Armand wrote:
PS, Peace to you.
First of all, PS, the Bible as it exists today did not exist at the time that Christ and the Apostles lived on earth. Forgive me for being pedantic. At the time Christ and the Apostles existed, only the Hebrew scriptures existed. And . . . while Christ and the Apostles “quoted” from the Hebrew scriptures, nowhere is it stated that they carried around in their possession any of those scriptural writings. They seem to have quoted them just from their previous studying of the scriptures. As for what we call the NT, those writings didn’t come into existence for quite some time after Christ died and was resurrected.
“‘Scripture’ points to Christ.” What is scripture as defined by Christ himself? Read the last chapter of Luke. Scripture = writings of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. That’s how Christ defined “scripture.” That leaves OUT a lot of what we call the OT.
The only reason that “the Bible is needed by the vast majority” is because the majority lack faith—at least for a time or maybe even a long time. And, yes, “the reality is that it is very hard to remove the Bible from the picture.”
The Apostles and early Christians did not have a Bible as we know it today nor did they have the writings of the NT—and, yet, they were still Christians, were they not?
--Armand
While that is all fine and dandy, it does not take into account that very simple fact of WHY the NT was written, which was to give witness to the Gospel.
The first, and even second generation, Christians still had a direct link to Christ either via personal experience of via the experience of the Apostles.
When they started to die out and reach the age where they could not travel is when the written word began to be used ( the written word was always "second best" to direct verbal transmission in those days, unlike now).
It doesn't matter what the bible was in the time of Christ ( it was the Septuagint of course) compared to what we have now, it matters that the first generations felt it important to preserve the written word of the apostles as a historical connection to Christ ( which is what the bible is).
The bible is needed as a neutral ground, a place where we can go to help clear things up in regards to what Christ said and, perhaps just as important, HOW what Christ said was perceived by those that head Him.
Historically speaking of course.
If you can't see how the bible points to Christ, well, I am sorry about that BUT I for one find Him there, as I do in my heart, as I do in the world around me.
For Christ is revealed in the written word, He is revealed in the hearts of His followers and He is revealed in the universe that was created by Him, For Him and Through Him.
Not once in the conversations I have ever had with Our Lord has He ever said to me to NOT read the bible, on the contrary, He has helped me use it to help others to Him.
While the bible can never take the place of Our Lord, it is and always has been a great tool to help others find Him.