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Question

1) Where did Jesus give instructions that the Christian faith should be based exclusively on a book?

2) Other than the specific command to John to pen the Revelation, where did Jesus tell His apostles to write anything down and compile it into an authoritative book?

3) Where in the New Testament do the apostles tell future generations that the Christian faith will be based solely on a book?

4) If the meaning of the Bible is so clear—so easily interpreted—and if the Holy Spirit leads every Christian to interpret it for themselves, then why are there so many different Protestant denominations, and millions of individual Protestants, all interpreting the Bible differently?

5) How did the early Church evangelize and overthrow the Roman Empire, survive and prosper almost 350 years, without knowing for sure which books belong in the canon of Scripture?

6) Who in the Church had the authority to determine which books belonged in the New Testament canon and to make this decision binding on all Christians? If nobody has this authority, then can I remove or add books to the canon on my own authority?

7) Why do Protestant scholars recognize the early Church councils at Hippo and Carthage as the first instances in which the New Testament canon was officially ratified, but ignore the fact that those same councils ratified the Old Testament canon used by the Catholic Church today but abandoned by Protestants at the Reformation?

8) If the early Church believed in sola Scriptura, why do the creeds of the early Church always say “we believe in the Holy Catholic Church,” and not “we believe in Holy Scripture”?

9) The time interval between the Resurrection and the establishment of the New Testament canon in AD 382 is roughly the same as the interval between the arrival of the Mayflower in America and the present day. Therefore, since the early Christians had no defined New Testament for almost four hundred years, how did they practice sola Scriptura?

10) If Christianity is a “book religion,” how did it flourish during the first 1500 years of Church history when the vast majority of people were illiterate?

Answer 1

When I first saw your question I looked at it and saw how difficult of a task responding to this question would be, but then I realized that God told me that I can do all things trhough Christ who strengthens me Phil 4:13, so here I am trying my best with Gods strength to answer your question. Obviously the big question that you have it whether scripture is true or not, so I suggest that you pray loong and hard about the answer to this question, because it is extreeeemmlly serious, however Timothy 3:16 is the main answer to your question.

1-2) So lets begins with the first two questions. Jesus and His disciples had a close relationship with Him as they walked with Him daily, after Jesus died and was ressurected this relationship did not stop. So although it may not be specifically recorded when and where Jesus told the disciples to write it all down, we can trust that He did, otherwise they wouldnt have done it. You've heard it said that what you write down with a pen with last forever, but your words can fade away. God knew generations would pass before Christs second coming, so the things Christ did and said while He was on Earth had to be recorded, along with other messages that He gave through the Spirit to His disciples. Now as far as how this applies to the Christian church we can parrallel this to how the Old Testament was written. After the Lord had taken the Israelites out of Egypt kept them in the wilderness so they could unlearn all the traditions that they had learned from the Egyptians and He told Moses to write down all that He told him so that God could develop a covenant with His chosen people and begin a church. Moses was told to write it down then so that the Church that God was starting with the Israelites so that it wouldnt be forgotten by all the generations that followed like it had when they were held captive by Egypt. So when Jesus comes back and starts a new covenant with us, He starts a new church with us and doesnt want it to be forgotten about all the generations that are to come and His teachings will not be forgotten again.

3) For this question I have to Scripture I would like you to read 2 Timothy 2:15 and 3:16. The first one says to "study to show thyself approved" study what? the Word of God. 3:16 speaks about the validity of the scripture. Also all the books that were written by Paul (who wrote the majority of the New Testament) are letters to the christian churches on how to be christian churches.

4) This question is surprisingly easy to answer, its because of the Devil. The devil hates God, and His word so He seeks to mess it up anywhere that He can. See in the Old Testament very few people could read, so reading the Bible was left to Scholars. The devil knew that in the new that in times to come more and more people would read the Word of God, especially since now thanks to the blood of Jesus we have a direct connection to the Master. So he realized that by reading scripture it would make it that much harder to tempt people, so he set up misinterpretations of the Bible, false doctrines, scriptures taken out of context and things. Because he knew that now people actually would hear the Word of God they would know to believe and become Christian, so He sets up counterfiet Christian churches to lead them astray. If you listen carefully to the incorrect conclusions that are made from misinterpretting the Bible you can see why they made the errors. Alot of people read things trying to prove their own personal point, so no matter how they read it theyre gonna try as hard they can to prove their point. Scripture is suppose to be read and compared to other scripture. Also it has to be read in context.

5) The answer to number five, by the Grace of God. But its an interresting question, i suggest you study Bible Prophecy, and read Revelation 11, the two witnesses represent the Old and New Testament, so you see why its lasted so long, and why it was dead for a time, and why it has come back.

6) God gave certain men authority, the he gave other men the authoirty to bind all those different books together into 1 Bible consisting of the Old and New Testament. God only has the divine authority to change them and uses men to do it, now looking again at the prophecy about the two witness', when they are made the two witnesses they stay as those two complete two witnesses, as in the Old and New Testament we had then, and what we have now, nothing more will be changed.

7) During the reformationthe protestants reformed their theology and abandoned some things they previously believed that they had found to be either invalid or in error.

8) Well because the Catholic Church was so dominant in power back then, they promoted their name and church as much as they could, I agree with you in saying that it should say "we believe in Holy Scripture" and thats what I personally believe in.

9) The Holy Spirit. God will never let His word completely die out.

10) Back then their were certain types of ministers who could read and their specific job was to read the word of God to His children.

I hope that what I have told you has helped you, and I pray that you study further into this and can teach your final findings to others, because alot of people have the same questions you have. Also i suggest you read this book called "The Great Controversy" which is an excellent history book which could answer alot of your questions.
God Bless.

Answer 2

1) Jesus never left instructions that our faith in Him was to be based on a book. He said that my faith alone are we saved, the Bible gives us instructions, and we are to believe the Bible, but believing in the Bible will not gain us entrance into Heaven.

2) It was not so much Him explicitly telling them face to face, but it was just as we move today...by faith alone in Christ

3) There is no place. Because Christianity is based on faith in Jesus Christ alone. Like I said...we are to believe what the Bible says...but not to lift it up and worship or base our lives on it.

4) The Bible is not meant for people to take what they get from it. It is the literal inspired Word of God.

5) Oh, they know all right, it was people after them who began to start messing with the Bible and the Canon.

6) No, the Bible is Insprired by the Lord, He is the author. The founding fathers of the Church knew the truth, and they knew where the books were to belong. They had the intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus.

7) Not totally sure what to say on that. I am not familiar with Protestant belief system

8) I have never seen where that is true. Even the history books record that the Church believed in the Sacred Scriptures and nothing would separate their faith in Jesus Christ and belief in what the Word of God says.

10) They found every way to get the truth

Answer 3

1, 2, 3... Nowhere
4.... .......Nowhere is it that clear
5. They didn't... Constantine overthrew the empire with Christianity... as a political move, not a religious one.
6. Yes... you can... read the apocrypha...
7. Because it's the easy way out...
8. Because they would be killed if they did not say those words.
9. They practiced what they had, what they believed, and what they were told.
10. It was enforced by the "inquisition" and threat of death.

Answer 4

LK 5:1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the Word of God

LK 8:11 "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is
the Word of God.

LK 11:28 He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey it."

Jn 10:35 If he called them `gods,' to whom the word of God came--and the Scripture cannot be broken-- 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, `I am God's Son'? 37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.


MK 7:9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, `Honor your father and your mother,' and, `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: `Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.

Answer 5

I think you need to go to a good Bible School for all these answers

Answer 6

Great set of questions....

Can I use these for my Confirmation Class Final Exam??

Answer 7

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