Saturday, February 5, 2011
I always wondered what exactly is a “Bible Church”. How many times have you driven in the country and seen a small protestant church with that sign on it? I see bunch of them on my way to Myrtle Beach. I think the term “bible church” is perhaps backwards. The term "Church Bible" I see more fitting. Does the term an "Engineer CalTech" mean anything, or is it better to say an "CalTech engineer"? After all, CalTech produces engineers, not the other way around. The phrase “Bible Church” is supposed to tell the passer-by that the church is in accord with everything that is in the Bible[King James Version probably]. Is it that the church has to conform to the bible, or did the bible come to us from the church?
The Bible proceeded from the Church, which, according to the Bible, is the pillar and bulwark of truth (1 Timothy 3:15). Back in 382 AD, Pope Damasus I sent a list of the canon of the New Testament to his bishops. At the councils of Rome (382 AD), Hippo (393 AD), and Carthage (397 AD), this list was approved by the Holy Catholic Church as being the official canon of the New Testament.
The early Church Fathers did a great job[and I am thankful] handing on the faith orally for the first 400 years, before there even was an official New Testament proclaimed by The Church. Protestants still adhere to this Tradition by including all of the New Testament books in their sixteenth century Bible that the Catholic Church had in their fourth century Bible, although there are numerous text changes.
