Prophets

[FallentoReason]

Fair enough. Can I ask though; what do you specifically mean by "the word of God"? I ask because I went to a Christian friend's house the other day and we had a healthy discussion about where I'm at and where he's at. Basically, he acknowledges every last inconsistency found in the Bible and therefore deems it irrelevant to his faith in Jesus because (drum roll) he says the Bible isn't the "Word of God", but Jesus instead, as per John 1 (which ironically is within the thing he decided to chuck out).

I'd say the bible is the word of god, and you note in your parenthetical the irony of claiming faith in Jesus while dismissing the Bible. It's also noteworthy that Jesus often quoted Scripture himself.

When I say the word of god, it's not the entire word of god, or all words uttered by prophets. The Bible speaks of some with the gift of prophecy without recording any of their prophecies. These were propbably given word for their local church and immediate needs.

What do we make of the known added verses? Basically what I'm asking is where's your threshold where things stop being "the word of God" because of reason A, B and/or C?

On a side note, I can't help but imagine these "prophets" as being nothing more than your average bard, like the ones who collectively came up with the Iliad and Odyssey. I can see why they have such an elevated status though, because in a nutshell, the ancient world saw poetry as being somewhat... "sacred". I can't remember if it was the Greeks or Romans, but one of them had poets that would be commisioned to write a poem about their client because that would ensure that their client would have a sort of "eternal life" thanks to the "sacredness" that they attached to poetry.

Personally I can't imagine Paul or Moses as bards.

The extract from 1 Samuel I quoted is actually about Saul... he joined in on the "prophesying" that these musicians were doing.

As for Moses, well...

Exodus 15:1,2
Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying,
"I will sing to the LORD...The LORD is my strength and my melody..."

Apparently, Moses was a Levite and the Levites were known for their musical prowess:

1 Chronicles 15:22
Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.

In the Old Testament, the main people with a ministry in music were Levites. There were probably no others engaged in this ministry full-time. Like the high priest himself, (Cf Hebrews 5:4) Levites did not volunteer for ministry, but were chosen by God. (Numbers 3:6, 12; 8:16, 19) They were chosen solely on the basis of their parentage. (1 Chronicles 25:1) Talent was not the critical factor. (Cf 1 Chronicles 25:8) They were literally born for this specific ministry.

http://www.net-burst.net/dove/ch8.htm