As for my thoughts on this. I would say that off the top of my head, I would answer the question as a NO. Christianity does not need the Bible to be successful at winning souls. Nor does it need the Bible to survive, and my biggest defense it this belief would be what God told Jeremiah,
"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." (Jeremiah 31:33)
All we need is for Him to be in our hearts and we can and will win souls. The life of those who were locked up without bibles in concentration camps under the Nazis, and the Soviet Union, and East Germans, reached non Christians with their logical explanation of God and Christ. The original Christians had no Scriptures to read and share. Inevitably the letters they could share became our new testament, but man were saved and brought to Christ who could not read, by other Christians who could not read. Jesus told his followers that he would bring to remembrance the things he taught them when they needed Him to. When it comes time to testify, we are told not to worry about what to say, because the Spirit will speak for us.
The Bible at times I fear, becomes a hindrance for many. I mean so in the case that they fail to put things to memory, and so when they attempt to remember scripture they fail. If we put more faith in Christ to help us share the word, then we will be able to reach the people we need to reach in ways we never would have thought possible. Yes, especially if we do not have a bible handy to point to. The Bible is needed for Christians to study and learn. We are supposed to read it, and each and every Christian is told to study to be approved, but it is not needed to grow the Church.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2Timothy 2:15
My friend Doug would appreciate some feedback on this before he decides whether or not to sit down and write a book, or teach a class on this subject in his class. It is a long read, but a good thought provoking one.
Before the Bible, you didn’t have Elton John communicating to the masses that Jesus Christ was a homosexual.
....All we need is for Him to be in our hearts and we can and will win souls.
Ping for later
Do you need matter to have a physical body?
Same answer to both questions.
Christianity without the Bible is mere paganism. Make God into anything and anything into a god.
The Bible is known to be more accurate today than at any time in the past.
Only those who have misguided faith in the pronouncements of philsophical naturalism (science) would even consider such a question.
“Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Don’t plan on meeting your friend in the hereafter.
My response is we do need the Bible.We do need a written text
because it is the source for our faith. What we feel inside
is subjective and can be misleading .The written text gives us a record that can be tracked back to the eyewitness accounts.My girl has a boyfriend who has read the Bible and believes a lot of it but he also believes he has seen the devil while doing Meth and he still prefers how he “feels “ on drugs. My point being he is relying on what he feels in his heart And that cannot be reconciled favorably to Scripture.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
The Bible is God...God is the Bible. YES, Christianity needs the Bible.
The Bible is a Christian’s written authority, without written authority Christianity would be mere opinion, one man’s opinion is as good as another. No one could be proven right or wrong. It would be like Judaism without Moses’ law.
The problem with interpreting this without the bible is that God's "law"....the one that he puts into our hearts and minds....become entirely subjective without a basis in scripture.
In fact modern Christianity has already done this. They've decided to interpret God's law as basically whatever we want.
Scripture IS needed today because the world is under the sway of Satan. In the future, when Satan is put away and Christ rules physically all governments then scripture MIGHT not be needed but that's only because God himself will be there to teach.
Since writing was the way Scripture were preserved for those not an eye witness to the events described and since its survival in the face the greatest campaigns against it, it would seem the Bible has the necessity for Christianity.
Perhaps another means of transmitting that Word of God would work but a written word is what was directed, Christianity and God’s Word are parts of a whole not just close friends.
Without a Bible, would we be Christians?
Holy Scripture is the divinely inspired word of God and is inseparable from Christianity.
Respectfully, Doug’s argument begins with a false premise and is therefore falsified.
Amadeo
Holy Scripture is the divinely inspired word of God and is inseparable from Christianity.
Respectfully, Doug’s argument begins with a false premise and is therefore falsified.
Amadeo
In short, you need the Bible.
Take the Bible out, and the theology will start falling apart. Look at history, and what happens when a church or denomination leaves the Bible. It will (not may) start embracing all sorts of things, and very quickly leave God.
It is a Rule and curb for the Faith.
I am no theologian, therefore the pitfalls of such sometimes pass me by. As I studied... I have found Christ used scripture in the desert and with those who knew it best. However, I find little value in arguing word for word, it is a trap at the most, an intellectual... Um pissing contest at worst. However from the first book to the last, it defines our relationship with Christ and with others.. In that order. Of all the times The Bible took my breath away, consoled and delighted me.. I will keep it. This philosophical back and forth spans centuries, it does not feed the hungry, touch the untouchable. Christ did that and so much more. He is my example.. I am not to blame if some hard heart sees two words in The Bible as foolish. I will certainly plant truthful seeds in love and let God open the eyes.
I have said this before in other threads and I believe it. If by some catastrophic or man made by force event most if not all Bibles were destroyed The Word Of GOD continues to be taught to man. Man in his own follies thinks he or his church is why The Bible still exist today and that is simply not true. The Church of the believers in Christ is built upon the Rock of Divine Revelation and is proven time after time in scriptures. This was revealed when Christ told Peter that "No man has told you this but it was revealed to you by my Father in heaven." Divine Revelation through The Holy Spirit as promised believers by Christ is why the gates of hell can not prevail. That is how scripture can not go away. It is in our hearts. The Holy Spirit leads us into truth and warns us of wrong if we choose to listen that is.
In that respect this could not happen until Christ went to the cross and was risen. His last act was to given Them and the believers The Holy Spirit. This and this alone is what has kept The Gospel intact for 2000 years. If it were left up to man? We wouldn't recognize it. Added laws, added rules, added conditions, corruption, just like the scribes and Pharisees of old had done would make salvation through Jesus Christ a legalistic boondoggle no one could obtain or rather believe that they could. It would take reading decades of ancient text, understanding several languages, etc to understand what message Christ said in a few sentences if man had his way about it. A person should be able to to talk about & discuss salvation from remembered passages of the Four Gospels and help others.
Reading and relying on The Bible? Yes, reeading wise I rely on it alone as far as for sound doctorine, dogma, whatever term one wants to call it. But besides reading we should pray and listen more so for guidance from The Holy Spirit. I've read books discussing scriptures and even Hebrew traditions etc. But I rely on The Bible, The Holy Spirit, and prayer for the truth.
I am also reminded of Christ final ride into Jerusalem when the leaders of the Temple were telling Christ too rebuke or quieten the crowd.
Luke ch 19 38“Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!”£ 39But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” 40He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
The rocks would burst into cheers. Clearly GOD's Word prevails despite mans deeds not because of mans doings.
How would people know what exactly those laws are? Even God by His very own hand wrote down the law right from the very get go.No doubt there are some folks who think God has put it into their minds that it's fine to consume your neighbour.It's dangerous and shifting ground.
"Given this approach the skeptic’s target becomes both smaller and more difficult to hit – all without threat to Christianity’s teachings (which, after all, are the skeptic’s real prey)."
Ultimately it's the god of this world who drives attacks on the Word of God and his aim is to disarm christianity.The body of Christ has only one offensive weapon listed in their battle dress in Ephesians.
"The Bible at times I fear, becomes a hindrance for many."
It's far more than a hindrance to some.It is our only offensive weapon. Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
If it's souls you're after then putting aside the Word is going to let your enemy and theirs run roughshod over you both.
I know I've pretty much sidestepped your question but I honestly can't get past the thought of somehow moving the Bible to one side.In the times we live in I'd rather brandish the weapon than set it aside as a difficulty.
Just my $0.02 FWIW
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.