The Bible is unnecessary to the Christian faith.

As to Pro’s statement about our agreement on the meaning of Christianity, I must remind Pro that indeed we agreed to the meaning of Christianity in Round 1 with the definition I proposed and to which Pro agreed: Christianity: the monotheistic religion that derived from the idea that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the Messiah foretold in the Jewish tradition and the "Old Testament". Jesus is considered by Christians to be the Son of God but also the Savior of mankind who atones man to God through his sacrifice. While I agree that Christians endeavor to be Christ-like that is not the limit of the definition, nor is it integral to the definition proposed in Round 1 and to which Pro agreed. Pro then points out that that “the truths of Christianity can be found and proved by means outside the bible” I must request significant proof that this occurs. It is one thing to point to the inspiration of the original “authors” of the faith (such as Paul) are what provides the basis for the faith, but authorship of the faith vs the future propogation of the faith are two quite different things. There are many who have claimed supernatural inspiration, but I am unaware of anyone completely “uncontaminated” by prior knowledge provided by the bible to have sui generis come up with the idea that salvation was achieved through the acceptance of the sacrifice of a man who lived in 1st century Palestine, that he was part of a Triune Godhead and that he corresponded to what is later learned to be the Messiah originally mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible. If pro can provide evidence that this has occurred, and further that it is so common as to support the contention that the Bible is unnecessary to the Christian faith that would be a key point. I must also point out that the concept of the Triune God was such that in the 16th century Erasmus was unable to find it in the selection of original Greek manuscripts at his disposal and he had to request the Church to find and provide him with this, and indeed it is not included in the first 2 editions of the Textus Receptus. How does one derive the Triune nature of God if one of the early translations based on extant manuscripts fail to include this key point? Further any “miracles” Pro would like to introduce may point to a “god” of some sort but are not necessarily dispositive only of the Judeo Christian God, Yahweh, nor is it necessarily indicative of the specifics of Christian Soteriology which differentiates Christianity fundamentally from all other religions. Nearly every religion has its share of miracle stories and even inspiration stories. In regards to the contemporary writings about Jesus, Pro cites the letters between Herod and Pilate. My understanding is that these are only available from a manuscript dated sometime in the 7th century so I have difficulty in accepting that these are necessarily real. However I am open to Pro’s provision of actual evidence of the truth of these letters. As for conversion without any input from the Bible that is hard to establish. For a Muslim, of course, it is irrational to assume they are unfamiliar with the Bible since Islam, like Christianity and Judaism all share a common Abrahamic root [1]. Remember, Muslims themselves consider themselves as children descended from Abraham. The Ka’aba in Mecca is a testimony to this connection. Indeed many muslims revere Jesus as a prophet (albeit not the Messiah), Jesus is mentioned in the Quran [1,2], so it is hardly reasonable to point to a muslim converting as evidence that prior knowledge of Scriptures is lacking. The idea of “spiritual” encounters with Jesus does not obviate the prior knowledge of Jesus and the Bible. Further Pro quotes various books of both the Old and New Testaments to point out the covenant between God and his people and for Christians to know who and what they are, which is reliance upon the Bible to provide evidence that the Bible is not necessary. This seem circular at best. Pro then states:“I would say then, that the Bible is supplementary to faith, but not necessary. “ This is in regards to faith not Christianity per se. Many people “feel” various aspects of faith, but in order for that faith to crystalize into the specifics of Christianity as outlined so far in all its details, especially the important soteriological aspects, it requires more than a mere feeling of “faith”. Pro finally reiterates:“Earlier I did provide testimonies of faith that were without the Bible, thus supporting the claim that the Bible is not necessary to the Christian faith.” Unfortunately the only concrete example cited was one of various muslims coming to Christianity. But this is irrational as a point for the reasons explained above. The key point would be if someone and in fact many people would without any sort of influence or foreknowledge of the Christ story and the writings that make up the Christian Canon, have independently arrived at the idea of a monotheistic religion predicated on the worship of Yahweh originally practiced by a group of people in the Middle East which had as a tradition a “messiah” who was realized in the form of a man who existed around the 1st century CE, who was the only way to God, who was part of a Triune god, whose sacrifice to Yahweh specifically atoned man to Yahweh and the acceptance of that specific act of sacrifice to atone man to Yahweh provided salvation. And further that that specific person (Jesus) rose from the dead and ascended to heaven to be reunited with Yahweh. Considering that Jesus never said “Some concept of a guy like me in whatever form am the way, the truth and the light, no one comes to the father except through a generalized belief in some concept of me in some form or another.” No, Jesus was rather specific on this point. Which is key to Christianity and links it directly back to the Bible. If Pro can cite a preponderance of evidence of people thus “uncontaminated” by any form of prior exposure to Christianity yet came to the exact form of Christianity as outlined in the Bible it would help his cause. SOURCES http://www.bbc.co.uk... http://www.islam101.com...