Can I be Christian and Not Believe the Bible?
- Thread starter Givemeareason
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Who are these people and what are they pushing? Can you give me an example?
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No, but you can actually talk to Him and actually know if He is speaking back to you. His people know His voice and they follow Him.
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People have claimed this all throughout history. Many people claim some of the OT entities that people spoke with (i.e. Angel of the Lord, Melchizidek, etc) were in fact Jesus. Then of course in the New Testament you have Jesus being born in the flesh, living and interacting with people, being crucified. Then you have Jesus rising from the dead, appearing to others, etc. Then you have Jesus ascending to heaven, but Paul claims to have encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus (apparently in a different form then a flesh-and-blood man). And of course you have people throughout history since then claiming to have seen Jesus (in some physical fashion) to where they could even talk to him, or he spoke to them, etc.
In your OP, you said you wanted to understand Jesus more than ever before, be like one of the disciples, etc. Well, assuming Jesus is alive and has actually appeared to people in some physical fashion from the ancient times to today, I would assume it would be possible.
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Again the Christians who want to plaster the ten commandments around. I could broaden my example but would rather stick to just this. Christians are pushing the ten commandments and they are intended for the Jews. Right? But if you believe the ten commandments are for Christians then why aren't you also pushing all the other terrible morality expressed in the old testament. By not doing so you are either then picking and choosing your morality or you are not following the old testament. Which is it?
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Ok, well I don't know any Christians who are pushing for the 10 commandments to be posted anywhere. Our government has traditionally posted them in court rooms, but I believe they are being removed. The law of Moses was originally intended for the Jews, yes. Please, let me explain again, NO commandments are intended for Christians. We are not judged by the law. As I said before, MOST of the Jewish law was created by Jews, not God, so why would I even care? I am not religious. I don't follow laws created by men so that I can please God. I cannot please God by what I do. The only thing that pleases God is that I am in Christ. Because I am in Christ, God sees Him when He looks at me instead of seeing my sinful self.
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Yes I would like to know more but I have since recognized in an earlier post I would not be able to be a Christian. I am inspired by the example of Jesus.
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You have no desire to be saved. You have made that perfectly clear.
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Ok, so you are Christian but not religious? So then are you are agreeing with me that Christians should not be concerned with the old testament?
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Yes I am a Christian. It is my belief that all religions, save Judaism, are of man, and even that religion is largely man-made. I believe men craft religions for their own purposes. No religion will ever save anyone. As I said before, being a Christian is a state of being. No religion can do that. I know the Lord. He is my God and my Savior and I am His. That is not religion, my friend, that is relationship.
No, I do not at all agree with you that Christians should not be concerned about the OT. The OT is prophecy of the coming King, Jesus Christ the Lord.
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Well I wasn't speaking to whatever "being a Christian" was or wasn't. However if you're just inspired by the example of Jesus, well there are arguably plenty of people in the world who are inspired by the example of Jesus, or at least what they believe the example of Jesus is/was. I'm sure you know it's easy to find inspiring things that are associated with "Jesus".
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- Apr 30, 2013
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Not all Christians do so.
If you go to mainline churches, the Old Testament is understood in light of the New, not on its own. Jesus is the lense through which you have to read the Bible. If something sounds like something Jesus would or wouldn't do, you should go with that.
The Ten Commandments are for the Jews primarily, to make them a holy people and to teach them something about how God wanted them to live. God made a covenant with the other nations through Noah called the Noachide Law, which is a lot like the Ten Commandments, but they don't have the religious obligations of the Ten Commandments. Basically, why the Ten Commandments are followed by many Christians- because it's traditional, not necessarily because it's "biblical" (basically, people in the early church started seeing then ten commandments as a moral law to follow, even for gentiles). And even then, the ten commandments were interpreted in many ways.
Anyways, its a mistake to think of Christianity as primarily moralistic. Most historic Christian groups are not moralists, they recognize people don't live perfect lives, and God accepts us anyways.
Christianity is really about abundant life, hope for the future, community, learning to be thankful for the life we have, and many other things that are more or less found in other religions. But Jesus is unique: the fact he died for doing what he believed in, and God justified him by raising him from the dead, is unique. Christians see in that God offering Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins, which means every one of us has access to God. Every single person that has existed is someone worth dying for. Hence the basic Christian belief in justice, equality and human dignity. That belief is almost completely unique to the Abrahamic religions, and Christianity in particular.
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If we make the presumption that some Christians make that each person should read the bible on their own and develop their own views, it means that there are many different possible answers to this question. And to "believe in the bible" is a phrase that has many possible viewpoints.
- One could believe the bible exists.
- One could believe the bible teaches great lessons, and therefore has intrinsic value
- One could believe the bible is 100% true, but the interpretation of this "truth" could vary widely from others
- One might be from Christian heritage, as there are many Jews that are non-practicing but call themselves Christian
- One might be a certain type of Christian (ex. Mormon, JW, Baptist, etc)
- One might attach certain requirements in order to be Christian.
- One might feel that someone is "Christian" in the way they treat other people.
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