Do you believe the Bible is truth?

Hello brother,

It is good to hear from you. I really appreciate your asking!!

It is absolute, bottom-line truth that gets me in trouble the most. I am so convinced of our reality in Jesus through the death and resurrection (as written in the Bible) that I have been criticized often. There is no other reality than the new life we have in Christ ... and this is the very life that was written of in the word.

Now, I do not believe that the Bible is our text book ... for that was the error the Pharisees held to! Do you remember how in John 5 that Jesus confronted their adherence to the word and yet pointed out that they didn't even believe the writings of Moses. But they were the real "students of the word" in their day. So, what I'm telling you is that many people have studied the word and made a stand on it, and yet don't see that all of it is talking about the Jesus you now love and believe in!! The Old had said, "He is coming!"; while the New is made up of letters saying, "He HAS come ... and here is what He has done ... and here is what this life in you is all about!"

The article you read is part of a friend's site and has a specific purpose to it. Now, you obviously can't figure out much of what I may believe from such a short piece, but truth is still truth. The very life of Jesus is in you and His Spirit witnesses to your Spirit ... but it may not sound like a quote from the Bible when you sense it. I'm not trying to confuse you, but to suggest that this Christianity which is written about in the Bible is so absolutely true that you can count on His truth that He put in you. Remember, the Spirit was given to teach us and lead us into all truth. Realize this: you can be lead astray by quotations from the Bible just as easily as from non-biblical stuff. The converse of that is also true.

If the Bible wasn't from God, then I should throw mine away! I have worn out a good many of them and read mine all the time. It is the only writing that I hold to thats tells me of this Jesus we call Savior and friend. I'm even in the process of making a paraphrase of the New Testament letters!! I've done Galatians and 1 John. My purpose in doing so is to create the sense of the original letters as being new to them so that we see more how they each were a whole expression to a particular group in their particular situations. This follows your thought how we need to see them in context. We have gotten so used to breaking them up in little bite-sized pieces that we lose the overall feel and meaning. What happens is that we miss what is really being said ... and then we, basically, make up the difference by trying to apply these out-of-context passages. Whew!!

Oh, well, it is very late (1:21 am) and I must get to bed so that I can make it up in time to go to work!!

Please feel free to visit my site ... it has much more! You may not agree with all that I write, but you will get the idea that if I don't believe the Bible then I'm a pretty good faker!! hahaha!! :)

Your friend ... Jim Minker