That’s true, but is the symbol more important than a human life? Muslims around the world seem to be either saying yes, or indirectly saying that the physical copy of the Koran is God.
I didn’t say that the Bible WAS Jesus. I said that it was part of Jesus. What I mean is that the Sacred Scriptures contain words written about Jesus, as authorized and written by God Himself. If God Himself wrote the words of the Bible, then, just as God spoke creation into existence in Genesis, His words are part of who He is, for never does God speak and break His word. His actions are tied directly to His words.
I understand the Bible itself is not the word of God. However, the words written inside of the Bible are the word of God. If you defile a Bible, you may not be actually defiling the word of God but you are at least making an outward attempt to do so. It would be as if you spit on a priest as he taught us the word because of what he was teaching.
The books of the bible were not written by God, they were inspired by God. The Scriptures are not a part of Jesus, they merely point to Jesus and tell us about Jesus.
I have no problem with this. I would agree that in an inadvertant way you are defiling The Word by defiling the bible.
All depends on what the symbol represents.
God is the primary author of Scripture:
That is mostly correct but the fact remains that we do have the Bible what is inside of it is still His word and His teachings.
That is correct. And inside the Bible contains the Gospels which are the main written record of what Jesus said and did. I can illustrate my point better by modifying just one word of your sentence. The Bible does not tell us anything except what Christ revealed while he was on earth.
Again, His words are a part of Him, not Himself entirely. God is eternal, spritual, and without any bounds. It is not as though the Sacred Scripture + Sacred Tradition + attributes of God = God. It is that His word is a part of Him and Sacred Scripture contains His words. The Sacred pages do not make up 5% of Him or 35% of Him - they are just part of Him. Without the words on the sacred pages, God would still be fully God, but because the words are on the sacred pages, we have a written glimpse of who He is through what He has told us.
The bible is his word, but it is not his Word. Not everything that is true is part of The Word. But it may point to The Word. The Bible is true in everything that it says, but that does not make it a part of The Word. It means that it points to The Word. It is kind of like a reflection or a shadow of The Truth. By reading the Bible you see who Christ is through every word on every page, but you are not looking upon Christ Himself by reading those words, and when you hear the gospels, you are not hearing Christ.
I am not sure what difference your modification makes. The Bible is not the actual actions of Christ or the sayings of Christ. They are the record of the sayings and actions. This is a huge difference. The Bible is not showing you Christ himself, but the inspired record of Christ.
Again, Scripture is more like a reflection of Christ than being a part of Him.
You are correct, of course, but I think there’s a distinction between martyrdom and murder. People have chosen to sacrifice their lives to defend their faith. Others (most notably Muslims in modern times) have chosen to murder those that they believe defile their faith. The situation we’re discussing her is the choice to murder because one’s faith has been slandered (or so they perceive).