“The Bible is the foundation for the Christian faith”

History tells us this can’t be true. There wasn’t a “Bible” until 400 years after the resurrection of Jesus.

To make it plain.

For 400 years there were Christians who did not have an actual Bible. Therefore the foundation of their faith wasn’t a Bible.

Once the Bible was completed, most people still couldn’t read and didn’t have enough money to purchase one.

Here’s what happens when you make the Bible the foundation for the Christian faith.

1. Skeptics go out of their way to disprove the Bible.

“If the Bible is true, then Christianity is true BUT if the Bible is false, Christianity is false”.

Here’s what happens when you make the Bible the foundation for the Christian faith.

2. You condition people into believing that in order to be a Christian, you have to believe everything in the Bible is true because it’s God’s word and God doesn’t lie

Here’s what happens when you make the Bible the foundation for the Christian faith.

3. You end up having to defend every single then in the Bible and you essentially have to go in circles when you are confronted. Nobody has this kind of time. Especially a skeptic.

Here’s what happens when you make the Bible the foundation for the Christian faith.

4. Most people who say the Bible is the foundation for the Christian faith or it’s all God’s word have not read the entire Bible. Now you aren’t even credible.

Here’s what happens when you make the Bible the foundation for the Christian faith.

5. You condition children and teens to believe this and they go away to university where they meet their Biology professor and in one lecture he proves how the Bible isn’t credible.

Here’s what happens when you make the Bible the foundation for the Christian faith.

6. People walk away from Jesus unnecessarily. This breaks my heart and it should break yours too.

Essentially, you ask them why and they will say “I just don’t believe IT anymore”.

9/10, the “IT” they are referring to is THE BIBLE. Specifically, the Old Testament.

This may not mean anything to you because you’ve been in church your entire life and you’re okay with just “believing”.

But this means something to the people who are trying to hold on to their faith and they are slowly letting go.

This may not æffect you but guess who it will æffect?

Your teenage son and daughter. The future generation coming up. It will æffect them and guess what the data is showing us??

Data shows us that the church is going out of their way to become more interesting than ever but at the same time people are becoming less interested than ever.

The church added flat screens. Skinny jeans and a coffee shop. Those are good things but they aren’t the main thing.

Here’s my point.

In order to reach this generation and the next generation, we will not have to change our beliefs about the Bible, even though they probably should change.

We will have to change our approach to how we talk about the Bible.

We can no longer afford to say “Because the Bible says so” or “Because it’s in the Bible”.

The Bible says a lot of things, that sometimes contradict each other. That’s just the truth.

The early Christians didn’t believe in Jesus because “It was in the Bible” or because the “Bible says so”.

You shouldn’t either. Their faith was based on something that was a lot more credible and tangible.

The foundation for their faith caused them to endure Jewish and Roman persecution.

Their faith was strong as nails but the foundation of their faith wasn’t the Bible.

Matthew 28:18 -> Jesus was given all authority. Not the Bible. Jesus is not synonymous with the Bible.

John 14:6 -> Jesus is the way. Jesus is the model. Not the Bible.

1 Corinthians 15:17 —> If Jesus does not resurrect, there is no Christianity and there is no “Bible”

Embrace this approach and you’ll be considered a heretic. A liberal. A hyper grace teacher.

Church people will begin to question your spiritual walk. You won’t be invited to speak at many churches.

But if you embrace this approach, your faith will become attractive.

And the good news of Jesus is attractive.

People will become interested again. They’ll believe again.