I launched a new message series on Sunday called, Doctrine: What the Bible Say Christians Should Believe. The focus of the message has to deal with the fact that as Christians our doctrine (beliefs/teachings) come from one place, the Bible. During the service, people have an opportunity to text a question to me that I answer at the end of the message. One of the questions was:
"How do we know the Bible is true if men chose what books went into it?"
I answered the question but I promised to make resources available to further study. So here are some links to a website put together by a professor I had at Nebraska Christian College by the name of Chuck McCoy. He describes in depth how the Bible was put together and how it has been preserved over the years.
Cannon (How the books in the Bible were determined)
Preservation
Translation
3 comments:
Wow, the canon of scripture...you're not messing around, are you.
Have you ever read any of the stuff that didn't make it into the final list? I knew a WaH guy from Davenport who was really interested in those forgotten letters, and he said they were interesting.
Jon
Honestly I have never ventured into the stuff that didn't make into the NT Cannon. Mostly because I have my hands (and mind)fairly busy on the stuff that did make it in. Maybe someday.
The stories regarding how the Bible came to be are pretty amazing. Just reading them solidifies my faith in that God is writing an incredible story that I get a front seat to witness.
Yeah, the doctrine thing could be sermon suicide. We will see. You and I have talked often how churches and denominations have used doctrine like a club. Thus when people hear the word doctrine they run for the hills. I'm trying to make doctrine just the opposite. I think doctrine can provide a foundation to freedom. So a lot of what I'm doing isn't, "You need to believe such and such." It's more, "The Bible says this about God and here is how that can strengthen your faith." The cool thing about the series has been the texting thing. It keeps everyone engaged in the process...even the preacher. Honestly, its kind of fun seeing what question is going to be put up on the screen.
G & P
The texting idea is way too cool. I love it--you're giving your people permission to TEXT during the sermon...
Whoa, dude.
What are the EXACT TIMES you are preaching? Heh heh.
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