The Bible contains the very words of God: Exodus 20:1-2 (ESV) And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
The words of angels: Luke 1:13 (ESV) But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”
The words of Satan himself: Luke 4:3 (ESV) The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
The words of demons: Matthew 8:31 (ESV) And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.”
The words of men: Exodus 3:3 (ESV) And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
It even records the words of a donkey: Numbers 22:28 (ESV) Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
There are metaphors: Isaiah 64:8 (ESV) “But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
There are similes: Mark 4:26-29 (ESV) And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.”
There are even lies in the Bible: Genesis 3:4 (ESV) But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”
So, yes, there are lies in the Bible, but two points need to be made here: God Himself does not lie (Num 23:19) and the Bible records all events and quotes accurately. So, while there are lies quoted in the Bible, the Bible Itself does not lie (John 17:17).
Why is this important? Well, you will sometimes hear opponents of the Bible misquote passages or quote some person in the Bible to say the Bible teaches or sanctions something evil. How do we handle such objections? We simply point out that, while the Bible reports these acts, it does not endorse them. So, be careful. Biblical citations need to be read in context.
In a very real sense, the Bible should be read much like a newspaper. It includes figures of speech and quotes from all sorts of individuals. When the Los Angeles Times publishes the times for sunset and sunrise, we don’t think the writers believe the sun actually rises and sets but that the earth rotates. Sunrise and sunset are just figures of speech. When they used to call Ted Kennedy, “The Lion of the Senate,” we didn’t think they were saying he was a jungle cat. How foolish. In the same way, we need to include a little common sense with our Bible reading.
Now, when someone tells you the Bible teaches a flat earth because Isa. 11:12 talks about the four corners of the earth, tell them to get a life.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 