The Bible is accurate (Was "Why no Trinitarian...")

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On Sun, 04 Aug 1996 07:14:05 -0400, you wrote:

>My brother, it was put to me....... "How do you know the ORIGANAL 
>manuscripts are themselves properly translated?" The truth is, I don't 
>know that they were. 

Thats right. We may make arguments from the study of text resources,
and realize that the mss point to originals, but if we were to wait
for PROOF as a predicate for belief, we would not receive anything
from God. Similarly, the very existance of God is evidenct but not
inescapable to the person reasoning imperfectly (and of course, all
reasoning is imperfect).

> If the bible itself were seficient for salvation, we wouuld not need the Holy Ghost. 
> Nor, would God have felt the need to die on the cross for our sins. 

Thats right. The actual work of calvary and the indwelling presence of
God are not accomplished by the existance of text, reading of that
text, or even believing of that text. There are realities of a
spiritual Kingdom that faith secures a grip on through the hearing of
the Word of God.

>If we were capable of understanding the 
>TRUE word of God, it would be enough for us to obtain salvation, but we 
>are not capable and therefore have need of God to guide us in our lives. 

The Mosaic law was still killing when the Son was born, after 2000
years of the word in some form of print, but as the Apostle says,
death reigned from Adam to Moses. Someone hopefully realized, "We have
a problem". Spiritual tools were provided for dealing with spritual
problems, in the couse of time and the wise plan of God.

>How can a man, alone on an island, without a bible obtain salvation? 

With a preacher, of course.

>Many christains were saved, long before the New Testiment was written. 

Actually, the argument is often applied by Roman and Orthodox
Catholics. "We gave you the Bible". The implication is, the church
existed before the Bible and therefor the church is superior to, or in
authority over the text. Now, putting aside the fact that the Catholic
empire is not the true church, how are we to deal with that ? 

It is very simple:
The early church had the SAME access to the New Testament as we do.
How? By the word of the Apostles. They preached in theose churches.
They taught them. The churches were built on the rock of the
revelation of the identity of Jesus Christ, just as they are today if
the word of God is faithfully preached. 

Later, the following generations received the written elements of
theor preaching and STILL, through inspiration of the Spirit, preach
the word of God. However, we have their writing and preaching not only
to teach us, but to certify the doctrine we preach.

>The truth is, no one knows if the bible is accurate or not..... but it 
>matters little, to the act of salvation. 

I must disagree. It matters a great deal. You could say that if a
person receives genuine salvation, the accuracy of the Bible he has
not read is not significant, and that would be true. But wherein is
the means to salvation understood from ? It is understood and
propagated from the Word of God as it is faithfully conveyed acrss the
world and from generation to generation as men hazard their lives for
the name of Jesus.

>Every major church claims to 
>receive its doctrine from the bible. We claim the New testiment is 
>received from the Lord. So, do the Mormans make the claim about their 
>bible. The muslims view our claims about the NT as we view the morman 
>claims about their bible. God said he would write his laws upon our 
>hearts. I think that is where the true word resides. 

These are two different matters. The difficulty of contending with
those who advance their own private and false scriptures ought not to
be a problem. In fact, it is the content of the Holy Scriptures as
well as the source and agreement with the Holy Ghost which separates
the Bible from all else.

Reading the Bible, for Mormon, or Hindu, the Bible witnesses to the
need of man's heart. Its author demonstrates an intimate knowledge of
the construction of man, and his hearts needs. I know this takes time,
in a era of microwave saints, but it will bear out. God owes no one a
quick answer, and looking for quick conversion programs is probably a
waste of time. (Now Im off the track :)

The truth of the "graphe" (written word), and the living quality
(rhema) of the word are distinguished but niether is unimportant. Both
the written (or spoken) word of the Apostles used to confirm spiritual
experience and moral, and theological truth which one receives in the
Holy Ghost, and the living power which leads into all truth are
essential to God's architecture for salvation.

> If we can know the difference between Good and evil, we have all we need to preserve us 
>until Christ returns, if we apply it to our lives. 

I have to disagree again, but have no time to elaborate. I am just
glad that this is only a hypothetical issue. Suffice it to say that
salvation is not accomplished through moral decision alone.

>Prayer can enlighten a person more about the nature of Christ then reading the 
>bible all day long every day. 

Here again this is not an either/or proposition. Prayer and Bible
reading have their place. god speaks through  His word.

> Biblidolatry is a problem in some churches. It seperates the person from their God.

I believe that this is true.

-mwb