You Dont Need to Believe the Bible to Be a Christian

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#1
So I found this link from my brother in law who responded to these people online. They are saying that you dont need a Bible to be a Christian. If I press them they say the Bible is useful but not necessary to the life of a Christian. Heres a link to what the believe...

How Can You Call Yourselves Christian When You Don't Believe in the Bible?

What would you say in answer to this?
 
Nov 12, 2015
9,112
822
113
#2
I would say it is the next logical progression forward after beginning to say continued trust is not necessary to saving.
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#3
Here is an excerpt of what they said...


Word = Jesus = "the truth of God"

Jesus (the truth of God) have I hid in mine heart.

Word does not mean "the Bible" or words in the Bible.

"The Truth of God" is integral to the Christian life, or, we might prefer to say: The Truth of God is integral to oneness with God."




What say you?
 

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,862
9,581
113
#4
I would say that... believing in God and Jesus is what makes us Christian. Do we need to READ the bible to be a Christian? It would help, because that helps us on our journey to know and accept God. :)
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#5
I would say that... believing in God and Jesus is what makes us Christian. Do we need to READ the bible to be a Christian? It would help, because that helps us on our journey to know and accept God. :)

Well my question was "how can we know what God wants of us if we don't know His words to us?"
 

notmyown

Senior Member
May 26, 2016
4,586
1,047
113
#6
Well my question was "how can we know what God wants of us if we don't know His words to us?"
not only that, if you don't believe the Bible, how do you know you are a Christian? :rolleyes:

i suppose they're picking the parts they like to believe. it seems to be trendy.
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
7,417
3,468
113
#7
Lets take this from the other direction..

If a person claims to be a Christian but rejects the inspired Word of God when they read it in the Bible then they cannot call themselves followers of God.. The Bible is the revealed Word of God and thus once read it must be believed..

Now i can agree that a person who gets the simple gospel message from a preacher and believes and trusts in that basic message will still be saved even if they never have the opportunity to read the bible... But once a person starts reading they need to accept the Bible as being true... It is pointless to say that a person believes in Jesus and then turn around and state that they do not believe what Jesus said in the Bible... One must believe His WORD.. to believe Jesus..

John 6: KJV
{63} It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

Reject His Words and you reject Him..
 
Nov 12, 2015
9,112
822
113
#8
Here is an excerpt of what they said...


Word = Jesus = "the truth of God"

Jesus (the truth of God) have I hid in mine heart.

Word does not mean "the Bible" or words in the Bible.

"The Truth of God" is integral to the Christian life, or, we might prefer to say: The Truth of God is integral to oneness with God."




What say you?
Hmmm...the written word IS Jesus, but if no man hears, how will he go to Him?
 

Prov910

Senior Member
Jan 10, 2017
880
47
0
#9
How Can You Call Yourselves Christian When You Don't Believe in the Bible?

Well, you *could* make the PGA pro golf tour without owning a set of golf clubs. But it would be a LOT more difficult.

And I guess your post said "believing" in the bible, not just having a bible. Early Christians did not have bibles. The NT didn't exist until a couple hundred years later.(*) But they had faith. And they believed the gospel. I'm sure not it would be possible to have faith and believe the gospel yet not believe at least the basic message of the bible. Sure, some of us have questions about particular interpretations within the bible. That's why we have hundreds of different denominations of Christianity. But it seems like all Christians would at least have to believe the basic message of the gospel in the bible. Here's my interpretation: That Jesus died for our sins. That we must repent and receive atonement through Jesus Christ. That, having repented, we must have faith and walk in the spirit. Doing this, we will love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and love our neighbors as ourself. (Feel free to correct or amplify my gospel interpretation.) /jmho


(*) Really, bibles didn't begin to become widely distributed to the populace until about 1500 years later. Until that time the populace depended on the official church's interpretations and teachings--which wasn't always entirely accurate up to that point.
 

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
2,538
113
#10
Well you can go sit in the garage and call yourself a car but that don't make it so.

Lots of folks call themselves Christians but they do not know the Christ of the bible according to biblical knowledge.

The faith that saves comes from hearing the word of God.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
Feb 7, 2015
22,418
413
0
#11
Well my question was "how can we know what God wants of us if we don't know His words to us?"
Too many Muslims who never saw a Bible in their lives have told of coming to Jesus... THEN, beginning to learn more about Him through that book.
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#12
So here is the answer the site gave back to me when I asked "are you saying the Bible is not integral to the Christian life"

we are not saying the Bible isn't important.

However, we are pushing back against the common prominence and importance that Biblical literalists and inerrantists so often give it.

They give it the status of perfection and infallibility. We disagree with this.

They give it the status of being --literally-- the words of God, as if they were dictated to people who transcribed them word for word. We do not.

They give it the status of being equivalent to God when they call the Bible God's Word - capital W - which we equate with idolatry.

They wrongly see scripture verses that talk about God's word and think it is referring to "The Bible" when it is not.

They wrongly ascribe belief in the Bible in the way in which they believe in the Bible as necessary for salvation as if "holding proper beliefs about the bible" is essential for salvation and in some way salvific.

We take the Bible very seriously.
We give the Bible credit for being very important and useful.

But we do not deify the Bible in the way we see other Christians do. And we see this elevation of status and deification as often problematic because it leads to inaccurate literalism and dogma that ends up hurting the cause of Christ.


Wow!
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#13
Too many Muslims who never saw a Bible in their lives have told of coming to Jesus... THEN, beginning to learn more about Him through that book.

​Yes,I understand there are war torn countries with no access to the Bible and they still get saved.Thats not the point.The point is "is the Word of God integral to the Christian life"? Is it the infallible,God breathed Word of God?
 

Prov910

Senior Member
Jan 10, 2017
880
47
0
#15
So here is the answer the site gave back to me when I asked "are you saying the Bible is not integral to the Christian life"

we are not saying the Bible isn't important.

However, we are pushing back against the common prominence and importance that Biblical literalists and inerrantists so often give it.

They give it the status of perfection and infallibility. We disagree with this.

They give it the status of being --literally-- the words of God, as if they were dictated to people who transcribed them word for word. We do not.

They give it the status of being equivalent to God when they call the Bible God's Word - capital W - which we equate with idolatry.

They wrongly see scripture verses that talk about God's word and think it is referring to "The Bible" when it is not.

They wrongly ascribe belief in the Bible in the way in which they believe in the Bible as necessary for salvation as if "holding proper beliefs about the bible" is essential for salvation and in some way salvific.

We take the Bible very seriously.
We give the Bible credit for being very important and useful.

But we do not deify the Bible in the way we see other Christians do. And we see this elevation of status and deification as often problematic because it leads to inaccurate literalism and dogma that ends up hurting the cause of Christ.


Wow!
I can't say I entirely disagree with this. I've long said that I worship God and not the bible. To me the bible is a tool for worshiping God. Don't get me wrong. I read from the bible nearly every day. It's the best book ever written. It contains the word of God. But I view the bible as a means to an end, not the end itself.
 
Dec 12, 2013
46,515
20,395
113
#16
The very definitions of the verbiage testifies...

A believer<---one who is saved
A Christian<---one who is Christ like
A disciple<--A learner of one's doctrine


Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God
Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is the truth
All scripture is inspired and profitable for.....that the man of God may be complete, lacking nothing...
Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee
etc....

Seems a little off kilter to say one does not need the word of God/Bible.........
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
16,540
3,503
113
#17
So I found this link from my brother in law who responded to these people online. They are saying that you dont need a Bible to be a Christian. If I press them they say the Bible is useful but not necessary to the life of a Christian. Heres a link to what the believe...

How Can You Call Yourselves Christian When You Don't Believe in the Bible?

What would you say in answer to this?
Not many Christians today do believe their Bible. They are told by those holding fancy degrees that you can't trust the Bible. It has errors in it. You can only trust the "originals" but we don't have the originals. Therefore, we have no final authority on what God has said.
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#18
I can't say I entirely disagree with this. I've long said that I worship God and not the bible. To me the bible is a tool for worshiping God. Don't get me wrong. I read from the bible nearly every day. It's the best book ever written. It contains the word of God. But I view the bible as a means to an end, not the end itself.

Well I would said the Bible is the Word,hand in hand. Jesus is the Word right? You cannot separate the two.
 
F

FreeNChrist

Guest
#19
Well I would said the Bible is the Word,hand in hand. Jesus is the Word right? You cannot separate the two.
That's exactly what that site is warning against. The making of the written word synonymous with the Living Word, Jesus Christ. Which reduces Jesus to mere words on a page and deifies the book.
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#20
The very definitions of the verbiage testifies...

A believer<---one who is saved
A Christian<---one who is Christ like
A disciple<--A learner of one's doctrine


Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God
Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is the truth
All scripture is inspired and profitable for.....that the man of God may be complete, lacking nothing...
Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee
etc....

Seems a little off kilter to say one does not need the word of God/Bible.........

Right,its a totally foreign concept to me. Who does not believe their own Holy book is truth?