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How much of the Bible is necessary?

Discussion in 'Free-For-All Archives' started by MikeS, Jan 25, 2004.

  1. MikeS

    MikeS New Member

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    I have a few questions which I hope might lead to some interesting discussion:

    How much of the Bible, if any, is necessary for salvation? Assume for this question that there is nobody and no other writings available to paraphrase or otherwise summarize the Bible to the person seeking to be saved.

    If your answer is less than "all of it," what is the additional benefit of the parts you left out?
     
  2. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    In Romans 2:13-16 we see the case of saved Gentiles that have none of God's Word at all.

    The reason is that God turns out to be quite an "evangelist" according to John 3:4-8 and "Convicts the World of Sin and righteousness and Judgment" according to John 16.

    In Christ,

    Bob
     
  3. Harley4Him

    Harley4Him New Member

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    None.

    Calvinist: The bible doesn't save people; God preordains their salvation.

    Arminian: The bible doesn't save people; God gives them saving faith.

    Catholic: The bible doesn't save people; salvation is through the church.

    Protestant: The bible doesn't save people; they are saved by faith alone.

    Me: The bible is not necessary for salvation; if it were then nobody would be saved from the time before it was written and collected.

    Bibliolatoers: Harley is a sinner who is taking away from the Word of God.
     
  4. MikeS

    MikeS New Member

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    OK, thanks for those answers. In the case of "NONE," then what is the benefit of having the Bible? Why bother to read it, study it, learn from it?
     
  5. Harley4Him

    Harley4Him New Member

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    This is an entirely different question than which parts are necessary.
     
  6. MikeS

    MikeS New Member

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    This is an entirely different question than which parts are necessary. </font>[/QUOTE]True, but I think it's an interesting and logical followup question.

    If we don't need the Bible for salvation, what do we need it for? If we don't need it for anything, what do we want it for?
     
  7. Harley4Him

    Harley4Him New Member

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    We don't need it for anything, in a strict sense. It happens to be useful for a great many things however.

    Are you just trying to get one of these hardshellers to say the bible is necessary for salvation?
     
  8. Priscilla Ann

    Priscilla Ann Member

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    I don't know how much of the bible is necessary, but it was what made God real to me. Prior to reading the bible, I simply practiced religion.

    Once God became real and personal to me, the bible became increasingly important because it taught me to know God more deeply and taught me how to live in obedience to Him.

    God Bless!

    Priscilla Ann
     
  9. MikeS

    MikeS New Member

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    We don't need it for anything, in a strict sense. It happens to be useful for a great many things however.

    Are you just trying to get one of these hardshellers to say the bible is necessary for salvation?
    </font>[/QUOTE]I agree with your points, actually. And I'm not trying to get anybody to say anything in particular. More like letting the discussion wander into areas that may produce some ah-hah! moments.
     
  10. Singer

    Singer New Member

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    Rom 10:17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God

    Faith comes by hearing or reading the word of God.
     
  11. Harley4Him

    Harley4Him New Member

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    Ah-hah! [​IMG]

    So if none of the scriptures are necessary for salvation, then why did Luther find it necessary to remove apocrypha/scriptures (depending on your point fo view) from the bible?
     
  12. MikeS

    MikeS New Member

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    So should I put you in the "all of the Bible is necessary" camp? Can't really tell from your answer.
     
  13. thessalonian

    thessalonian New Member

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    There will be people in hell who have read the scriptures cover to cover. There will be people in heaven who have not read one verse. There will be people in hell who refused to read the scriptures. There will be people in heaven who could not read the scriptures. There of course will be many who have read the whole Bible. People in heaven who have read parts of it. But I would not say that reading the Bible is not neccessary for salvatoin. For those who are given the grace to, they must. God will sort it all out.

    Blessings
     
  14. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    The Bible is the Word of God. Error "harms" - truth will free you.

    Adam and Eve "believed a little bit if error" and it ruined their lives.

    In John 14-- Christ said "I AM the way the Truth and the Life" - to Love Christ is to love and seek truth.

    In 2Thess 2 the people at the end of time perish "because they did not receive a Love of the Truth"

    It is Satan's role to infuse error into your beliefs damaging you and all those that you affect.

    The dark ages are a living testament to the "damage" to the life of a Christian caused by believing "error".

    The failure of the Jews to accept their Messiah - the ruin of their nation is a testament to the effects of "choosing error over truth".

    When you give yourself to Christ - it is 100% or nothing. There is no such thing as "minimally saved".

    In Christ,

    Bob

    In
     
  15. Jim1999

    Jim1999 <img src =/Jim1999.jpg>

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    The operative word here is "necessary". How much of the Bible is necessary. The following question would, Necessary for what?

    The genealogies are not "necessary" to bring us to a knowledge of God, but they are necessary in tracing the bloodlines and leading to the human lineage of Jesus of Nazareth.

    Indeed, nature points man toward God, but does not give any details about God. So, the scriptures are "necessary" to describe God.

    I think it is more a rhetorical question rather than one that demands an answer. One answer puts God in a box and says this is what He must do, but how do we know this? On the other hand, the idealist will say that all the Bible is necessary....which begs the question; necessary for what? It is quite circumlocutory. It takes you nowhere and leaves you there.

    Cheers,

    Jim
     
  16. MikeS

    MikeS New Member

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    Necessary for salvation (see my initial post).
     
  17. Jim1999

    Jim1999 <img src =/Jim1999.jpg>

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    Then, without the word, How would they know?

    Cheers,

    Jim
     
  18. Harley4Him

    Harley4Him New Member

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    Do you really think the bible is necessary to hear the word?
     
  19. Carson Weber

    Carson Weber <img src="http://www.boerne.com/temp/bb_pic2.jpg">

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    Not a word of the New Testament is necessary, lest the Christians who lived and thrived for the first two decades of Christianity after the Pentecost event were never saved, for they had not a word of New Testament Scripture.
     
  20. Jim1999

    Jim1999 <img src =/Jim1999.jpg>

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    Actually, Carson, they did. The apostolic letters and gospels were circulating. They just weren't compiled into one book.

    Cheers,

    Jim
     
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