Originally Posted by IZH27
He (antlers) has pretty much dismissed the new testament and Old Testament to the point of trashing them as useless and having no connection to modern Christianity, the church etc..
The story of how we got ‘the Bible’ begins with a single event. An event that was so extraordinary that it was worth writing about.

The story of ‘the Bible’ does not begin with Genesis; the story of ‘the Bible’ actually begins with Jesus. The story of ‘the Bible’ actually begins in the first-century when Jesus’ tomb was found empty, and then later He was seen. And His cowardly followers who ran and hid when He was arrested…and later crucified…showed up in the streets of Jerusalem and said “He’s back, He’s alive from the dead.” They said this to the very power structure…the very men…who had Jesus crucified. And many Jewish people in the same area where Jesus was arrested and crucified…in the area of Judea and the city of Jerusalem…embraced Him as their savior.

And the church launched, the church began. And then there was interest in documenting the words and the works and the life of Jesus.

If Jesus had stayed dead, we likely would have never even heard of Him because there would have been no church, and there would have been no Christianity, and there would have been no ‘the Bible.’

The story of ‘the Bible’ actually begins with the resurrection of Jesus. And He is infinitely more important than “modern Christianity” and the church, etc.. And He always will be.

The original version of Christianity was an event-based faith; not a text-based faith. The shift from the resurrection of Jesus to a Bible centered faith…which was done by man…has left us with an anemic version of Christianity evidenced by a poor evangelistic effectiveness and an undermined credibility. Which is the clearly the polar opposite of the original, first-century version of Christianity.

So many people fighting and bickering, hateful and spiteful assertions and accusations, wholesale slaughter of countless numbers of people, manipulated for power and money, and countless people who have simply thrown their arms up in the air and walked away and/or want nothing to do with the faith…all over a book that didn’t even exist when Christianity first began.

The first century apologetic was not ‘the Bible.’ Period. And Apostle Peter’s living hope…the foundation of his faith…was not ‘the Bible.’ Period, on steroids.

Every day on this side of the ground is a win.