All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Word of God (the Bible)
The Word of God (written or given Word) is a great blessing. We know that the gospel is the mechanism that God uses in harmony with the Holy Spirit to draw people unto salvation. According to Romans 10 they must hear the Word of Christ in order to be saved. The key is understanding the purpose of the Bible. We are blessed to have it, but Jesus is our goal and our Savior. I do not see the Bible and Jesus as equal. That does not diminish the Word of God. Both are good, but one is the Savior and the other is the tool used to guide us to Him and into a living relationship with Him.
Imagine for a minute. If you were faced with Jesus on your left and the written the Word of God on the right and your were given a choice to choose one, which would it be? Fortunately we do not have to choose, but we know that Jesus died for us, the Bible records it. Jesus' blood covers our sins, the Bible reveals it. Jesus is coming back to take us to be where He is, the Bible reveals this to us. One is a witness the other is the Savior. Here is another way of approaching this, I love Jesus and I greatly appreciate the Bible. One more approach, the Bible reveals Jesus and in some parts of the world people have heard the gospel and maybe a few more verses, they do not own a Bible as it may not even have been written in their language at this time, but many repent and come to Jesus because they heard the gospel. They have Jesus and yet only snippets of the written Word.
If every Bible you own was stolen and access to any other Bible denied would you be lost or still in a living relationship with Jesus? On the other side of the coin does owning a Bible assure one is saved?
I close with this. The Bible and Jesus are both good. Thank God you own a Bible, praise God that you are saved.
What's your take on this?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Grazer,
If the Bible were dispensable (Not saying you said that, but go with my thought for a moment) and had never been written where would you have heard about Jesus as being the Savior and the One who died for our sins on the cross?
Lord Bless,
LT
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Permalink Reply by Grazer #E2H on
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Same way everyone else did before any of the gospels or letters were written? God uses a variety of ways
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Grazer,
You really believe that without the written Word as a basis that you would have heard of Jesus 2000 years later? What version of the story do you think you would have heard and how many times would various cultures have polluted the gospel message to suit their needs? That is some faith in man ....
Lord Bless,
LT
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That's happened with the Bible anyway; how many translations do we have? How many different ways is a particular version interpreted? Seems no matter which way you do it, you'll get someones interpretation of it; you can't read the Bible without interpreting it.
Paul didn't go to the churches and say "here, read this", he went and SPOKE to them. It is a lost art but as you pointed out to me, how many people have come to Christ by experience or dreams? They didn't read anything up until that point.
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All the basic translations teach/reveal the same thing. Having the Word to keep bringing us back to the truth is the point, because without the Word all those interpretations you talk about would be so far out there absent the Word.
Paul did not go and say read this (yet he did tell them to share the letters he had written), but he had two things. 1 of which we have and the other we do not have except through him and the other human authors of Scripture. 1) They had the Old Testament. It was recorded and available to the religious leaders from early on. Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, the Book of Isaiah was read annually at the Feat of Tabernacles (I think that is the right Feast). When Israel erred they had the Law, the written Law (first 5 books) early on, to go back to in order to find out what pleases God and how they should live. 2) Paul and the others were eyewitnesses and that makes a huge difference.
Just think if the Bible had never been given we would today be giving large amount of money to the church to buy people out of hell (among many other things) ... that was done during a time when the Bible was only available to the church leaders in a language that basically only they understood. The Reformation and printing press changes a lot of that.
I beg to differ, no one has come to Christ by dreams or simple experience without having some exposure to the gospel message. The dreams will set up the gospel message, but do not replace it. Saul who became Paul waited on Anenias. Cornelius waited on Peter, etc ...
Lord Bless,
LT
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And how do we discern what is true? We seem to have many different versions of it and views on what is the truth? You keep saying go back to the word but which one? We don't have the originals and as Ive pointed out we have many translations?
The gospel was first spread orally so it wasn't a problem then
Simply put, the bible is not God or equal to God
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What version that is used in the Christian realm teaches something different from others. When you look at the whole of Scripture they all say the same basic thing ... Go back to the NIV, KJV, NASB, NLT, etc and you will find Jesus and salvation by grace through faith.
Actually it was a problem then. Just read Acts 15.
Yes, the Bible is not God, but is of God and from God. It is His Word, thus it is the Word of God and not simply a word about God.
Lord Bless,
LT
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As a whole, I agree. but when you start getting into details of individual issues, things seem very different. But the question still remains, which one is the true word of God? And does that include the titles and verse numbers?
If it was a problem, the written word hasn't solved it
Its words he inspired, I see it as a combination of Him and the humans who wrote it; oh and the sources they used; and changes in language over time. Its words from God about us and words from us about Him
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Grazer,
The true Word of God is the One He originally gave of which many copies have been made. These copies all say the same basic thing. The 5000+ manuscripts have very small variances and none in the area of doctrine. Now, we can talk about translations, but here we must accept that changing any document from one language to another will have challenges, but that does not negate the work. It is part of the territory when you change it to another language. Again, at the end of the day we have numerous translations that basically all say the same thing.
The written Word has brought continuity that would not have existed today otherwise. The Word still says the same thing, but man seeks to interpret it and often misses the mark causing man made divisions. Yet, what we have to do is go back to the Word and seek to understand it in context in the local section and in context of the Bible as a whole. If we did not have the Word as our standard I cannot even imagine how far off the mark the church would be without the foundation of Scripture to reset itself from time to time (i.e. Reformation)
Grazer, there is one thing, among several, that is true of me that will not ever change .... the Bible is God's Word. There is nothing you can say or any evidence that will ever move me away from that understanding. I have been in the "word about God" camp and it is left wanting and will never satisfy the hungering soul, for God designed the Word to work in harmony with the Holy Spirit.
Lord Bless,
LT
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Permalink Reply by Tammy on
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My guess is someone has already quoted this Scripture but I think it bears repeating. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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Tammy,
I agree, but for the person who only sees God's Word as a word about God this verse is simply dismissed, explained away, or questioned with unceasing doubts ....
Lord Bless,
LT
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Permalink Reply by JB on
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I agree Amanda that there is a lot more to this than what we have discussed so far.
But I just wanted to address this one thing for now; I only frown on feelings when we allow those feelings to become the truth rather than the Word of God. For instance The bible says we are new creatures; that old things have passed away, behold all things have become new, but we look in the mirror after being born again, and instead of seeing who we are in Christ, (The bible is a reflection of who actually are in the spirit) we see the same old person we were before getting saved, we still look the same, sometimes the old habits are still controlling our behavior, and then we conclude that maybe I really didn’t get born again after all; because the bible says that I am a new creation etc. They really do not understand that the only part of them that is born again, or changed is their spirits. Our souls are not born again, what we see, feel, taste, smell and hear, stay the same, until we bring them under the dominion of the Word. I think Ro.7 describes a person that is trying to please God by his own natural ability. This is one reason we suffer defeat, failure, and an inability to do the desired good we would like to do. In our flesh we cannot overcome, turn the other cheek, forgive an unlimited number of times etc. We come under condemnation when we try to please God by our own efforts or feelings. Oh! God I am trying to do better, I want to do better, but I just can’t, Why? Because, I am trying to do it with my own abilities. But I know Jesus can, and I’m in Him. So I remember that Christ is my righteousness now. Remember Ro.4, “What shall we say that Abraham our Father, as pertaining to the flesh has found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God…..Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” I heard a Greek scholar say one time, [I know him personally] that he feels many times that he isn’t born again. But he knows he can’t live according to his feelings. This peace and contentment can only come by the renewing of the mind; by giving the Word first place in our lives.
JB
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