which part of the Old Testament is given by inspiration of God?”

After thinking for a while, Zhang Yi said, “I once read a passage of word in a spiritual book which says: ‘The foretellings of the prophets were personally instructed by God: The prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel came from the direct instruction of the Holy Spirit.’ Peter also said, ‘For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost’ (2 Peter 1:21). The prophets are all those who had received the Spirit of prophecy. Their prophecies are personally instructed by God and are directly from God, and are all God’s words. If we read the Bible carefully, we’ll easily find that there’re words like ‘the vision of XX,’ ‘XX saw visions,’ or ‘the word of the LORD came unto XX’ at the beginning of almost every book of the prophets. For example, Isaiah says: ‘The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz.’ Jeremiah says: ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD.’ Ezekiel says: ‘and I saw visions of God.’ And Malachi says: ‘The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.’ Apart from the books of the prophets, there is no other book in the Old Testament saying such words. Therefore, the ‘scripture’ in Paul’s word ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ refers to the prophecies in the books of the prophets in the Old Testament.”

Siyuan felt he gained a lot from Zhang Yi’s fellowship. He said with emotion, “It turns out that Brother Paul’s words ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ don’t refer to the whole Bible! What you said is enlightening and insightful. This is what I’ve never heard before. Today I’ve learned so much!”

Zhang Yi said with modesty, “Thank the Lord. It’s all out of the Lord’s guidance! In the past when we studied theology, we only focused on the biblical knowledge and theological theory, and even treated the Bible as a heavenly book. Never did we know that the Bible is just a historical book and a record of God’s work. When the Lord Jesus came to do work, the Pharisees held on to the Old Testament, and thus refused to accept the words and work of the Lord Jesus. At last, they nailed the Lord Jesus onto the cross under the excuse that the Lord Jesus’ words and work went beyond the law of the Old Testament. They committed a heinous crime, offended God’s disposition, and were finally subjected to God’s righteous punishment.”

Hearing Zhang Yi’s words, Siyuan was deeply touched. He said, “What you said is quite reasonable. God is so almighty and wise, and cannot be fathomed by us. We should draw a lesson from the Pharisees and never define God!”

Zhang Yi nodded and said, “Yes. The Lord Jesus also told us: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come’ (John 16:12-13). It is also prophesied many times in the Revelation: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 2:7). God has clearly told us that He will speak and work when He returns to guide us to understand all the truth. There are many prophecies in the Bible that we don’t understand, for example, the judgment before the great white throne, the work of separating sheep from goats, the work of reaping wheat and tares, and the work of classifying all according to their kind. We have no idea of how these prophecies will be fulfilled, and the Bible doesn’t explain them, either. So only when the Lord returns and reveals these mysteries personally, can we know them!”

Siyuan nodded and said, “Thank the Lord. There’s light in this fellowship! I think we should take initiative to seek which church is testifying the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches and see whether we can find the footprints of the Lord.”

Zhang Yi said in agreement, “We can search online. Perhaps we will have some surprising gain.”

Siyuan said with a smile, “So what are we waiting for? Let’s do it right now …”

If you have other understanding or new light about this article, you’re welcome to have a chat with us via the online chat window at the bottom of the website or send an email to [email protected]. We Look forward to sharing with more brothers and sisters about your enlightenment from God and growing together in Christ.

Is the Bible Really All Inspired by God?

By Siyuan

The moonlight was hazy and the stars were shining faintly. Under the dark blue night sky, the grounds Then why did Brother Paul said all scripture is given by inspiration of God? How do you interpret his wordsere perfectly still. The chirping of the crickets and the occasional bark of the dogs made the streets even more quiet. It was already late in the night, but Siyuan was not sleepy. 

He was attentively preparing the sermon for the second day. While thinking of preaching on “faith,” he intended to fellowship Job’s testimonywith his brothers and sisters. So he immediately turned to the Book of Job, and happened to see that Satan made the following accusation against Job: “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have not you made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1:9-11). Siyuan thought: Satan is really evil and base. It actually thought out such a trick to accuse Job. Was it not just because it wanted to make people not whorship God and follow it to do evil things? Satan is truly Satan. Even its words reek of evil. Just then, a clear thought came into his mind: This is Satan’s words! Siyuan was stunned: Isn’t it said that all the words in the Bible are God’s words? Why are there Satan’s words? What is going on here? Siyuan stopped writing and went on to flick through the Bible. Only then did he find that the Book of Job is not the only book in the Bible that records the words of Satan. For example, in Genesis, there’re words that Satan spoke to entice Eve; the New Testament also records some words that Satan spoke to tempt the Lord Jesus. At the time, Siyuan thought: From the time when I began to believe in the Lord till now, and when I studied theology, the pastors and elders have always told me that the Bible is inspired by God and all the words in the Bible are God’s words, and I also preach this to brothers and sisters. But now it seems that there is a big problem with this saying. If Satan’s words are said to be God’s words, isn’t this blasphemy against God? The sin of blaspheming God shall never be forgiven! At this thought, Siyuan couldn’t help feeling horrified, and a cold sweat burst out on his brow. Siyuan found he didn’t understand the Bible at all. Although he could recite some passages of the Bible backward and forward, was familiar with the people in it, and clearly knew the background of their times, he had never thought that there are many Satan’s words in the Bible. This made Siyuan confused: Since what the Bible records is not all God’s words, then is the Bible inspired by God? If it is not inspired by God, why did Brother Paul say “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16)? Being extremely puzzled by these questions, Siyuan decided to go and have a discussion with his classmate Zhang Yi, who once studied theology together with him.

After hearing Siyuan’s puzzlement, Zhang Yi said to him, “Siyuan, I was also confused about these questions previously, and just couldn’t figure out whether the Bible was inspired by God. Later, I remembered the Lord said: ‘seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’ (Matthew 7:7). Then I realized: The Lord is faithful. As long as we seek sincerely, God will surely enlighten us. Thank the Lord for His guidance! My confusions were released by studying several verses.”

Upon hearing this, Siyuan asked eagerly, “Tell me please! Which verses did you study?”

Zhang Yi said with a smile, “You haven’t changed at all. Take it easy. Just listen to me please. Do you still remember 1 Chronicles 21:1 says ‘And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel’? 2 Samuel 24:1 also records the story of David numbering Israel, which says: ‘And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.’ These two verses all record the story of David numbering the Israel, but one verse says that it is Jehovah God that moved David while the other says that it is Satan that provoked David. Obviously, there’re discrepancies here. Besides, 2 Chronicles 36:9 records: ‘Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign,’ while 2 Kings 24:4 says: ‘Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign.’ We can see that the records of the same event are different in these two verses. Then I began to ponder: If the Bible is all inspired by God, can it be that God gives different inspirations to one thing? God never commits errors. So we can say that the Bible is not inspired by God.”

Astonished by Zhang Yi’s words, Siyuan immediately turned the Bible to these verses, and found that, just as what Zhang Yi said, the same thing is recorded differently in these verses. Siyuan was astounded: Yeah. If the Bible is all from the inspiration of God, it should contain no inaccuracies or errors. How come there’re discrepancies in it? With this confusion, he asked, “I agree with what you just said. The Bible truly has discrepancies. Then why did Brother Paul say all scripture is given by inspiration of God? How do you interpret his words?”

Zhang Yi fellowshiped carefully, “I was once puzzled by this question, too. These years, by studying some relevant materials, I got to know how the New Testament of the Bible came into being and finally figured out this question. We all know that the Revelation of the Bible is the record of the vision that John saw on the island of Patmos in A.D. 90s. In A.D. 300s, the religious leaders from various countries chose the four Gospels at a council in Nicaea, and selected some epistles written by Paul, Peter, and some others from those many letters. Then they compiled the four Gospels, those Epistles and the Revelation written by John. So, the New Testament was formed. And later, they put the Old Testament and New Testament together. Thus the Bible came into being, that is the Old and New Testament today. Upon closer reflection, it’s not hard to find that the New Testament was compiled into a book in A.D. 300s, but 2 Timothy was written by Paul in A.D. 60s, which was over 200 years earlier than the formation of the New Testament. So it’s evident that in the letters Paul wrote to Timothy, the ‘scripture’ in ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ does not include the New Testament but only refers to the Old Testament.”

At this time, Siyuan felt brightened: It turns out that there was no New Testament when Paul said the words ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God.’ That is to say, not everything in the Bible is inspired by God! Then, he went on asking, “Just now, you mentioned that the ‘scripture’ Paul spoke of referred to the Old Testament. However, the Old Testament also records some words spoken by Satan and some mistakenly recorded words. So which part of the Old Testament is given by inspiration of God?”

After thinking for a while, Zhang Yi said, “I once read a passage of word in a spiritual book which says: ‘The foretellings of the prophets were personally instructed by God: The prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel came from the direct instruction of the Holy Spirit.’ Peter also said, ‘For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost’ (2 Peter 1:21). The prophets are all those who had received the Spirit of prophecy. Their prophecies are personally instructed by God and are directly from God, and are all God’s words. If we read the Bible carefully, we’ll easily find that there’re words like ‘the vision of XX,’ ‘XX saw visions,’ or ‘the word of the LORD came unto XX’ at the beginning of almost every book of the prophets. For example, Isaiah says: ‘The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz.’ Jeremiah says: ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD.’ Ezekiel says: ‘and I saw visions of God.’ And Malachi says: ‘The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.’ Apart from the books of the prophets, there is no other book in the Old Testament saying such words. Therefore, the ‘scripture’ in Paul’s word ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ refers to the prophecies in the books of the prophets in the Old Testament.”

Siyuan felt he gained a lot from Zhang Yi’s fellowship. He said with emotion, “It turns out that Brother Paul’s words ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ don’t refer to the whole Bible! What you said is enlightening and insightful. This is what I’ve never heard before. Today I’ve learned so much!”

Zhang Yi said with modesty, “Thank the Lord. It’s all out of the Lord’s guidance! In the past when we studied theology, we only focused on the biblical knowledge and theological theory, and even treated the Bible as a heavenly book. Never did we know that the Bible is just a historical book and a record of God’s work. When the Lord Jesus came to do work, the Pharisees held on to the Old Testament, and thus refused to accept the words and work of the Lord Jesus. At last, they nailed the Lord Jesus onto the cross under the excuse that the Lord Jesus’ words and work went beyond the law of the Old Testament. They committed a heinous crime, offended God’s disposition, and were finally subjected to God’s righteous punishment.”

Hearing Zhang Yi’s words, Siyuan was deeply touched. He said, “What you said is quite reasonable. God is so almighty and wise, and cannot be fathomed by us. We should draw a lesson from the Pharisees and never define God!”

Zhang Yi nodded and said, “Yes. The Lord Jesus also told us: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come’ (John 16:12-13). It is also prophesied many times in the Revelation: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 2:7). God has clearly told us that He will speak and work when He returns to guide us to understand all the truth. There are many prophecies in the Bible that we don’t understand, for example, the judgment before the great white throne, the work of separating sheep from goats, the work of reaping wheat and tares, and the work of classifying all according to their kind. We have no idea of how these prophecies will be fulfilled, and the Bible doesn’t explain them, either. So only when the Lord returns and reveals these mysteries personally, can we know them!”

Siyuan nodded and said, “Thank the Lord. There’s light in this fellowship! I think we should take initiative to seek which church is testifying the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches and see whether we can find the footprints of the Lord.”

Zhang Yi said in agreement, “We can search online. Perhaps we will have some surprising gain.”

Siyuan said with a smile, “So what are we waiting for? Let’s do it right now …”