Unfamiliar with the Bible?
All the truths written about in this blog come from common sense, human conscience, the witness of the Holy Spirit, and faith in the Bible as the word of God. As to this last element, the purpose of the blog is to proclaim the truth of God, not teach the Bible. This difference is subtle but important. The truths proclaimed here do indeed come from the Bible, but they point toward Jesus Christ…not back toward the Bible. Think of it this way: Jesus confronted His religious critics with this challenge (paraphrased from John 5:39-40), “You study the Bible because you think it brings you eternal life, but the Bible itself bears witness to Me – and you are unwilling to come to Me to receive the eternal life!” Therefore people who cling to the Bible but miss God, miss the point.
Therefore, the Bible and this blog point in the same direction – to God. The blog succeeds as people connect to their God, not as they become students of the Bible. This is why you do not see constant references to chapter and verse throughout the posts. Alas, it is quite possible to become a Bible student without being devoted to God, and I hope this never happens to you. On the other hand, it is possible to become devoted to God without being a Bible student. Thus my prayer is that you become devoted to God, and I care not how much you read the Bible. It is very hard in modern life to find adequate time to study a great document of antiquity. On the other hand, serving God is as possible in modern times as it was in ancient times. In fact, if you believe in Jesus Christ and live before Him with a clear conscience, His Holy Spirit will guide you into all the truth you need to please Him in this life. You will be hearing and acting upon the word of God in your heart; you will personify the truths in the Bible. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures will be inspiring you. Without your reading a page.
Even though God lays down no requirement for people to read the Bible, however, some of you will want to do so anyway. And who am I to blame you, for I myself love the Bible and consider all other books as rubbish when laid alongside it. The pivotal moment in my life occurred when I began reading it in 1978, and I plan to be studying it every single day for as long as I remain on the earth. Therefore, while I implore you to love Jesus Christ and do not implore you to read the Bible, I will provide you help if you want to read and study the Bible.
Toward this end, I have created a companion blog of Bible notes for those of you who want to know more about the Scriptures, and who want to read and study them for yourselves. Some of you know hardly anything about the Bible; others feel quite comfortable with it and want to see if what I write is consistent with it. I will try to serve both groups, even though for the former it may sometimes seem too advanced and for the latter it may sometimes seem too elementary.
Again, this blog, A Nonchurchgoer’s Guide to Jesus exists to make known Jesus Christ so that all may walk with Him in the power of His Holy Spirit. I lay no burden on you to read or study the Bible. I expect only a minority of this blog’s readers will want to do so. However, if you are one of them, I provide you this companion site: Bible Notes Companion to A Nonchurchgoer’s Guide to Jesus.
After reading Gantt’s “A NonChurchgoer’s Guide To The Bible”, I decided to contact him re my ‘little’ take on “Why the Bible” (One of my writings in my ‘The Says of Simon’). Can’t find a free e-mail address to send him a copy. As I say in the referenced brochure I printed, everything is copyrighted by the Holy Spirit, and unwritten approval is accepted.
I am a retired engineering manager (1995) that came to the Lord late after His 2X4 of prostate cancer (1996).
Thanks
Ken Simon
Why don’t you just summarize your “little take” here? In other words, what point are you trying to make with what you have written?
Just felt I wrote this to readers similar to Gantt’s ‘Unchurched’ and thought it might interest him.It is of course “more religious” as it assumes the Bible is from God.
So just a F.Y.I. to use or discard as desired.
IHN
Ken Simon
WHY THE BIBLE ?
God operates in the world he created using the ways and things of His creation. He communicates to man through the eyes, ears ,brains and spirit He gave us.
When men had no written language, God communicated through their awareness of His world around them. Each man would embellish on others’ perception of Him with spirit guided selection. In the same way men wrote down spirit guided communications from God, necessarily using the style (language), vocabulary and cultural references of the life of the chosen author.
Over time man accumulated many written thoughts and ideas. Those about God have been sorted and filtered through a process of “natural selection” by His spirit working in men.
Similarly, the more important communications God wants us to know have been assembled and propagated through His use of the same spirit. This is why we refer to the bible as God speaking to us . Not only did His Spirit guide the original authors and those responsible for selecting the canons but continues to guide each reading of these verses by all of His children.
My observations on the source of the bible follows:
As I read I am continually finding threads of the same truths throughout the bible. Expressed in different ways by different people in different circumstances at different points in time– BUT all amazingly connected and evidencing the same truths!
Did “man” throughout the centuries of authorship logically (and cunningly) embellish the same original themes? Did “man” in his purpose carefully choose or select only those writings consistent with his desired story? OR did GOD implement His plan to inform His creation of His truths use His Holy Spirit to guide each author and each selector of the canons?
I find the latter much easier to believe!
The Bible Is the Word of God
Through the Bible God Explains Himself
The Bible: Its Subject Is Jesus, Its Author Is the Holy Spirit
Will You Master the Bible or Will the Bible Master You?
You Can Read the Bible
You Can Understand the Bible
Why You Can Understand the Bible