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NASB | Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ. |
Bible Question (short): Faith apart from reading the Bible? |
Question (full): In another thread I said that I believed in the Bible because I believed in Jesus, not the other way around: 'I realize that those who were able to convince me of the believability of Jesus' claims about himself based their knowledge on the Bible. But the Bible did not directly influence me.... After a few faithful witnesses had opened my mind, I asked a God whose very existence I still questioned to tell me if Jesus really was his son. He did. Only then did I begin to pay any attention to the Bible.' I received this response: 'You experience of realizing that Jesus was the Son of God simply by "asking God" apart from the Bible is pretty darn close to the Mormon practice of praying over the Book of Mormon to determine whether Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.' This emphasis on actually reading the Bible to find faith in Christ seems, well, pretty darn unbiblical. In retrospect, I consider my experience to be an illustration of not only this passage in Romans but also of Jeremiah 29:13 - "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." So how about it? Can one come to faith without reading it directly out of the Bible? Peace and grace, Steve |