What's the greater authority, the Church or the Bible?

the bible

If your Church contradicts the Bible, you are at the wrong place. However, there are as many different biblical interpretations as there are Christian Churches. So, I'd suggest you find one that works for you and go there. There's always going to be someone who believes that your Church is not following the bible.

I suppose, Christ came first, then the Church, then the Bible. However, if you follow that logic then the Old Testemant has a greater authority than Christ, so I don't believe that is valid.

I also think it's very, very dangrous to be Bible only, because you are then rejecting some very thought out biblical study.

If you find the right Church for you, you won't need to choose between being a member of Christ's Congregation or believing the Bible. They need to be equally important.

The Catholic Church .. without doubt ... because the Church interprets the scriptures according to two other witnesses ... Sacred Tradition, which is how the Holy Spirit guides the Church from age to age ... and the Official Teaching Authority of the Church (Magisterium) that was personally established by Jesus, when he delivered the "great commission" to the apostles.

The principle of two or three witnesses is both totally biblical and totally practical.

Well, if by "the church" you mean those Christians who follow and teach the teachings of Christ, then it is "the church". This is clear, as "the church" existed prior to the bible by several centuries.

However, the doctrines of individual sects frequently depart from the doctrines espoused by those early Christians. One can see this in the division of the Eastern Orthodox sects from the Roman Catholic Church - clearly, all but *one* of them must be wrong in at least one specific. And yet, the church hierarchy which preceded all of those sects (the early Roman church) was the one which compiled the first bibles! From this point of view, the bible predates any modern Christian sect.

Because we can be certain that sectarian doctrine has changed more over the centuries than the doctrines of the bible, the best solution is to avoid those sects whose doctrines clearly contradict the teachings of the bible. Once you have narrowed your selection of sects to those who abide by the teachings of the bible, it is up to the individual to determine how worthy of authority the additional doctrines of his or her particular sect are.

Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/bibles/

both are contradictory and falliable because they were invented by man....

id go with the bible just cause it is more stable and changes less dramatically than the Church

(did you know the Catholic church once said slavery was god-ordained! and the Catholic church also once advocated a platform of non-involvement during the Holocaust?....One day people will be like, oh did you know that the Catholic Church once said that homosexuality is an evil sin?)

what a joke.

The Church is the only authority Christ gave us. To the Church He said "he who hears you hears Me". To the Church He said "whatsoever you bind upon earth is bound in heaven". To the Church He said "the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth". To Simon Peter He gave the keys to the kingdom, the universal symbol of supreme authority. The Bible itself identifies the Church as "the pillar and foundation of truth", which means the truth cannot stand apart from the Church. The Church grew and prospered under the guidance of the Holy Spirit for 350 years before the Bible was compiled.

Those who look to the Church as their authority have a 2,000 year history of unity in belief, unity in teaching, and unity in wordship, exactly as Christ intended it to be. Those who look to the Bible as their only "authority" have a 500 year history of continuous fragmentation into thousands of unauthorized manmade denominations who can't agree with one another about the meaning of a single passage of Scripture - exactly the opposite of what Christ intended for His Church.

The church, they tell you what to take seriously and not seriously in the bible, all about interpretation.

The Chuch's interpretation of the bible.

The Bible.

Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

2Th 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Jesus IS the God of the Old Testament!

1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

If you are a Christian, you should follow the bible!