Who Actually Wrote the Bible? (The Truth Revealed)

Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FwQaFJuecI&t=2584s

The video, "Who Actually Wrote the Bible? (The Truth Revealed)," argues that the Bible is not the work of a single divine author or a few inspired men, but rather a "patchwork of voices" created and edited by countless human hands over centuries.

The key points of the video are:

Multiple, Competing Authorship: The Bible is a collection of writings from various authors—priests, poets, storytellers, and political figures—each shaped by the specific culture, politics, and conflicts of their time. For example, the first five books (the Torah) are not solely the work of Moses but are broken down by scholars into different sources with competing interests.

The Role of Editing and Redaction: The text was constantly copied, recopied, and edited by scribes, who sometimes made mistakes, smoothed out contradictions, or deliberately added verses to push theological or political points. Famous passages, like the story of the woman caught in adultery in the New Testament, were added centuries after the original manuscripts were written.

Contradictions and Different Agendas: Contradictions exist side-by-side in the text, such as the two different creation accounts in Genesis, or the differing accounts of the resurrection in the Gospels. This is presented as evidence that editors aimed to preserve multiple, sometimes conflicting, traditions rather than create a single, unified narrative.

New Testament Authorship: The Gospels themselves are anonymous; the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were attached later to give them authority. Furthermore, some letters attributed to Paul are considered by scholars to be forgeries written by later followers using his name to enforce church order.

Human Choices and Canonization: The books that make up the Bible (the canon) were not chosen by divine decree, but by councils of men arguing and voting. Human decisions during the Reformation also determined which books (like those included in the Catholic Bible but excluded from the Protestant one) were considered "God's word."

Borrowing from Other Cultures: Biblical narratives and laws, such as the flood story and certain legal codes, have clear parallels to much older Mesopotamian and Babylonian texts, suggesting the authors borrowed, adapted, and repackaged older wisdom and myths to suit their new identity.

The ultimate conclusion is that the Bible is a "human archive"—a record of humanity wrestling with hope, fear, political struggle, and the search for meaning—and its authority is derived from the power of institutions and tradition rather than from flawless, single-source divine dictation.