I understand that your God (I say "your" just as I don't want to speak for any other religions and their interpretations of god, or even just different sects of Christianity because that is a WHOLE thing) is seen as an infallible, just being. However, religious texts that is referred to by followers, clergymen, etc, are written by the same fallible, sinful humans that are on the earth.
The books of the Bible are written, in their outstanding majority, by righteous prophets and devout followers of the Lord. You are free to not trust them, just as I am free to heed their words. However, I would argue that literary analysis of the texts as well as the absolutely mind boggling cross-referencing present in the entirety of scripture across a millenium and a half points to its veracity and Divine origin. There is also a case to be made for the prophecies the Bible makes which are realised in later books. I saw some crazy probability stat the other day about Jesus fulfilling all of the prophecies in Isaiah about his coming, pretty crazy stuff when you delve into it. You've probably already seen this nice chart of the KJV's (protestant bible, meaning it has had books removed) cross references:
My knowledge is rusty on the exact topic, and I believe there's some collaboration between God and the writers of the bible in the canon of the book itself, however it leaves plenty of room for humanity to go off script, to mistranslate (intentionally or unintentionally), when putting these writings to ink and scripture.
That "collaboration" is the Holy Spirit working through these men, and it can also be direct interventions by God relayed by the writer. Furthermore, we have the an immense amount of thousand year-old manuscripts of these books which still line up with what we have today, and even then these are
manuscripts copied from original works which we can deduce were produced contemporarily to the events they describe (not Genesis, obviously). On the topic of "going off script", we are very much aware of this, and it is the reason why we have ecumenical councils, most notably the First Council of Niceae which gave us the
Nicene Creed.
it is a tremendous leap to just... trust these old guys that "No, I REALLLYYY talked to God, pinky promise!"
This is a recurring argument I see. A majority of these "old guys" were brutally massacred, tortured, strung up in unspeakable ways (and we know this because the people who did these atrocities wrote it down) for the truths they spoke of. It is absolutely laughable to think they simply did it for glory, personal gain or whatever else I hear so often. They got nothing out of it, and objectively ended up worse off by being so devout. Would you die for a funny little lie you made up with your mates?
Regardless, it is also a bit short sighted for something to be seen as only right and just and divine if it is written in the scripture. There are many things throughout history, as well as the modern day, that was never written of. Does the fact there is no specific reference to it make it sinful to partake in that thing? Just the internet, the phone/computer you're using to reply, would that, in the eyes of your God, be a sinful action as it was not condoned in the writings that you follow (assuming it is the direct word of God for this paragraph).
My computer is a creation of man, it is therefore inherently sinful because man is sin. The nuance being that I am actively doing my best to not use it
for sin, just as a married man or woman can love his partner without lusting for them. I mean, you really don't need a new book to the Bible to realise that the constant bombardement of our minds by temptations such as lust, passion, envy, hate and the works that we receive on these little light emitting boxes is kind of bad for our spirit. It's a question of not indulging and not falling into temptation.
On the subject of "Everyone is a sinner" the statement has always been.... off to me. It's said to people's faces all smiling in a stupor, but I can't help but feel there's a knife behind their back when they say it. Because as per your belief system, everyone is a sinner, but also the ones who follow God, repent etc are able to get into heaven, the afterlife and, whereas everyone else is cast into hell (whether that be a place of fire and torture, or just a place without the presence of God, I know there's many interpretations).
Well first off I'm sorry it came off that way, but I see and know exactly what you mean. This is a problem (and heresy, I might add) exclusive to protestant doctrines, which claim that salvation (access to Heaven) is done by faith alone. You can be the worst of the worst but if you are
sAvED (a term I hold a great disdain for) ie simply believe that Christ died and rose from the dead three days later OR in baptist tradition simply get baptised I believe you are the greatest person to walk the Earth and will absolutely and without question enter Heaven. This is why the view of Christianity in places such as America is so bad.
In Orthodoxy, there is no such thing. In fact, we do not even have a doctrine surrounding the question of Heaven and Hell, just a consesus of opinions from Church Fathers and Saints. Heaven and Hell aren't even physical places in Orthodoxy, but states of being, and we taste both of them everyday of this life, and then one day when it's over I guess I'll wind up in one or the other. I don't know, I'm just doing my best whilst I'm on the ride. The consensus is difficult to describe, personally when I'm asked on a whim I simply reply that Orthodoxy is about carrying your cross as Jesus did (metaphorically, of course).
This article I was reading the other day put it incredibly well:
"The Orthodox faith is about one’s personal transformation from their prison of self-centeredness to a state of giving of oneself to another, that is, “becoming love itself” to everyone and all of creation. Becoming love is not just to pull love off the shelf and use it here and there and then put it back on the shelf. It is said in Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” The New Testament was written in ancient Greek, and “mind” here means the spirit/heart region or nous in Greek. It is the condition and transformation of the heart that opens the door to the Kingdom of Heaven and enables us to receive all that God wants to give and share with us."
It makes the statement seem disingenuous when it's being said to me, personally, as it is a thing of "Everyone is a sinner but I'm a better sinner because I do my best to follow God's teachings and absolute authority
Well yes, you've probably always heard it from people who really believed they were better sinners because they "follow God's teachings". Saint Moses of Ethiopia famously said: "You fast, but Satan does not eat. You labor fervently, but Satan never sleeps. The only dimension with which you can outperform Satan is by acquiring humility, for Satan has no humility." What does this mean? Well, it is that God loves you just as much as he loves me, regardless of what any of us do to gain or lose his favour. God is infinitely complex, how could I, a lowly human possibly understand his wisdom? And why should I, a sinner, be rewarded better than you, a sinner too? I hope this makes sense lol. I'll reiterate that I'm deeply sorry my remark came off that way, though.