From: Gary Collins (gwcollins@algol.co.uk)
Date: Wed Jun 18 2003 - 04:26:48 EDT
On Tue, 17 Jun 2003 22:02:08 +0100, Iain Strachan wrote:
>Gary,
>
>> But most people surely come to Jesus through the Bible (this may be
>indirectly,
>> i.e. it may be a trust of other people who talk to them about the Bible,
>and who
>> likely will tell them that the Bible is reliable) - even though their
>> understanding will be very incomplete. I have heard that there are
>exceptions,
>> particularly in the Muslim world, where some are reported to have come to
>> Christ as a result of direct revelation, in a dream or a vision or
>whatever.
>> But as a generality I think my statement would hold.
>
>Actually, I'd have probably to side with Michael on this one. As a teenager
>I'd read the bible keenly because I thought it was good for me;
Why did you think that? And thinking that, did you see it as reliable
and trustworthy? At least, in some measure?
but the
>conviction in my heart that it was true was by spending a house-party
>weekend with others (the "Crusaders" organization), and the repeated message
>that I had to ask him into my life as a personal saviour. I didn't get the
>"personal relationship" bit from reading the Bible; I got it from seeing the
>difference it made in other peoples' lives.
OK. (No, wonderful!!) Yes, other people's lives (our lives now) are certainly
important, and my dad came to Christ in much the same way. But then to
find out more, we need reliable information. That will come from the bible,
directly or indirectly (through other people who also read it). It may well be
that other people's lives or testimonies are the factors that convince us
that the scriptures are indeed reliable. But such an appreciation of the
reliability of the Scriptures - or at least, an honest admission of the possibility
of such reliability - would seem to be a needed precursor to finding out more.
(By reliable here, I don't of course mean literal, and not necessarily inerrant -
depending exactly what that is taken to mean. What I do mean is that they
give a reliable communication of God's character, of the life of Jesus and
his purpose, and so on.)
I remember at least one person to whom I was speaking about Christ, who
stated that in his opinion the bible was merely works of fiction, much like
a novel of today, never intended to be taken as truth. Without changing
that opinion, how much could such a person find out about Jesus?
>
>I also think the action of the Holy Spirit has a lot to do with it.
Definitely.
>
>But that's just my experience; I do know of other people who get converted
>just by reading the Bible.
>
>Iain
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