by James Smart

Created on: September 03, 2010   Last Updated: September 04, 2010

Spiritual and physical descendants of Abraham survived without a "bible" since up until sometime after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ there was no bible as we know it. The first books of the Old Testament were not written until the time of Moses and up to that point the history of God's interaction with man and particularly Israel was passed down generations through word of mouth. A lot of the New Testament consists of eye witness accounts and letters written by the first generations of Christians who up until that point had only the Old Testament, and this was not a complete revelation from God as the addition of the New Testament implies. So Christianity was thriving without the existence of an agreed canon of scripture until later when it was deemed necessary. By this point the scriptures which were approved to comprise the collection of books which would become the bible were consistent in the teachings which were already being practised and understood . It is interesting to note that  the church described in the book of acts is far superior in it's spirituality than whatever has become of the church since that time, and they did not have a bible.

Today we are so hung up with what the bible says that we have become deaf to the Spirit. Jesus said he would send the Helper - the Holy Spirit, Who would teach us all things and that no-one else will have to teach us. The voice of the Holy Spirit should be the word of God in our hearts which cuts through all things - not a book of loop-holes, legalism (much of which was intended for another people at another time) and translation issues.  The Spirit of God speaks clearly into our hearts and to each of us individually. Therefore the church can survive without the bible.

I think that most Christians reading this will start to have alarm bells ringing right now. Are these the alarm bells of the Holy Spirit, or the alarm bells of our conditioning? Remember, Jesus Christ didn't write a single word down - His words were living and dynamic. Another interesting thought is how much of the bible was actually commanded by God to be written down anyway? What we fear as Christians is that to suggest that perhaps the bible isn't as infallible as we thought would mean we are somehow becoming heretical and allowing our imaginations to guide us instead. But, if it is the same Spirit which speaks to us all, then we will hear the same things. Or is this aproach too dangerous? How much

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