CAN WE HAVE JESUS WITHOUT THE SCRIPTURES?

I’ve been dialoguing on a liberal Christian Facebook group called The New Methodists. I have been deeply troubled to see just how liberal and dismissive of the Word they are. Some dismissed the Word of God by claiming that Jesus Himself is the Word of God, instead of the Scriptures. Others simply claim that they can trust/believe in Jesus without the Scriptures. Another wrote:

·       Scripture is not the center of Christianity. The center of Christian faith is Jesus the Christ. It’s a living faith and not a book even though I know that book is Sacred Scripture but I do not worship it. I worship the Triune God who continues to be revealed.

How can he know the identity of the Triune God apart from the Scriptures? Of course, I do not worship the Bible, but this is their way to denigrate someone who has a high regard for the Scriptures. While they claim that I am idolatrous in my fidelity to the Bible, I respond that they are idolatrous in creating their own evolving Jesus apart from the Bible, one who “continues to be revealed,” conveniently in conjunction with our evolving culture. I responded:

While it is true that Jesus is the center of our faith, Scripture is the ordained bridge by which we connect to Him and His life. Just consider Jesus’ words:

·       John 6:63-64 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

·       John 8:51 “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

·       John 8:31-32 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

·       Matthew 13:23 “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

·       Matthew 28:18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

How will we “observe all that [Jesus] have commanded” if we demean His Word? How can we claim Him as our own if we denigrate His Word:

·       John 14:23-24 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”