Can I be Christian and Not Believe the Bible?

[Givemeareason]

Actually, Jesus taught more than two commandments. But to answer your question....

Mat 22:36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
Mat 22:37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the great and first commandment.
Mat 22:39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Now, said earlier that you love Jesus. The question becomes, do you live the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind?

Do you live your neighbor as yourself?

I try but I am a sinner like you.

 

[justlookinla]

I try but I am a sinner like you.

Yes, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, per scripture.

But, you say you love Jesus, do you obey His first commandment....."love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"?

That's the starting point in a loving relationship with Jesus.

 

[Kirsten]

To tell us about Jesus and understand how he was trying to guide us.

Jesus was not trying to guide you, He is trying to save you.

 

[Kirsten]

I try but I am a sinner like you.

Who needs a savior.

 

[Givemeareason]

Yes, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, per scripture.

But, you say you love Jesus, do you obey His first commandment....."love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"?

That's the starting point in a loving relationship with Jesus.

I do not understand god so it is difficult to know. Perhaps Jesus might help me. I just continue as best I can.

 

[Givemeareason]

Jesus was not trying to guide you, He is trying to save you.

I would say that being saved is a byproduct of being guided. It is not for me to judge who is saved and who is not.

 

[Colter]

As of right now, I have decided to become Christian. The reason I can be this is because I believe the message of Jesus was a wondrous and beautiful message indeed. And I would like to follow it. So as a Christian, my first goal is to understand Jesus more than ever before. Is that not what all the disciples did? I would like to become more like them. And so to better understand Jesus I would like to see things more from his point of view. Now the new testament offers a pretty good view of this. So when I hear that Jesus said that the old laws are still in effect I see who he was talking to. He was talking primarily to Jews and not me. And that is good for me to know so I can now forget about the old testament and focus on the new. The old is just there to be viewed from an historical perspective. So am I not now a Christian but perhaps of a different denomination? Now I am beginning to wonder if this denomination already exists?

* Jesus preached his gospel for 3+ years in and around Israel, his gospel obveously wasn't "Christ and him crucified."

* After the cross the gospel changed, it became about the human sacrifice of an innocent man as the Pagan religions outside of Judaism already believed. Paul brought his Pagan ideas to the new religion about Jesus, but not nessisarily of Jesus.

So no, you don't have to even call yourself Christian, you can just be a disciple of Jesus, of his original gospel.

 

[Kirsten]

I would say that being saved is a byproduct of being guided. It is not for me to judge who is saved and who is not.

It is for Jesus to judge, and He does. He tells you that you must repent and be born again to be saved. If you love Him so much, you would believe what He says.

 

[justlookinla]

I do not understand god so it is difficult to know. Perhaps Jesus might help me. I just continue as best I can.

Why the use of the lower case "g" for God? Would this signify that you love Jesus but do not follow His commandments, the first being to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"?

Remember.....John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

 

[Givemeareason]

* Jesus preached his gospel for 3+ years in and around Israel, his gospel obveously wasn't "Christ and him crucified."

* After the cross the gospel changed, it became about the human sacrifice of an innocent man as the Pagan religions outside of Judaism already believed. Paul brought his Pagan ideas to the new religion about Jesus, but not nessisarily of Jesus.

So no, you don't have to even call yourself Christian, you can just be a disciple of Jesus, of his original gospel.

You are right. I would be unable to be a Christian I would be in a constant state of conflict both within and without. But I sure wish Christians would abandon old testament morality. The problem with using it is you can't just pick and choose whatever morality you choose. And if you are going to apply part of it then you need to apply all of it. And some of what is said in there is terrible for today. Again it just needs to be viewed in an historical perspective.

 

[Kirsten]

You are right. I would be unable to be a Christian I would be in a constant state of conflict both within and without. But I sure wish Christians would abandon old testament morality. The problem with using it is you can't just pick and choose whatever morality you choose. And if you are going to apply part of it then you need to apply all of it. And some of what is said in there is terrible for today. Again it just needs to be viewed in an historical perspective.

Christians do not live according to any laws or moral codes in the OT. In fact, Jesus clarifies OT laws quite clearly in the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament. Christians are not judged by the law, we are judged according to grace. I'm not familiar with the pick and choose of certain morals of Christians from the OT. What specifically are you referring to?

 

[Architeuthus]

* Jesus preached his gospel for 3+ years in and around Israel, his gospel obveously wasn't "Christ and him crucified."

Well, it was, actually:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:14-18)

There are several other passages where Jesus speaks of his crucifixion to come.

After the cross the gospel changed, it became about the human sacrifice of an innocent man as the Pagan religions outside of Judaism already believed. Paul brought his Pagan ideas to the new religion about Jesus, but not nessisarily of Jesus.

That's anti-Christian nonsense. Paul wasn't Pagan, the Gospel didn't change, and being a Christian requires accepting the clear teachings of the New Testament.

 

[FireDragon76]

Yes... your faith is in Jesus, it doesn't have to be in a book. The important thing is that you acknowledge him as Lord and wish to follow him as a disciple. He died for your sins and was raised to bring us eternal life.

There are only two really important commandments he gave, Love God and love your neighbor, who could even be your enemy. Sounds simple doesn't it? Yet we fail all the time. But our Lord is merciful and forgiving, he never gives up on us.

You are trying to find what religious community to go to, I believe that's a highly personal decision. I'd recommend just going to some services and checking them out. I'd check out Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, maybe even a Presbyterian or Catholic church. They all teach very similar things and fall within a general Christian consensus. And since you are still figuring things out, they will be more open to your questions.

And read your Bible... I'd start with the Gospel of Mark, then Luke, then read Acts.

Don't let people dissuade you. You do not have to have some kind of religious experience to be a Christian. True repentance is something God does for us, it just happens naturally. The fact you love Jesus and wish to follow him now is a sign he is drawing you to himself.

 

[Colter]

Well, it was, actually:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:14-18)

There are several other passages where Jesus speaks of his crucifixion to come.



That's anti-Christian nonsense. Paul wasn't Pagan, the Gospel didn't change, and being a Christian requires accepting the clear teachings of the New Testament.

Jesus tried to preach his gospel of salvation by faith to the Jews, if they would have belived, there would have been no cross. The cross wasn't the gospel.


37"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.38"Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!…

 

[Givemeareason]

Christians do not live according to any laws or moral codes in the OT. In fact, Jesus clarifies OT laws quite clearly in the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament. Christians are not judged by the law, we are judged according to grace. I'm not familiar with the pick and choose of certain morals of Christians from the OT. What specifically are you referring to?

All Christians feel that the ten commandments are moral. Right? Well are you aware that it was considered okay to kill a baby up to 30 days old as I recall as well. Correct me if I am wrong on this. Seems like induced miscarriages were not a problem either but I think it depended on whether it was a boy or a girl. There are lots of moral issues caused by the old testament. I don't personally think much of that stuff was divinely inspired.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/imm_bibl.htm

 

[zippy2006]

Jesus tried to preach his gospel of salvation by faith to the Jews, if they would have belived, there would have been no cross. The cross wasn't the gospel.

On the contrary, see:

• Mt 16:21
• Mt 17:22-23
• Mt 20:17-18
• Luke 9:22
• Luke 9:44
• Luke 18:31-33
• Luke 24:6-7
• Luke 24:26
• Luke 24:46
• Mark 8:31
• Mark 9:30-32
• Mark 10:33-34

 

[Colter]

On the contrary, see:

• Mt 16:21
• Mt 17:22-23
• Mt 20:17-18
• Luke 9:22
• Luke 9:44
• Luke 18:31-33
• Luke 24:6-7
• Luke 24:26
• Luke 24:46
• Mark 8:31
• Mark 9:30-32
• Mark 10:33-34

See the original gospel if you can find it.

 

[Smidlee]

Jesus tried to preach his gospel of salvation by faith to the Jews, if they would have belived, there would have been no cross. The cross wasn't the gospel.


37"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.38"Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!…

If the law could save them yes there wouldn't be a cross but God told Israel even before Moses came down off the mountain they couldn't keep the law. Israel insisted they could. They broke every single commandment before Moses got off the mountian. All throughout the whole OT it repeated many times that everyone failed to keep the law including King David who was after God's own heart. This is why you need the OT to make sense of some things in the NT.
Jesus offers the Kingdom of God knowing all along they would reject it. But he did offered it so they would be without an excuse.

 

[ananda]

As of right now, I have decided to become Christian. The reason I can be this is because I believe the message of Jesus was a wondrous and beautiful message indeed. And I would like to follow it. So as a Christian, my first goal is to understand Jesus more than ever before. Is that not what all the disciples did? I would like to become more like them. And so to better understand Jesus I would like to see things more from his point of view. Now the new testament offers a pretty good view of this. So when I hear that Jesus said that the old laws are still in effect I see who he was talking to. He was talking primarily to Jews and not me. And that is good for me to know so I can now forget about the old testament and focus on the new. The old is just there to be viewed from an historical perspective. So am I not now a Christian but perhaps of a different denomination? Now I am beginning to wonder if this denomination already exists?

Some Christians would say that the Old Testament is still applicable, even to non-Jews, per Matthew 28:19

 

[Kirsten]

All Christians feel that the ten commandments are moral. Right? Well are you aware that it was considered okay to kill a baby up to 30 days old as I recall as well. Correct me if I am wrong on this. Seems like induced miscarriages were not a problem either but I think it depended on whether it was a boy or a girl. There are lots of moral issues caused by the old testament. I don't personally think much of that stuff was divinely inspired.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/imm_bibl.htm

The commandments given by God served as a teacher, to show the Jews they could not follow the law... because they were sinners. The purpose of the law was not so that they might be saved by following it; it was to show them they were incapable of it. The entire law is summed up in Love, says Jesus, the dude you admire. I have no idea where you get the idea that killing an unborn child was ever ok with God. The Jews created most of their own laws that God had nothing to do with. You are correct. The OT simply records God's relationship with an adulterous nation who sinned and committed all kinds of idolatry and wickedness.... and ultimately they rejected the savior they were waiting for.