Is the Bible the only source of truth for Christians?

Question

I was listening to a Christian radio program earlier today, and the host spent about 30 minutes discussing why Mormons are not Christians. To sum it up, he basically said Mormons are not Christians because they believe things that aren't explicitly taught in the Bible.

So, is that the yardstick that most Christians go by? If it's not in the Bible, then it must not be true?

Why or why not?

He even had a caller call in to the program, who said, "You summed it up pretty good. I couldn't have said it better myself... If it's not in the Bible, don't believe it."

Answer 1

The Bible means very little without revelation of the Holy Spirit.

That being said, it's God that is the source of truth. It's God that proves the Bibles inspirations. It's God that fulfills all prophesy. It's God that makes the whole world true.

Edit

Brian,

I read your 360º. Congratulation on your testimony. My trust in the Lord was similarly revealed. I am not Mormon myself, and wouldn't go as far as claiming that the LDS Church is the restored kingdom. The true kingdom is so much larger than any one Church (denomination). If Joseph Smith built his Church in response to the fear of apostasy he, like you, and me, experienced our true awakenings because of our own personal apostasies. We must personally question what we believe in order for God to reveal the truth through the Holy Spirit. This is how we are supposed to trust God. We are the Church, the kingdom of God is within people. Our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit. This is the understanding that gets lost, but it's not something you would have consciously accepted if someone told you to, God has to reveal it to us. God is the one that causes us to question what we've been told. He tells us what's true, otherwise we do not know what to believe. That really has nothing to do with what religious institution we belong to. I see truth everywhere now.

Congrats on finding your trust in God.

Answer 2

The problem you get is that when you get these evengelical preachers on the radio. You have to realise a couple of things that are wrong with them. FIrst of all. They get paid to do their preaching. The bible over and over and over again forbids being paid to bring religion and miracles and other such things to the people. So, the question can be asked,
????? Do these people really beleave in the bible.
They do things that the bible forbids in the name of religion.
HMMMM!!!, The next thing you have to realise is that they are anti mormon because these preachers are scared of the mormon church. They know that they make their money and their living off the people they teach. And when people investagate the lds church, and find that they have strong families, good morals, that there is a lot of good things about them, people leave these other churches in droves for the lds church. and these preachers can see their paychecks getting smaller. So when they say there is no truth outside of the bible, first, they really dont beleave the bible, second, what they are really saying is, dont read the book of mormon, cause they know that most people who do, find out it's true, and than leave the preachers church, and make the preachers ability to make a living off preaching a lot harder.
Which, is something that is forbidden by the bible in the first place. So they have to use scare tatics to try to keep people away from the lds church, cause when people HOnestly investagate the church, most of them come away with good feelings. and those preachers cant afford that.

Answer 3

Hmm before 325 a.d. there wasn't an official bible where christians can call the new testament. Various early Christians had different opinions on what was authentic and non authentic...some books that didn't become part of the bible were canonical in their opinion and some books that we find in the bible now a days aren't found in their versions of the new Testament. As for Rev 22 only refers to the Book of Revelation, it shows ignorance on part of the people who think the bible is written in one book. There are 66 books with various authors who didn't know each other. It isn't one book.

Answer 4

I do not believe that the Bible is a True source of anything. And I do not believe that it is all lies. It is like any other book that is written by individual human beings. (This statement is going to piss some people off.)

I guess I would wonder how you can beleive in something that has been edited and re-edited over the centuries to suit the church's needs. Sort of like a newspaper if you asked me.

Please do not someone say that it is not true it has not been edited. The catholic Archdiose has admitted to it. Every religion has a different Bible. So... Which one is true??

Great question.

Answer 5

Not only do the Mormons believe things not in the bible, but they claim to believe the bible and yet they omit important things (such as the holy Trinity). Also, the bible is one of the most reliable historical books/information we have. It was written by several people, all telling the same story.
The Mormons believe in the book of Mormon, which was written by only one man, and they just happen to trust what he says.

The books written by Lee Strobel are very good at clarifying stuff and presenting evidence. He himself was an atheist, and in trying to prove that Christianity was made up, he ended up proving Christianity.

Answer 6

I think that that's pretty stupid. I'm a practicing Christian, but I see the Bible as more of a metaphorical way of living instead of interpreting it entirely literally. In this way, I don't really believe in what the Bible teaches all the time, but I'm definitely a Christian! For example, I see nothing wrong with homosexuality or premarital sex, to name a couple biggies (especially in today's society). So does the fact that I do not take everything the Bible says literally mean I'm not a 'real' Christian? Perhaps, but in my mind, I don't think so. It just depends on how exactly you choose to interpret it. After all, it wasn't written by God Himself, and you shouldn't take some radio host's word as gospel (no pun intended!)
Merry Christmas, etc. all!!

Answer 7

no, there are lot of books that was written and was not included in the Bible. so how was that? i hold on to this verse in the Bible: St John 21:25 "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written".

I do believe in the Bible but I also believe that there are other books that was written by inspiration. books written by the prophets. we all know that Jesus has 12 apostles and all of them i believe has written books but was not all compiled in the Bible.

whatever book you read for spiritual guidance, as long as you live the gospel and do good deeds, following His examples,, that matters, you are a believer.

oh one more thing if you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God then you are a Christian.

Answer 8

It's pretty much all that Christians have to go by. Which is pretty disconcerting, given how many times the thing has been revised and rewritten.

While some of the lessons in the Bible are good lessons for all time, it would be foolish to devote ones lifestyle entirely on the writings of a book multiple milleniae old. If we all did that, we never would advance as a society.

Galileo was branded a heretic for his stance that the Earth revolved around the Sun, for instance. For centuries before him, Christian leaders preached that the Sun revolved around the Earth, citing God's Divine Intervention as their only evidence, which needed absolutely no support. After all, to challenge the Church in those days was heresy amd blasphemous. If it wasn't for the courage not only of Galileo, but other astronomers and scientists who would eventually stand up to the Church and prove them wrong, we wouldn't be where we are today.

Answer 9

Matt. 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." So Jesus commands us to observe all He has commanded.

John 20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

John 21:25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

When you combine all three of these together, you can only honestly conclude that there must be things outside of Scripture that we must observe because Scripture plainly teaches that it, although it is profitable (2 Tim 3:16), is not exhaustive.

Answer 10

I wouldn't call the Bible a source of truth. It's actually much more than that. Fact is fact and can be found in any number of locations. The Bible is more of a place to go when the truth is not so easily discerned. God reveals His truth through His word, which is the Bible.