A lie of the Roman Catholic church, and the Orthodox church, is demonstrably false, yet they keep fooling people with it. Here is how it goes, “Has the Church always had the Bible as it is now? How do you know your Bible is right? You don’t even have all the books. You wouldn’t have a Bible if it wasn’t for us! You can’t even practice the faith correctly without our traditions. There was a time when early Christians didn’t have the Bible, so they relied on the traditions handed down to them by Christ, via the Apostles. We can trace our roots back to Peter. He is the main Apostle who Jesus entrusted the church to.” There are a lot of lies in this short paragraph. People get fooled by this lies pretty often. They cause confusion, and trouble the hearts of young Christians.

Q. What is the Bible?

A. It is the word of God, the mind of Christ, that we may know Him.

That question, and answer, are not from one of the historic catechisms. It is a very brief reduction of the truths in those catechisms. If you’d like to read what the 1689 London Baptist Confession of faith says about the scriptures, you can do so here.

Here is what the Westminster Shorter Catechism says about the word of God.

Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?

A. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, [a] is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. [b][a]. Matt. 19:4-5 with Gen. 2:24; Luke 24:27, 44; 1 Cor. 2:13;
14:37; 2 Pet.1:20-21; 3:2, 15-16[b]. Deut. 4:2; Ps. 19:7-11; Isa. 8:20; John 15:11; 20:30-31;
Acts 17:11; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; 1 John 1:4

Q. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

A. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, [a] and what duty God requires of man [b].[a]. Gen. 1:1; John 5:39; 20:31; Rom. 10:17; 2 Tim. 3:15[b]. Deut. 10:12-13; Josh. 1:8; Ps. 119:105; Mic. 6:8; 2 Tim.
3:16-17

These are not being cited as any refutation, nor am I appealing to them, as that would be an appeal to tradition according to the Catholics, and the Orthodox. This is rather simply to demonstrate that my summation of what the Bible is, does not violate what we’ve accepted as Biblical truth historically speaking.

Looking at my question, and answer of what the Bible is, consider how the word of God was given to His chosen men in the Old Testament. How did Adam receive instruction from God? Was it not the very Word of God Who walked with him in the garden? Was it not the pre-incarnate Eternal Son? Certainly so! Why did Noah build an ark? Was it not by the instruction of God? (Gen 6:13-22) How did Noah find favor with God? Was it not by his faith? We know it was, because he actually built the ark. Why did Abram leave his homeland? Was it not the instruction he received from the Word of God? (Gen 12:1) Since when does a word walk, talk, and interact with a person as another person? You can see the pre-incarnate Eternal Son, Who is the Word of God, do so during a vision, with Abram in Genesis 15. We also see God talk with Abraham in Genesis 18. The only Person of the Triune God Who has specific locus in space-time is the Son. In the Bible He is called, the Word, the Son, God, and Jesus, to name a few. Since we live in a time where we do have the fullness of the progressive revelation of God in the Bible, we can see in John chapter 1 that Jesus is the Word. That Word has always been. He is the Creator. He is the sustainer, He is the light, and the life. We have never been without the Word of God. We have had as much of the progressive revelation of scripture as God has ordained throughout history, but we have never been completely without His instruction. We have had just as much as we were supposed to. God instructed mankind personally, and buy prophets whom He chose as professors of His Word, which is always true.

By the time of the incarnation, the Jews had the entire collection of Old Testament scriptures recorded in Hebrew, and Greek. The Greek Septuagint was in use at that time. Jesus cited the scriptures, and said they were all about Him. If you can’t see the Word of God being active throughout human history, perhaps your traditions, and sins, are blinding you?

Rome did not give us the Bible. Neither did the Eastern Orthodox. Their traditions of praying to the dead, revering a priest besides our one true Priest, Jesus, and worshiping Marry, are all anti-word, or antichrist if you will. Hopefully you can see by a reading of the Old Testament, that the Word of God, has always been, and in eternity the reality of Who He is, was something we experienced temporally. It is easy to understand how so many people would be fooled by the poor arguments of Rome, and the Eastern traditions as they don’t know the Old Testament, nor do they consider eternity in their reasoning. These two groups do what satan did in the garden. They question the truth of God, and His Word. Don’t fall for the tricks.

There were Christians in the world outside of Europe, and the East, who had their own Bibles. If you buy the lies of Rome, you’d have to think these people did not exist, and do not exist, but they did, and do.

We don’t need their baptism. We don’t need their priests. We don’t need their intercession. We don’t need Mary. We have Jesus Christ! His word, is none other than His mind! He has given it to us in a way that we could fathom some of Him, enough of Him, to be able to recognize Him, and be with Him in eternity! Praise God! Marry doesn’t intercede for us, and neither do human priests. If you trust Jesus’ atoning work, and Who He is, and you’ve repented of your sins, you are part of His Church! There is ONE intercessor between God, and man, and it is the Lord Jesus Christ! He is our High Priest! He is more than just our King, He is our God! All knees will bow before the Lord Jesus!!! Amen!

This has been a very brief introduction to the refutation of the ugly lies of Rome, and the Eastern Orthodox church. I haven’t had the time to write a more fleshed out paper. Perhaps a better educated theologian has fleshed this out more thoroughly at some point? If you know of a work fleshing this argument out in more detail please send me a link to the book. I’d like to read more on the topic. I hope this has been helpful.