Is the BIBLE the Final Authority for the Christian?

Question

To say it another way, Can the Bible be trusted? Is it reliable? Is it God's Word? If it's God's Word, should church leaders alter or replace it with their words?

The Bible is sufficient. It gives a full view of the way of salvation.
The Bible is complete in its message on how to live.
The Bible is the inspired Word of God.
Since it is inspired it should be accepted as it is, without change.

There are many who respect the Bible, yet do not follow it as the Final Authority.

Am a Christian and I believed that the Bible is the Final Authority from God.

To my Co-Followers in Christ what is your opinion?

Answer 1

I agree with you. I think that the Bible is reliable, accurate, and the final authority. Religions or people who put individuals as authority over the Bible are not Christ-centered and do not have the Biblical scripture-based authority to do so. I also agree that many people pick and choose what parts they want to follow or agree with and which that they don't. I am so sick of hearing about how this is a different time and culture and that things are just different now. The argument that we are so much more corrupt as a society that it is harder to follow the Bible and that we should be held to a lower standard. Please. The city of Corinth (as in Corinthians) had a temple to Aphrodite where people would purge their sins through perverse sexual acts with prostitutes. All but one of the disciples were horribly killed for their faith. Yeah, its a different time all right, and we should be thankful that we have the freedom and the ability to practice our faith openly, without changing any of its tenants.

Answer 2

Absolutely not! The Bible is not and was never intended to be our final authority for Christians. The final authority is what the Bible itself states as the "pillar and foundation of truth," (1 Timothy 3:15) which is the Church. The fundamentalist Protestants always make the bogus claim that the Bible is their final authority, but the ironic thing is this: when faced with this question they go running scared and will back-pedal and make nameless excuses, change the subject and perform whatever defensive manuvuers they can get away with to avoid this one question - -"name the one verse in the Bible that states that Scripture is our final authority?" They CAN"T because it is NOT there. There are verses that state that scripture is good and useful, but not our authority.

So, if the Bible states that the Church is our final authority, then which of the 36,000+ denominations out there do we submit to. The answer is the only Church that has lasted for 2,000 years and was built on Peter's leadership, with Chirst as the cornerstone, and that is the Holy Catholic Church.

The final canon of Scripture, the Bible we know today, wasn't even put together until the 4th century (by the AUTHORITY of the Catholic Church, by the way). So, if the Bible is our one sole authority for Christians, then what authority did the Christians of the first few centuries submit to?

The Bible is a very useful tool for Christians and a VERY important part of our life, and yes it is the inerrant and infallible word of God, but it is but one leg of a tri-pod. The other two legs are Tradition and the Magesterium, or leadership, of the Church. Because there are not these totally necessary things in Protestantism, that is why it has failed and why there are an increasing number of denominations worldwide -- caused by lack of leadership leading to doctrinal and theological disputes, leading to church splitting and all-out chaos. Just read the Epistles (without your "Protestant glasses" on, and you will see this plain as day).

Answer 3

No Christian in practice actually has the Bible as their ultimate authority. I know this sounds like a radical and shocking statement, but the truth is that is one holds the Bible to be authoritative, it will be because either one has had a religious experience, or an upbringing, that has persuaded them, or has read parts of the Bible and become persuaded that they are true. No one can decide that the Bible is going to be their authority without some sort of process of thinking or emotion being involved.

Also, those who assert the Bible's ultimate authority also tend to maintain its inerrancy. Yet many apparent contradictions exist in the Bible, and so to be an inerrantist, one has to say that even when the Bible provides apparent evidence of its own imperfection, Christians must nonetheless believe it is perfect. In such cases, it is the doctrine of inerrancy that is ultimate, and the Bible is forced to submit and conform to it.

Finally, I know of no group, however radical, that treats every law equally, nor every apparent statement of fact as equally factual, much less equally important. Jesus himself made a distinction between less and more important laws, for example, but apart from the New Testament mentioning a few examples (such as love for God and neighbor, and tithing mint and cumin), how does one decide? The answer would seem to be that Jesus expected adherence to overarching moral and theological principles, as well as to common sense, to provide the framework within which Scripture is to be interpreted.

For many Christians it is important to affirm the Bible as the ultimate authority. It is a nice attempt at emotional blackmail - "we're the real Christians, you guys don't accept the Bible as the ultimate authority". But the truth is that, however important the Bible may be as an authority, it is never ultimate and never alone. Most theologians and most Christians have accepted this truth honestly down the ages. If fundamentalists had the courage to do the same, a lot more intelligent conversation between people of different opinions today would be possible. But how can someone talk about religious matters intelligently with someone who interprets the Bible (or has someone else interpret it for them) and then pretends they aren't doing it?

Answer 4

The Bible is not the final authority for Christians. Christ is. Bible 101: The Bible is not a law book. So no one is going to ratify the Bible. If you are thinking of the Bible as a bunch of laws, like the Ten Commandments and the rest of Law of Moses, the Bible says that that law doesn't pertain to you. That was a covenant God made to the ancient nation of Israel long passed into dust since 600 BC. The only "laws" that pertain to a Christian are the 2 laws of love: "Love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself." Do you have a problem with this?

Answer 5

well, it is the final authority in that the people who interpret it are the chosen leaders of the people who worship it. The problem with that is you could get a chosen leader like the present U.S president, and then things could get scary, remember the inquisitions and the salem witch trials and the intelligent design controvery? The problem with using something like the bible as the "final authority", is that some people dont, and for some things it should be interpreted differently if used at all. The muslims have the same problem, many of their "leaders" are using their bible the koran as a tool for governing and taking it literally. This recent surge of extremists is the result, and many (not that there are many these days) intelligent educated scholary muslims see this as a huge step backward if not catastropic to their society and religion. that said, if you want to live by gods rules and you live in america, then there are many valuable lessons to be taken from the bible and since this country was mostly founded by christians you will probably do fine.

Answer 6

The bible is to be trusted however translators are not to be trusted.

If you refuse to check out your source for accuracy then you are going to run into troubles.

Even the authors of the KJV had their own axe to grind and their own agenda. You have to follow some basic principles of bible study. Most of you are going to dislike the principles.

If the Bible is the word of God as you say, and I believe it is, then Yahshua did not make void 2/3 of it by dying on the cross. First rule of bible study You must study the scriptures for the right purpose. That is to make you wise unto salvation in Yahshua Messiah and for teaching, doctrine, reproof (your own), correction (yourself) and training in righteousness so that you will be equipped unto every good work. It is not for you to try and find a few out of context scriptures to support your world veiw.

Second the old testement is relevent today. The above mentions scriptures were only the old testement. I know that some will try to say they are the epistles but look at the context it says what you have learned from your childhood. The epistles and the gospel message did not exist.

Third rule after establishing the first rule and second rule then apply this rule. If your understanding of the new testiment conflicts with the old testiment then your understanding is most likely wrong not the old testiment. This is where most of you fall flat on your face.

This is where you need to be on your knees and have a few reliable lexicons and books on jewish idioms and some books on the culture of the times open so you can understand what is being said and what is not being said. Most often you take a verse out of context of the culture and miss the real point of what its talking about and come up with your own meaning that isn't even close to the real meaning.

Fourth rule silence in the new testiment on a subject covered in the old testiment does not nulify the old testiment teaching it simply means that the practice was so 'Duh' that it didn't need to be reiterated. An example of this? The Sabbath and the Holy Days. Silence meaning no command in the new testiment simply means it was a given. A good jew wouldn't think of missing the sabbath and the Holy days. Another example along the same lines. Paul's silence on this subject. If you read the account of Acts Paul went to synogogue on sabbath to teach and the gentiles in synogogue (what are they doing there do you think?) were receptive. The term Feared God Or God fearers in referance to gentiles meant that they were already in the process of converting to Judaism when Paul came along. Why else would they even be in synogogue on the sabbath. It really takes very little grey matter to reason that out but any good historical source on the culture will tell you the same thing.

Lastly apply what you learn. A true believer obeys. John 3:36 This is where you may need the lexicon because some translators will say things like do not believe or reject. The full meaning of the word is to disbelieve by disobedience. KJV actually nails this one.

If you doubt this last one read Hebrew 3-4 Read Romans 11 then go read Numbers 11-15 or so. Why was God angry with the Israelites? Why did every single one of the Adult maile from 20 - 60 with the exception of two die in the wilderness. Because of disbelief in God by disobedience. There for they were not allowed to enter the rest the promised land, The kingdom of God.

Answer 7

I have nothing against believing in a God. I believe in a God or gods.

I have nothing against believing some, or most, of the bible...

But believing the bible is 100% right is just plain wrong. Too much of it has been proven wrong. And it doesn't matter how much has also been proven right; the fact that anything in it has been proven wrong means it is not 100% true.

It's really not even a matter of opinion, or faith. It's fact, and it's ignorance if you ignore it.

And to those who say, "God put all that science here to trick the nonbelievers"... If God wanted us all to believe in him so we can go to heaven, why the hell would he try to decieve us like that?

Face it, some of the bible is not true. You should not look to the bible "for all your answers", or whatever you said. I don't see you throwing rocks at nonbelievers, and burning gays and witches.

I'm guessing you have both eyes and both hands. I'm also guessing you don't isolate your wife from any human contact whenever it's "that time of the month"...

:S

Answer 8

Which of the many bibles are you talking about? If you believe the bible and the story of the tower of babble, Did you know in New Guinea alone there are over 850 languages so this tower much have been really tall or the people had parachutes.

Answer 9

I agree.
I also realize that certain parts of the Bible are commandments for some, but examples and history lessons for others. There are laws and commandments expressly for Jews and not Christians-or anyone else. There are parts of the Bible that was written only to Christians. There is a term we ofter hear in some circles-"rightly dividing the word". That is a critical rule of thumb to understanding and following the Bible. I believe in the term "context". Out of proper context, one can make a real mess with the Bible.
Now, is it the final authority-in my life it is.
Also, understanding Israel and its history is crucial, not only to understanding the Bible, but whats left of life in this world.

Answer 10

Yes most definately. It is the final authority and the first. It can be trusted, is most reliable, and Is inspired and breathed by God Himself. It should never be altered or changed or misconstrued to work differently for whatever reason. I agree with you completely. If I ever have questions I can look there for answers, if the Bible says so, then that's the final line for me. There is no way around it. It's life's rule book and guide book and love story all wrapped into one.