If I had a non-Christian leaning and I took a broad look at what Christianity has become, I would be flabbergasted with the amount of variation and disagreement among people who call themselves Christian. In other words, it’s not really clear what Christianity or what a christian is.
Being a “Christian” or calling oneself a Christian is often not an indicator whether someone lives a life with Jesus Christ as Savior in the way Jesus taught. In effort to drive to the point, a true Christian should understand who Jesus Christ is and, in light of the moral Law, the essential importance of his or her relationship with Jesus Christ.
In its essential form, Christianity is not a religion, it is a personal relationship with God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and a believer’s striving to become more obedient, in heart, mind, soul and action, to the will of God.
I believe it is critical to read the Bible as both a historical text as well as a book of instruction for those who are seeking truth. However, I observe among a spectrum of “Christian” churches, there are differing attitudes towards the use and validity of Scripture.
My attitude towards considering the Bible as innerant is based on how “16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 16-17. What that means in layman’s terms is I read the Bible as God’s instructions to help me on how I should think and how to be obedient to His will. The Bible is comprised of different styles of writing, much is historical, some is poetic, some is symbolic, yet they all contribute to an understanding of who the invisible God, Creator, and Savior is.
If I don’t understand something written in Scripture, I humbly assume there is nothing wrong with the Bible; rather, I assume my scholarly understanding or my spiritual maturity is not up to par. This approach has not failed. So in this sense the Bible is, for all practical purposes, inerrant.
That doesn’t mean that there cannot be debate and uncertainty about what parts of the Bible mean or what it claims to be Truth, but the faithfulness of the translations are, to a very high degree, done with scholarly skill and sincere intent and have stood up to centuries of testing and criticism.
In this age of social media, be careful not be carried away by individual verses without context. Anything taken out of context can lose its actual meaning, especially when the meme creator is only out to promote their own agenda, while ignoring the meaning of a passage. Don’t try to be scholarly by digesting memes.
Moreover, there is debate over what has been included in the Bible and how those selected writings have be officially adopted. Regardless of your particular church, the key parts of the Bible are the Gospels because they deal most with revealing God’s plan for your personal salvation – that is the most important issue. If your Christian activities, or non-activity, leads you away from resolving the question about God’s path to Salvation and the need for genuine repentance, you are experiencing a smoke screen between you and the truth.
To the average person, I do have some reservation referring to the Bible as “the Word of God” because the actual “Word of God” is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Whether you have faith in Christ or not, that is who the Word of God is. It is almost as though we needed two different words to differentiate, but the English word “word” happens to encompass both meanings. Nevertheless, the Bible is a critical book and collection of writings, essential for Christian growth, and can be crucial to restore ones spiritual health, save them from despair, and, most importantly, lead them to faith and hope in eternal life through Christ.
The Bible, comprised of the inspired words of God, is the uniquely qualified reference to understand God’s character, will, and plan. The most essential aspect of the Bible are the testimonies and history presented in the Gospels and the accounts of Jesus ministry and resurrection.
The Gospels, Matthew (est. 41 A.D.*), Mark (est. 50s A.D.*), Luke (est. 60 A.D*) and John (est. 70 A.D.*), were written within years or a few decades by people closely related to eye-witnesses of Jesus’ ministry if not the eye-witnesses themselves. In the Gospels, we read how Jesus clarified the meaning of many aspects of the moral Law, the meaning of important spiritual truths, and how He explained in simple terms, often through Parables, what entry into the kingdom of God is like.
Furthermore, the some of most important aspects found in the Bible surrounding Jesus’s are His claims of His relationship with the living and invisible God, the miracles He performed that indicate His power and authority, how He validated the Old Testament and the Law, the many truths and warnings He expressed regarding the exclusive (“narrow”) pathway to salvation, the foretelling of His resurrection, and the subsequent witness of the resurrected Christ by over 500 people.
If you are uncertain about anything Bible related and you want to focus on one thing, I recommend you study the historical accounts of the Gospels and the Book of Acts (and other collaborating sources). Begin by reading them, not as mythology, riddles or enigmatic writings, but rather, as the authors intended. as historical eye-witness researched and supported documents.
For a detailed explanation of who Jesus Christ is from the Bible’s perspective go to the video in this website , “Who is Jesus Christ?”
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
References for when the Gospels were written: https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/stewart_don/faq/historical-accuracy-of-the-bible/question10-when-were-the-gospels-written.cfm
CKY
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