letters to surfers

How can you deny that documents were used in our books of the Bible?
by Robert Brow (www.brow.on.ca)

I have no doubt that all sorts of documents were used in the Old Testament, and obviously Matthew and Luke used Mark and other sources they have in common. But when we say someone wrote a book we assume that he or she used documents and sources. Part of the language game for producing a book is that the finished work (not the many drafts) is what the author had in mind. In that sense I believe that God brought the Bible into being, and the final canon of 66 books is what the eternal Word of God had in mind for his written Word. That is why I take the whole Bible seriously and work at trying to figure out why God wanted it in that final form. That allows me to say for example that Jesus changed some OT interpretations, through Peter he rejected the need for kosher foods, and his church soon saw there was no need for animal sacrifice or a temple in Jerusalem. The Bible is the work of human writers using many sources who had no idea they were writing Scripture. But the Son of God arranged for their documents to weave together to result in his Word which in infallible (does not fail to achieve his purpose).