Could you sum up Christianity, why the Bible (only 39 books from the OT and 27 from t
Why nothing else can be added on? Why there is such a debate about the Bishop of Rome? Whether or not people that believe in a different God can be saved? Whether or not Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons are Christians at all?
And remember that for the first 300 years, Christians were guided by over 50 books in the New Testament, until that Catholic Church decided to discard many of them and reduce the number to 27
Because its the owners manual for the human soul. It contains everything we need to know about God and who he is, who are and why we are here, and God's requirements and expectations as regards salvation.
2Ti 3:16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Remember how we study the driver's manual so we can pass the driver's test and get a license? Same concept. Know the Bible from cover to cover. A test WILL be given! Either live by the Bible or die and be judged by it!
The buy-bull is the creation of the Roman Catholic Church and decided at the Council of Nicea in 325. At that time, Constantine and the Roman Catholic Church decided what would further the agenda of that man made religion and included it in the buy-bull.
It is the word of God. That is why it is so important.
What defines a christian?
And after many years of study, and being a Methodist for 20+ years, I found that the JW's are the only group actually going by the 66 books of the bible. That is why i choose to become one. Many other group ls claim to be doing that, but in reality they are not. I had a professor at Wayland Baptist University tell me that, "Oh that is not what Paul meant to say there". Something wrong with that picture?
The Protestants removed seven books from the Bible that should be included. However, the Bible is not the only source of revelation. In fact, one can learn much by praying the rosary regularly. The Catholic Church was established by the Son of God Himself. Peter was the first pope, and ALL popes have been given authority by God to be the leader of His Church on earth. God will determine whether He considers various individuals true Christians or not. He is omniscient, and governs with Divine Justice.
@Zen Zorba- Really? Please explain why these book were not mentioned by the Church fathers until after The Apostles, the Apostles of the Apostles, etc were dead? They were only believed upon by Gnostic's not by Orthodox Christians or Catholics. The Apocrypha was not accepted as scripture by the nation of Israel, it was only respected.
It is the only source of testament and evidence we have on the atrocity done by and on behalf of the Jehovah God. Egypt, and many country listed in the Bible should initiate an international suit against Christiandom for compensations for their people death.
But wait, Egypt now worships the same God that killed its people - Islam.
i don't believe i could really sum it up. its pretty huge.
If you read the bible from start to finish, its really a big story that spans over thousands of years. from the beginning, through heaps of the Jewish history, and the countless prophecies that God has made about himself and what he will do. then the new testament tells of the biggest prophecy - the coming of salvation to ALL human kind. (check out Isaiah 43 onwards - and do some Jewish history classes or something - SOO interesting!!)
its Gods story and Human kinds story. and how, from beginning to end God has been with us - how human kind rebelled, and the ultimate salvation and completeness in the Creator of all..
when it comes to the other books that were not put in the bible, i trust that smart, god filled men omitted them for a reason. we can be harsh and speculate from a thousand years distance, but because of the gap, doesn't mean it was phony.
because in reality, if there is a God, there is only one true one. And it's important to believe in the right one. God created us to know Him and for Him to know us. (That's why a painter paints) God gave us rules to live by to have a righteous life. Do good to yourself and to others. Worship your God. Simple enough to me. Being a God, the true God, He deserves our worship, our love, our respect towards Him. Only the true God can bring us to Heaven. Not a false one.
I'm not sure what the debate is about the Pope that you are thinking of so I can't comment on that.
Many believers have broken off the original church that Jesus started on earth at Pentecost. It, the Catholic Church, still remains. But there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other churches that have broken away from Jesus' authority to the Apostles. JWs. and Mormons, for example have their own holy book and leaders. they don't really follow Jesus' teachings nor have Jesus' authorization to be a church.
important thing to remember, do not accept the bible as fact until it has been pr oven to be divinely inspired. until then, take it in context, read up on the god-favored, raping, murdering Jews that started the religion and take in all of the homophobic, slavery-encouraging, women-hating, 'laws.' once you've gotten past the unnecessary dying for our sins and then zombie savior bit, you can get into the meat of Christianity that is a universe creating-supreme being that hates his self-likeness creation because it is evil so he comes down to earth in order to be the escape goat for all of humanity.
remember, if you do not accept this man-god's payment for your sins for being human then you, my friend, will be burning in a lake of fire for all of eternity.
The Mormons, JW's, catholic, Jewish religions are considered religious cults because they do not
conform or practice Biblical doctrine.
Christianity is and been proved to be the true and only rational belief system.
The King James Bible has been proved to be the true words of God. Thats why it's important.
================================================== =================
Why you can believe the Bible and since the Bible is true, then
you can believe in God,because the Bible speaks of Him existing.
This is based on the history of the King James 1611AV Bible.
Other versions (233 DIFFERENT versions on the market), ALL are pr oven
to be from corrupt MSS (manuscripts).
1. It doesn't demand blind faith. For faith to be of any value, it must be
based on facts, on reality.
2. Ancient history supports the Bible's accuracy.
3. The Gospels provide reliable accounts of Jesus.
4. Archaeology Science backs up Biblical accounts.
5. Textual scholarship confirms the Bible.
6. The Bible is true to it's original form because:
a. we have such a Hugh number of MSS copies, over 24,000.
b. these copies agree with each other 99.5%.
c. the dates of these MSS are very close to dates of their originals.
7. The Bible's textual integrity is more certain than that of Plato's
writ tings and Homer's Illad.
8. History written ahead of time is proof the Bible is not a product of man.
9. In contrast, the book of mormon: archaeology has repeatedly failed to
substantiate the book's claims of cities, persons,names or places mentioned.
10.From a historical and legal perpective, if enough eyewitnesses are alive when the
the facts are published, it's can be fairly well established the vaidity of a
secular event. (see 1 Cor 15.6)
11. Anthropology Science (study of humanity and
social cultures) confirms the Bible.
the bible is about man's fall ,God's love for his creation and the plan he implemented to redeem him and all creation through his precious Son Jesus (whom is interwoven in all the books ).the books point to the sacrifice that would come(they all point to a savior) and after he came ,it points to Him being victorious in his completion of the Father's plan and then the glory that follows after having defeating the enemy who would bring death,chaos and rebellion to God's kingdom.all that believed and received what He said were re-instated into the places which God wanted them to be in the first place when he thought of man-kind and created a place for him to reside.God will after all has been said and done live among his creation and they (man all the animals ,etc) will be able to enjoy all that God has to offer unafraid and unhindered. It will be great day and also a day of sorrow (because of the punishment of those that chose to do things their own way and thereby .. paying the ultimate price) .
Well on the matter of additions :if your plan is perfect won't anyone adding something to it mess it up ? God said there are no others (Gods) besides himself ,therefore there is no one else to turn to for salvation. About others being christian ..It's about God and his Son saving man-kind and all creation ,so if He's the one -true God then all others not saying what he said or doing what he said to do are going in the wrong direction .not following what He says is a path of destruction (he says he is life itself ,so going your own way or if you're running away from him ..you'll be running from the only one that has life and the only other alternative is death)
Because the Bible tells us the story of creation and of God's intentions for humanity. It tells us what God expects of us and what we can expect of Him. Without the Bible, anyone who knew the name of Jesus could claim to represent him, regardless of whether or not he reflected historic Christianity. The Bible gives us an agreed upon standard to compare our beliefs to. If our beliefs are in conflict with the Bible, then they do not reflect historic, orthodox Christianity. The scriptures are the standard by which all Christians can agree. We believe that the full message of salvation was delivered in the coming of Jesus. While newer written works can be inspiring or instructional, they do not carry the status of scripture because they do not reflect new revelation.
2. Why is there such a debate on the Bishop of Rome?
As with any organization, the church naturally needs to determine hierarchy. There is debate as to the traditional organization of the church. When Christianity was a tiny religion confined to Judea, it was obvious who led the church. As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, into Europe, Asia and Africa, and eventually into the New World, it was much less clear who the true leader of the church was.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Bishop of Rome holds the authority of St. Peter. St. Peter is given primacy amongst the apostles by virtually every Christian faith. Roman Catholicism draws from this line of reasoning that the Bishop of Rome has inherited the primacy of St. Peter and thus is the head of the church.
Eastern Orthodox Christians dispute this reasoning based on several factors. To begin with, after Constantine moved the capitol of the Roman Empire to his Eastern city of Constantinople, Rome became something of historical backwater. Bishops of the major cities, who would later be called Patriarchs, considered themselves equals according to the Eastern tradition. Thus major decisions were made by church council and not by appealing to any one individual bishop. Eastern Orthodox Christians deny the ultimate authority of the Pope and insist upon the fraternity of bishops. The name "Pope" by the way means "father," and its significance lies in the fact that bishops traditionally called themselves brothers. In calling the Bishop of Rome the "Pope," he is given a higher status than his brother bishops.
Protestants argue that the church should not be organized according to the hierarchy of the post-Constantinian era. They argue that the early church was led by pastors and evangelists and not bishops. They believe in the priesthood of all believers and that each individual is responsible before God, so no one person should be identified as the leader of the church.
The reasons that this argument is important are pretty evident. Disagreements naturally arise as the result of fallen human passions and reasoning. Who the ultimate policy maker is in the church is something that affects everything from theological doctrine to every day practice of the faith.
3. Can people who believe in a different god be saved?
Any question of salvation is important because Christians universally assert the existence of heaven and hell. If you have any love for humanity at all, you must desire that the maximum amount of people should be saved and not destroyed. This is God's own desire for humanity and the reason He sent His son to pay the ultimate price on the cross.
If it is possible to be saved through other gods, there is no reason to share the Christian faith. However, Jesus taught that there was no way to the Father except through Him. This means that people who espouse other religions are cut off from God's full presence and incapable of salvation. Because salvation is a matter of the most dire importance, Christians must share their faith and fulfill the great commission given to them by Jesus Christ.
Just to clarify, because it seems that a lot of the people here don't understand. Chrsitians are anyone who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and suffered the Atonement for our sins. The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints (otherwise known as Mormons) are Christian because they believe that. I mean, they even have "Jesus Christ" in their name.
I think we can dispute forever,like a dog given a bone,chews & chews,and when done goes and buries
it in the earth. What good ever come from that i don't know except the pleasure the dog found in chewing.
CHRISTIANITY is only as good as the person living it.The hallmark of Christian living is to care as much about others as one cares about ones self or love thy neighbor as thou livest thy self, or do unto others as you would they do unto you. Seek to follow Christ in such a way as Christ would want to be with you.
Could you sum up Christianity, why the Bible (only 39 books from the OT and 27 from t
