Originally posted by moonbusThis is about as withering a condemnation of the entire religion's intellectual and spiritual credibility as one could deliver.
That is what Christian theologians have been trying to do for the last 1700 years. I submit that if theologians had ever succeeded in making a unity of it, Christianity would have died out (as did gnosticism and Manicheanism and hundreds of other sects). The plurality of its possible interpretations (literal-factual, allegorical, metaphorical, etc etc)--plus ...[text shortened]... tracted to it. It absolutely needs both ends of the spectrum goading each other to stay vibrant.
Originally posted by moonbusThis is true, and personal encounters with God are called personal revelations. If anyone has the experience of a personal revelation it is always good to seek a confirmation. Those who walk in the New Age Movement, especially, need to be careful. There is tons of spiritual activity, and those spirits need to be tested.
It is complete, as far as it goes. That is not to say that there is nothing else to be said. The Holy Spirit continues to make God's will known to man through Ecumenical Councils. Anyone who thinks he can call himself a Christian and read only the Bible and nothing else has got a lot of catching up to do.
"If anyone has the experience of a personal revelation it is always good to seek a confirmation. Those who walk in the New Age Movement, especially, need to be careful. " Amen to that. There is a lot of bogus spirituality, on both sides of the equation: wanna-be seekers as well as false messiahs.
Originally posted by FMFNo, I disagree, it says nothing to any perceived 'credibility'. Christians will believe or not as they see fit. We are told to 'endure to the end'. This has nothing to do with what is 'popular' at the time.
This is about as withering a condemnation of the entire religion's intellectual and spiritual credibility as one could deliver.
Originally posted by moonbusChristians are aware of this and the wisest stand vigilant.
"If anyone has the experience of a personal revelation it is always good to seek a confirmation. Those who walk in the New Age Movement, especially, need to be careful. " Amen to that. There is a lot of bogus spirituality, on both sides of the equation: wanna-be seekers as well as false messiahs.
wolfgang59: "when do you think the bible was "complete" and what did Christians use prior to that date?"
The Bible was 'complete' when it was canonized; this process occurred over a period of three hundred years and was generally held to have been finalized by the end of 4th c. AD. However, it is a peculiarly Protestant thing to fixate on the Bible. The Bible is not the primary source for the revelation of God's will to man; the Bible is merely a set of written reminders of what had already been revealed through the primary source. It codified, but did not establish, what Christian practice and belief should be.
The primary source for the revelation of God's will to man is the Holy Spirit, who makes God's will known to man through the Body of Christ in the World (= Ecumenical Councils, i.e., bishops' conventions). There were Ecumenical Councils before the NT was canonized, and whatever THEY said was what early Christians went by. Whatever they say is still what modern Christians should be going by, if they are "genuine" Christians (otherwise, schismatics or heretics or deluded pseudo-Christians).
Ecumenical Councils determined what was to be canonized; that's why the Bible is secondary--the bishops came first.