"
Jesus loves me this I know - for the Bible tells me so" -
Some would argue we need to dump 39 books of the bible - since the rise of the NONES (those that walk away from religion) has risen to 20-29% in America these days - maybe we should should not tether Christianity to the Bible so closely. Allow for things to drop off -- like the entire OT or the Gospels before the cross or the creation week or ... (it is pretty much endless).
(For a video example of a guy slam-hammering the "Jesus loves Me..for the Bible tells me so" form of accepting the Bible -- see this post on this same page same thread
#15 )
At the end of Matthew we find this statement in Matt 28
Matt 28:
16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated to them. 17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That Matt 28:19-20 statement is NOT of the form
"forget all that I have commanded you... from now on make up a new set of teachings"
Some will say to take the scissors out at the point of - these verses to divide OT and NT (OC and NC?)
Matthew 27:50
Mark 15:37
Luke 23:46
John 19:30
Such that following the teaching that find prior to that point is to choose to be under the Old Covenant rather than the New Covenant.
Which misses the point that Matt 1:1 is years AFTER the ascension of Christ and is in direct response to the Matt 28:20 command of Christ.
And in Matt 24 we have this
14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Not some other gospel - but the one Jesus was preaching in Matt 24.
And so years LATER after the ascension of Christ - they are doing that very thing by writing the GOSPEL of Matt, Mark, Luke, John.
Heb 1 says that in the past God spoke through prophets but in this New Testament His SON came directly to Earth and spoke to us. I.E those Gospel accounts that some views are so anxious to distance themselves from.
John 17 Jesus said that He promised life not just to those who heard him then but to all who would believe through their word as eye witnesses of Christ and His teaching.
No wonder then in Luke 24 when Christ appears to His disciples on the road to Emaus - He does not reveal Himself directly to them. Rather "beginning with Moses and the prophets He
25 And then He said to them, “You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures.
In every case in the NEW Testament where we see the term "scriptures" it always includes all of the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible and in some cases it includes the NT Letters as we see in 2 Peter 3.
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In Genesis 1 - 3 we have the Bible teaching on marriage, on gender, on the weekly holy day, on the fall of mankind into sin, the need of the gospel , the doctrine on origins etc.