Posted on 12/08/2011 2:01:52 PM PST by OneVike
Amen! Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD! Praise ye the LORD! (Psalm 150:6)
For many years (since back in the 60’s) I have had thoughts that Christians would be thrown in jails and prisons, and would no longer have access to His Word, and other Christian fellowships.(We seem to be closer that every day).
I knew a very godly man that was in his 50s when the doctors told him he soon would be blind. He began memorizing the New Testament,(and much of the Old testament)
When I met him he was in his 70s, you ask him to say, quote Matthew chapter 18, he would stop and think a little while, then quoted the whole chapter.
Luk 24:25-27 KJV - [25] Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: [26] Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? [27] And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
When Jesus Himself teaches about those things concerning His appearance by referencing the Scriptures, I take that as a rock solid sign that we're to do the same when witnessing to the lost. Jesus didn't pull any punches, He went straight to the Law and the Prophets for His authority. Now that we have the New Testament record of these events, that's just one more level of authority on top of the Old Testament.
I have to respectfully disagree.
Jesus and Paul had the old testament to rely on.
Jesus needed the old testament to prove who He said He was. Prophesy is nearly a third of the bible and that is for a reason.
Peter called Paul’s writing “scripture.” Without scripture, there is no gospel. Without the gospel to preach, there is no salvation.
I could come up with a wacky doctrine and orthodox Christians would have no defense without the scripture to show I was wrong. The bible is essential!!!
>> “I could come up with a wacky doctrine and orthodox Christians would have no defense without the scripture to show I was wrong. The bible is essential!!!” <<
.
Definitely.
This article makes a sound example of why a young person seeking to be a pastor should be discouraged from going to a so-called Bible college. The colleges are where the errors are being generated. Reading the word is God’s college.
Thanks for the ping!
The passage cited in Jeremiah regards the House of Israel AFTER the Great Tribulation, during the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ here on Earth over he House of David.
During the Church Age, at present, He is brought into our hearts by the ministry of God the Holy Spirit by faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
The Bible today, provides each and every believer a tremendous educational tool, by which we may read His Word. While we are thinking that Word, God the Holy Spirit is free to sanctify our thinking in our soul via our human spirit. As we continue to think through His Word, we also bring that Word into our mind (soul) where it may be used in our memory in recall, to address future situations by faith (doctrine).
Removing the Bible, removes one of the greatest tools and blessings God has ever given man.
The POW in places like the Hanoi Hilton were at first —not allowed to have a Bible .But the Bible exists. It is not God -it is the standard of our faith. The memories that helped the POW survive being told We can keep you forever— was those memories -and buttressed by shared memories of what is written
Before there was a written Bible there was oral tradition.Memory was cultivated. The written word had every word ,every symbol counted for an exact copy.The Bible is not God Never claimed to be. But it is the standard of our faith.IT is the cross reference to Truth.
Thanks, that was a very well thought out response to the question at at mom.
Sadly, in my many back and forth comments I may have come off as supporting the idea that Christianity could be fine without the Bible. However, like you the Word gives me comfort and I gain knowledge that is beyond anything else. We need the Word, or God would not have blessed us with it.
That being said, Christianity would have survived and thrived without it, but we would not be nearly as informed as we are with it. Also, I do not believe that Christianity would have influenced secular society as much with out it. After all, our very constitution is based upon the beliefs encompassed within the pages of the bible.
Mankind as a whole probably still be living in the dark ages without it, because it was the very idea of spreading the word to the masses that gave rise to the printing press. It was the ability of the common man to read the word that fueled the reformation also.
Along with the Renaissance and the reformation, mankind was catapulted into the modern age we are now enjoying. So for many reasons I thank God every day that I have the bible to open up.
Thanks for your 2 cents. It was well worth it, and while the question was posed, I do agree the word is needed, but we would have survived without it. Although it would have been much more difficult.
Well stated.
These excursions into human intellect, and academia, always seem to lead away from God. So-called Bible colleges have led far too many into destruction.
The Bible is not given for information, but for sanctification. Please do not take my post as being adversarial. Let's consider what God has provided us regarding His Will on the topic.
Consider Eph 5:26 below in context.
Eph 5:23-27
(23) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
(24) Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
(25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
(26) That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
(27) That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
What we call the Bible is what has been identified as the Canon of Scripture. The word 'canon' derives from the Greek word 'KANON' meaning ruler or measuring rod. The Canon of Scripture self contained as a measure of God's revealed Word to mankind.
The Word of God is provided in written form as Scripture contained in the 66 books we call the Bible. The Word of God has always existed. In the Hebrew, MEMRA existed long before the New Testament. The Word of God is also identified with the second person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ, (John 1).
During the Church Age, a time before Jesus Christ rules all kingdoms on the face of the Earth with a rod of iron and after His Resurrection and before God removes the Church, His Body and Bride from the Earth, ....during this Church Age, ...God the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God circulating in our thinking to sanctify our souls.
A supposition to remove the Bible insults the Plan of God for the sanctification of the Body of Christ and diminishes the glory He is due.
It should also be noted that for unbelievers, the Word of God is sharper than any two edged sword, such that those who are called will respond. Those who reject His Word, and have never accepted it are dead and condemned already.
Our God is a Living God.
Christianity is a spiritual life, not an academic study, nor a religious persuasion.
No man has the ability to convert his fellow man to Christianity. Influencing the thinking of another person is not Christianity. God the Holy Spirit baptizes an believer into the Body of Christ. Christianity is the ongoing sanctification of believers through faith in Christ.
Consider Eph 4-16.
Eph 4:4-16 (4) There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (5) One Lord, one faith, one baptism, (6) One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (7) But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. (8) Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (9) (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? (10) He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) (11) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (14) That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; (15) But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (16) From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
We are commanded to give a witness and minister throughout the world in the Great Commission.
Mat 28:18-20
(18) And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
(19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
(20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
1Co 10:21-24
(21) Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. (22) Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? (23) All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. (24) Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.
If we were to remove the Bible, we would remove the greatest blessing most sorely needed by unbelievers, the Canon of Scripture identified with His Word.
And I totally agree with you. We would lose the greatest tool in our arsenal of battling the enemy, and the greatest tool for understanding and getting close to God next to prayer.
many seem to think I want the Bible, or think we would be fine without it. We would survive, but I would rather not find out.
There are parts of the Bible which I could not hope to defend in a debate; there are other parts such as the flood story and the story of Uzzah in which you have to separate the story itself from the religious language and interpretation i.e. I could defend the story of Uzzah electrocuting himself by putting his hand on something which amounted to a crude capacitor but I could not defend the idea of God killing the guy for saving his (God's) own device from falling off a wagon and breaking; and there are stories I could defend quite well and surprisingly this includes the three major ghost stories in the bible, Jesus' own Resurrection, the tale of Lazarus, and the story of Saul, Samuel, and the "witch of Endor". Those three stories are all entirely ballpark for the paradigm which Julian Jaynes described. I don't subscribe to the idea that such things were shared hallucinations, I believe the phenomena Jaynes wrote about are the way the spirit world works.
Amongst the things I could not hope to defend in a serious debate, the worst is the book of revelations. The thing starts off saying "these things shall shortly come to pass"; there is no rational definition of "shortly" which means that two thousand years later whatever it is still hasn't happened, and reasonable people are standing around saying "Any day now, any day now!!!"
The book of revelations apparently was included in the Bible by some sort of a 5/4 vote and in my estimation the five guys got it wrong and the thing should be removed.
You’re not a believer.
You are lost eternally if this post is really how you see things.
well said. the WORD of God is Jesus Christ, we must not forget that and become worshippers of a book, we worship Christ.
Christianity can’t simply be reduced to a book otherwise we become like the Pharisees who knew a lot about rules and regulations, but they didn’t live according to the spirit of the law.
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