This isn't about worship of a Book. This is the use of the Book of God as the ULTIMATE REFERENCE. for discussion, etc.,
I do not come into discussions like this to denounce Protestantism, Catholicism or to try and "steal lambs" from other branches of Christianity. From a very technical viewpoint Orthodox Christians may view Catholics and Protestants as heretical, but we also have teachings that we follow that say that we cannot make assumptions about "how Christian" someone is who may be practicing in a heretical way.
But I often run into on the English language, particularly U.S. Internet, there is a broad assumption that every Christian believes in the Protestant "sola scriptura", or your holding that the scripture above all else determines matters of faith and morality. I know this is shocking to many Protestants, but your view is a new one--only around 500 years old, our view is 2000 years old. Our churches are not independent and did not spring up from charismatic preachers in the last few decades, our churches are 2000 years old. Our beliefs in Christ inherit a string of bishops and churches that go back to the Pentecost. I understand that for many Protestants, the idea that any Christian doesn't believe in sola scriptura is almost impossible to understand, but not only is it possible--we have been doing it for 2000 years. Remember for 1500 of those years the vast majority of our Christian brothers and sisters could not read at all, and would have no relationship with Christ if reading the bible was the only way to have such a relationship.
What is the Bible for?
Why did God have to have this Book for us?
This commentary is so Protestant, but it is my experience most Americans don't even realize this is a Protestant viewpoint--what makes the Bible important is it is the only written text that we as Christians believe was divinely inspired. That is what sets the 27 books of the New Testament and the books of the Old Testament apart from other writings. That means the bible is the most important text in Christianity.
But you also need to understand that the bible was created
by the Church, the Church was not created by the bible. The Church did not settle on the bible's modern form until around 400 AD. It is worth noting that reading the bible is very important in our Orthodox church services, Protestants may be wondering if that is true based on what I said. But in the Orthodox church, we read the bible in church with an official reader for the day's service. We also
always pray prior to reading the bible--that is how important reading the bible is to us, we pray for God to open our hearts and minds so we can properly understand holy scripture.
Ultimately - all the information you got about Christ and salvation, came from the Bible, right?
If not - where did you get your information?
The Church and the patristic writings of our early Church fathers (some of the same ones who created the bible in its final form) create a legacy that we have passed down for 2000 years. Orthodox Christians do not become Christian and learn about Christianity by sitting in a room with a bible. We learn about it by being raised in the Church and learning from Priests and deacons, who learned from Priests and deacons before them. This line goes back 2000 years to the Pentecost.
How do you know all that?
Who told you?
Who told you all that?
The Church. Some of it directly when I was raised in the Church, but some of it through Church writings--the bible is a divinely inspired Church writing, so some of it was absolutely learned from reading scripture. It is all of the Church, scripture is of the Church, not of man. It was written by early writers and organized by the early church. Without the church we would have no bible. Without God we would have no Church, these things are all linked.
Yes, indeed Christ is the foundation of Christianity, ALONG with the OLD TESTAMENT.
No--this is serious error. The foundation of Christianity is a worship of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The bible is not the foundation of Christianity, the foundation of Christianity is God. The foundational
moment of Christianity is when Christ was resurrected on the third day. The Bible is divinely inspired holy scripture, but it is not the foundation of the faith. A man who cannot read can still know God, but a man who can read but does not know God cannot be Christian. God is the faith, the bible is not.
This is a complicated topic, so I will respond to the rest of your points in a subsequent post.
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