Dictation Bible

It makes no sense to me that the Bible was dictated word-for-word from God to the Biblical writers. I can't imagine the authors robotically writing what was being said to them from a voice in the sky that only they could hear. Could you imagine the scene?

God: Moses, I want you to write down what I say... In the beginning...
Moses: Wait, wait, wait, wait...
(writing) In...the...begin... (stops writing, looks up) is that with one "n" or two?
God: Uh, I think it's two...

This does not mean, however, that the Bible is uninspired. Don't confuse inspiration with dictation. The authors wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But we also have to remember that the authors were products of their time. They wrote in a way that made sense to their time and locale. They didn't fall into a trance and receive telepathic signals from God.

I think the Biblical authors were highly intuitive in the sense that they knew the story of their people and God up to their point in time. They saw the events of their people and interpreted them in terms of the overarching narrative. To them, God was somehow being revealed in the course of the contours Israel's existence. This, to me, is what is meant by inspiration.

Also, I don't believe the Biblical authors could predict specific events of the future. There is no such thing as predictive prophecy. By that I mean that they weren't looking into a crystal ball or being psychic. Any prophecies with a future orientation were only put forth in terms of what God had already said in the Sinai Covenant. Simply, if Israel obeyed the covenant they would prosper and live in the land of promise. If Israel disobeyed the covenant the would be ruined and taken into exile. The prophets simply looked around at the prevailing social and religious climate, saw that Israel was in violation of the covenant, and then pronounced doom and gloom on the nation. This would have been fairly obvious when you have superpowers like Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon breathing down your neck!! The role of the prophet was to interpret the events and summon Israel back to covenant faithfulness. The Sinai Covenant was always the context for their statements.

When people saw and heard Jesus, he was interpreted through the different lenses of the gospel writers, but with the overarching narrative in mind. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John never lost sight of the Old Testament foundation and the Sinai Covenant because Jesus didn't lose sight of them. Many of Jesus' warnings were summonings to Israel to covenant faithfulness. And, as before, Israel would remain unfaithful and were therefore susceptible to the covenantal curses. They would lose their place (temple) and their nation. When Jesus warned them of this, he was not making predictions. He was merely telling it like it was. He was the only one of his day who was doing this.

What I'm saying is we have to give up our notions of magical intervention when it comes to our encounters with the Bible, in both its authorship and its transmission.

I could go on, but I'll stop there. Discuss, please!!