The Bible is Unscriptural
by Trent Wilde
First, let’s deal with our definitions.
The English word “bible” derives from Greek “biblia” meaning “books,” but it eventually came to be used to refer to a collection of books, so thinking of it as a “library” may be more helpful than “books” in general, since “books” may be scattered and uncollected.
The word “scripture” comes from Latin “scriptus” meaning “writing.” For a number of centuries, however, people have used it to refer to writings that are considered sacred or holy.
The “bible” is the definitive and authoritative collection of “scripture.” But which books should be included in the Bible collection? Who gets to decide which writings are sacred and which are not? Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Greek Orthodox Christians, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians (and the list goes on) all have different books that make up their Bibles! What is more, is that the scriptures which make up their bibles are silent as to which books should be included. Again, no scripture in any Bible says which books should make up the Bible. If you believe that your religious views are to be based upon your scriptures, this creates somewhat of an awkward situation because you cannot validate the very Bible in which they are found by means of them. Thus, by definition, the Bible is unscriptural!
Let’s take this one step further; not only is it true that no scripture in any bible lists which books are to be included in the Bible, but no scripture even promotes the notion of “the Bible.” In other words, the authors of the various writings which were eventually gathered together by different communities to make up their Bibles expressed no interest in gathering together such a collection. They didn’t try to make definitive and authoritative collections of what they considered to be sacred writings, nor did they indicate that they thought doing so would be a good idea. There is thus no scriptural basis for any particular collection of books being “the bible,” nor is there a scriptural basis for the notion of “the Bible” or for the act of creating one. If you want to believe in a Bible, you are certainly free to do so, just remember that you are doing so without the company or approval of the authors of the writings within it.
