UESTION: How can you follow the
Bible when much of it is missing or
stolen? The Gospels are not complete
as the traditional churches do not want
us to take our power back.
Answer:Yours is one position that may be taken
vis-a-vis the Bible and the orthodox church.
Another might be to concentrate on what is present
in the Bible, for, be assured, the essentials are there:
The account of the giving of the life of Christ to
humans in a gratuitous death for our redemption,
and the promise that we are Christs-in-the-making.
The New Testament Bible grew organically, its
non-Gospel texts drawn principally from Paul’s let-
ters, which were actually written before the Gospels.
For a while there was no need for the Gospels—eye
witnesses of the life, death, and resurrection of
Christ Jesus were living through much of the first
century. But there was need for some explanation of
what these momentous events signified, and Who
this Being was over Whom death had no power.
Luke’s gospel followed that of Mark and
Matthew. The latter was one of the “eyewitnesses
and ministers of the word.” And Luke also thought
it helpful (“good”) to write of the Incarnation of
the Son of God, since he “had perfect understand-
ing of all things from the very first” and could
vouch for “the certainty of those things.” Likewise
John, the Beloved, who was attuned to the heart of
Christ, could attest to the love-wisdom embodied
in Jesus, both in his Gospel and letters: “That
which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled,
of the Word of life ...That which we have seen and
heard declare we unto you, that ye may have fel-
lowship with us.”
Who is better qualified than these seminal fig-
ures in the recording and formulation of the
Christian Narrative, including Paul, who, in his
words (1 Cor l5:8), was the last (up to his time) to
see Christ. He was not ready to serve the Lord but
Christ had need of him; therefore, he was “as one
born out of time,” that is born into an understand-
ing of the Word before he would have come to
such understanding through his own devices, for at
the time of his stunning conversion he was a fero-
cious anti-Christian.
And Christ was “seen of James,” whose letter
has wonderful guidance and wisdom in it. And cer-
tainly the two letters of Peter—he who Christ at
one time called Satan—are of great value.
Does this exhaust what we can know of
Christianity? Clearly not. But few texts are more
on target for a seeking soul. And nothing prevents
us from seeking more. Indeed, we cannot but do
so, because for many of us it is a love affair. When
do we want to stop knowing more about what we
love? Never. But if this is purely an intellectual
matter, no amount of knowledge can, in and of
itself, be a substitute for belief, for enabling us to
make a decision for and in Christ. The fact that the
canonical Bible does not contain all the writings
that it could have included does not prevent a
potential believer from finding the God of the
Christian Church. Nor does that Church itself,
whatever its perceived shortcomings. And what
church might we be talking of? Roman, Orthodox,
