idnoble135:
No, they extracted truth from the old testament. The old testament is not useless in it self now. There are events in the old testament that occurred but had spiritual truths in them.
Here we read of Apollos preaching the gospel from the old testament
for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is
the Christ.
Even Paul in his epistles brought forth kingdom truths and principles from the old testament.

italo:

Were the Pentecost converts Christians before reading the Bible or not?

Simple question!

italo:

There were Christians before the Bible period!

Stop dribbling.

Truth goes straight foward; lies go roundabout.

idnoble135:
The former.

idnoble135:
What's your point?

italo:

One can be a Christian without the Bible.

idnoble135:
One can not remain a christian without one.
And it appears you are not even addressing the major issue on ground. Guess you wanted a minor victory after all.

idnoble135: Did they have the scriptures or not?

engrtee: Is scriptures same as bible?

italo:



NO!

Alwaystrue:
Luke 4:17
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written

Luke 24:45
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
What the early Christians had as written were the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms as seen in the quote above and this is what Jesus Christ, full of the Holy Spirit, drew His teaching from for He is the Word, opening the eyes of our underststanding to the deep mysteries and spirit of the laws to make us understand better the mind of God. This is what only Jesus and Holy Spirit can do...it is the same scripture.
One thing Jesus also said was that we should let His words abide in us. His words which He said are Life, Spirit, Light, Truth and Grace. The preaching of the life of Christ as said by the disciples I.e. The doctrines of Christ as well.

What happened after the death of Christ was the Chronicles of the Acts of the Apostles, the letters and epistles and the revelations as received by the Holy Spirit.
Holy Scriptures remain but if read wrongly will never profit the reader. Searching scriptures require eyes of our understanding being opened to understand the deep riches of God.

The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit agree, none contradict.
That is why Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law but fulfil it, that is give is full expression, meaning and life..

The bible is a collection of these books and letters. It documents the Word of God from the beginning to the end and it is the Word of God that we hear that brings us to Christ and gives us Faith. (Romans 10:14-15)

engrtee: Is scriptures same as bible?

vickyO:
noun
1. biblical writings: the sacred writings of the Bible
2. biblical text: a passage from the Bible

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Yes it is.

idnoble135: You side there were no scriptures, here is an extra verse. And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the
Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:27
Could you care to explain?

italo:

Then check "scripture" lets see if its the same.

italo:
One can remain a Christian without the Bible. All the apostles and their companions never saw a Bible...and they remained Christians.

vickyO:
scrip·ture [skrípchər]
(plural scrip·tures) or Scrip·ture [skrípchər] (plural Scrip·tures)
noun
1. biblical writings: the sacred writings of the Bible
2. biblical text: a passage from the Bible

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

lacum: @vicky
we get our knowledge of christ through d church not d bible. when u were born were u born carrying d bible? it was d church dat taught u about christ b4 u started reading d bible. dats wot d bible meant when it says dat it is profirable for teaching etc, it does not say it is surfficient. because jesus did not hand his teachings over to d bible but d church.

italo:

So how come Jesus explained "all the scriptures" to the disciples before the new testament was written?

"ALL!"

italo:

He explained all the scriptures.

Yet, he explained no New Testament book to them.

That means the NT was not scripture, right? It didnt even exist when Jesus explained.

Yet, the NT is in the Bible.

Scripture was in existence then but Bible or NT never existed.

Scripture is not the same as Bible, bro. Give up. It's glaring.

italo:

So how come Jesus explained "all the scriptures" to the disciples before the new testament was written?

"ALL!"

tobechi20: Christianity is not defined solely by the Bible. That in fact, a Christian never even has to have read the Bible in order to be a Christian. That a Christian can still be a Christian even though they may pick and choose what they believe in the Bible, because it is not a demand that they follow the Bible .




My evidence: When Christianity first began, there was not a such thing as a Bible. When Paul was preaching his message, the New Testament had just began loosely forming in the aspect that he was writing letters (which were not scripture). Even the OT canon was not closed until after Paul was dead. And during the time of Paul, different groups subscribed to different works of Hebrew scripture.


The Christian canon was not even fully closed until many centuries later. The canon had not even started to be put together until around a century later. This means the the first Christians did not have a Bible. They may have had works that they believed to be scripture, but various groups subscribed to different scripture.


Even today, we see various scripture being held above others.
So obviously something else defined individuals who claimed to be Christians. And the same is true for today. A Bible does not define who a Christian is or what they believe. Just because it is in the Bible, does not mean that a Christian must follow it, or has to be defined by it. I think this has to be understood.

chukwudi44: Sola bible is not an apostolic teaching or practice rather was a human invention of Martin Luthrer

Mee234:
he help in translating the book to what his people understood. He did not add anything just show people around him that salvation is by grace and not by paying penance

bizmahn: This thread is another desperate attempt by the roman catholics to set aside or relegate the relevance of the bible so they can have ultimate excuse for the additions of man made hellbound heretic doctrines like Purgatory &Mary idolization, & praying to the dead saints etc
.
Common sense tells anyone that during the time of the apostles Jesus who was with them and taught them before his ascension had clearly showed them by his life & teachings the christian pattern which they needed to pen down into scriptures by the inspiration of the holy Ghost (which God sent them in tongues of fire) for generations unborn who never met Jesus or the apostles face to face to read and understand the pattern of knowing & living a christlike life.
.
These writings by the grace of God where compiled in the new testament bible.There has never been any generation where God didn't send prophets or provide a means for people to know the laid out pattern of serving God and living right & God always required these prophets in the old & new to write down what He showed or taught them as a pattern for others.Hence a compilation or these writings formed the scriptures or the bible which we and generations unborn need in order to know the laid out pattern & follow it since we never met Christ or His apostles physically.
.
Shame to any so called Christian group that seek to undermine the bible in order to add their own doctrines.Remove the bible and anyone can create doctrine based on what is pleasant to his flesh whether it be gay practice or pedophelia.Remove the bible and native juju priests,occultists,traditionalists,homosex'uals,others religions will no longer be wrong because they also have doctrines too.If you tell them God says they are wrong,they'll tell you God says they are right.Why? because you have no scripture to back it up.

Mee234:
he help in translating the book to what his people understood. He did not add anything just show people around him that salvation is by grace and not by paying penance

Sal C: At least the Catholics are more truthful than you. Nobody is undermining the importance of the bible but that wouldn't stop us from bring to the knowledge of those who want to know the truth the fact that the bible is not all you need to be a christian but Jesus.

If in every generation old and new, God send prophets and instruct them to write down his teachings like you said, then one can confidently argue that the bible is incomplete yet since there are still prophets in the word today preaching God's massage therefore there is every possibility that Generations to come might find their teachings today worthy of being scripture.