Can a person be a Christian if they do not believe that the bible is true?
I want to understand if there is a conflict with someone claiming to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, and claiming to be a Christian, but also not believing that the Bible is God's word because it's been corrupted by man.
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Asked July 24 2013
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Julia Fisher
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Mrs. Phyllis Kay Baker
Did Jesus go to hell to get the old testaments saints. I don't believe this does not sound right,
Bill Maynard
No, Jesus went to Hell to conqure Sin and Death. I believe the old testament saints were saved by faith through grace by looking forword to Christ. I believe it is in Genesis 15:6 where it says that Abraham believed and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness and restated in Romans 4:3 and several other places. The saints of the old testament were given the old Covenant and as they believed God and carried out His commandments they were saved not by works but by Grace just as we are.
Arthur Fischer
I believe that you really cannot be a Christian and not believe in the Bible. It did first start with the Jewish people. As my late Pastor Jim Maher wrote in his book, ever since Christianity distanced themselves from the Jewish roots, Christianity has also divided among themselves.
There are so many different churches out there that say they are Christian and they even have their own Bible, but still to be a believer you really need to believe that the Bible is God's word. I was once a Catholic and their Bible is not the same as the King James version or the New King James version, yet they have a Bible and they believe in that. I pray with all my heart that if anyone does not believe that the Bible is not God's word, they need to read this book and then accept Jesus as their Savior in order to say they are a Christian. For a Christian is a person who follows and believes in Christ.
Billy P Eldred
There are already plenty of answers to this question. I will not try to find fault with any of them nor will I try to add another answer that may confuse the asker of the question.
My answer is for that person.
Why do you ask? Is it because you have doubts about some or all of what you read in the Bible? Or is it someone else you are concerned about that may not agree that the Bible is the inspired Word of God?
If it is you that has doubts, I want to give you a personal testimony. AFTER I was saved, I was hungry for reading the Bible. I read it at every chance. It was during this time that a friend of mine (non Christian) planted doubts in my mind that everything in the Bible was true, especially the story of Jonah.
I was sincerely concerned that what I was reading to get closer to God was erred. So I began praying to God with 100% sincerity : "God, why did you allow errors in the Bible?Why, God, would you allow the story of someone being swallowed by a big fish in there. You know God", I prayed, "if someone got swallowed by a big fish, they would be in stomach acid and be dissolved". I was serious. I just could not see how that was possible. Remember, I was a new Christian. (It hadn't even occurred to me yet that a God who could command something into existence would have little trouble with this miracle) I prayed this way for several days.
God used a movie to start a process where He proved 100% to me that not only did the book of Jonah belong in the Bible but that every word was true. It would take way more space than I have here to tell you everything and every way He showed me in ways that I could not help (not believe) but know that the stories, all of them, in the Bible are true. The movie (not one I recommend by the way as it is NOT a Christian themed movie) was commandments. As I was watching this movie, I kept saying to my self that I need to turn the movie off because of the content, but a voice inside of me everything would say "don't' something profound is going to happen." This happened several times. Near the end, there was a scene at a beach where a scientist had slit open the belly and had reached in and was pulling out arm loads of WHOLE fish. (the voice inside me said "this is the profound part" I realized at that time "how many fish had I caught and when I cleaned them, I had found whole undigested fish, insects, all kinds of things in the belly of the fish. Just as that enlightenment hit me, the scientist reached into the belly of the whale again and pulled out a live Man! I then realized that the entire movie had been a parody of the book of Jonah and why I was supposed to watch it. Many more things happened over the next few days, just as profound to me, until I said "okay God I get it. I BELIEVE the book of Jonah belongs in the Bible and everything in it is true." The things that happened to me might have meant anything to you but it was not you God was convincing at that time. It was me and I WAS CONVINCED. Just as God knew I would be.
Hope you are still with me. I said all that to tell you this: if you have doubt, tell God. He knows what will convince you just as He knew what would convince me. Be sincere and just pray. It is true!
One more thing. You cannot take individual books of the Bible and get everything possible from them on a stand alone basis. Some parts won't make sense until you have read the Bible as a whole. Actually somethings take several readings. Just keep reading.
Finally, if you asked the question because you are concerned about someone else, Tell them why you believe. Share my testimony if you feel it will help, but don't just accept that they don't believe the Bible. They may even be saved, but they will miss so much. Help them see.
The Bible says (I think the last paragraph in the book of John) "many more things happened in the life of Jesus. I suppose if they were all written down, even the whole world would not hold the books." With everything that could have been included, if it was, IT IS THERE FOR A REASON.