Christians, if you never came across a Bible or church in your life, would you still believe in God?

Who knows? What really matters is whether or not God believes in you.

Christianity does not depend entirely on the Bible. To begin with, the Bible was canonized by Catholic bishops so every Christian everywhere would know what could be called a divine writing that was to be read aloud in the churches. That's it. Proof of this fact is found in the Council of Hippo when the first full list of the Bible books were ratified. They did not prophecy the printing press in the 4rth century, and very few people could read.

Oral Tradition was a long time aspect of the religious life of the Jews. They recognized the existence of Divine Oral Tradition. There are some passages in the New Testament, for example, that refer to the Divine Revelation of the Old Testament but deal with items not in the written Old Testament. It is obvious the Apostles knew and believed in a Divine Oral Tradition.

The importance of Oral Tradition is great. This is seen by the fact that St. Paul tells us to listen to and obey Tradition (that is Divine Tradition, not human customs) as Scripture. He even tells us that people who do not follow this Divine Oral Tradition are to be shunned (2 Thess 3:14).

All the possible teachings of Jesus cannot possible be placed into one book and the Bible itself affirms. Also, there were no New Testament Scriptures in the early decades of the Church. All that existed was the Oral Tradition of the Apostles. Even after the letters of the New Testament began to be written and passed around it was not until the 4th century that the Church put in place exactly which letters were to be considered Scripture and which were not. How the bishops made that decision was, in part, on whether the letter in question was consistent with the Oral Tradition handed down from the Apostles.

Oral Tradition ALWAYS precedes Written Tradition. Written Tradition (the bible) is a small subset of the larger Oral Tradition. This has always been the case - in the Old Testament and in the New Testament times.

Proper concern is whether or not this Divine Oral Tradition is passed on from generation to generation accurately. Well, God is not so cruel that He would not account for some way to preserve His Word. His Word, after all is life. We must have a way to preserve the Word of God. God did that through a Magisterium protected by the Holy Spirit. God has ALWAYS had a Magisterium. In the Old Testament times we had the Chair of Moses that Jesus mentions in Matt 23:2. For the New Covenant a new chair of authority was put into place --- just as was done with the previous four covenants in Old Testament times. This new chair was and is the Chair of Peter (Matt 16, Isa 22:21-23).

But how to we check to be sure, if we do not have the faith to trust God's Magisterium? Well, the same way that we can know for sure that the Bible we read today is the what was actually written in the First Century -- by comparing what we have today with the written record of history.

In the case of the Bible, we compare what we have today with extant manuscripts from as close to the first century as possible.

In the case of the Oral Tradition, the same is true. We look to extant manuscripts of sermons, essays, Church documents, etc. from the Church Fathers that affirm that what we believe today is the same things that they believed then.

There is NO doctrine of the Catholic Church that cannot be traced to the early Church. Over the centuries our understanding of doctrine has matured from that of the infant Church, but the doctrine remains unchanged. We know this because we can prove it with documentary evidence.

When Protestants posit a theological belief that is contrary to what the Catholics believe, I ask that person to show me where any of the Church Fathers believed has he believes. If the early Christians believed as the Protestants do today there would be some evidence of this -- essays, sermons, writings of some sort. But there are none. The Catholic Church, however, can produce truckloads of extant manuscripts from the First, Second, and Third Centuries that show the foundation for ALL that the Catholic Church believes.

It is not necessary to read the Bible in order to commune with God. I have found as much knowledge of this thing we call God from Bhuddist teachings and from Taoism.

What many good meaning Christians lack is an open Mind towards God, they need to realize that they don't have a lock on experiencing God, in fact many Christian teachings inhibit the search for The Father within, that Created us in his image and likeness.

Many Christians are stifled by their rigidity in beliefs that have been taught to them by ministers and Priests that try to translate the Scriptures literally, rather than discerning the Spiritual truth from them with an open and childlike mind.

Most Christians don't understand that we are Eternal and Immortal Spiritual beings living a "Parenthesis in Eternity" as Joe Blow or what name has been given to their human sense of life.

Reincarnation and Evolving are part and parcel of our living experience, only when these are accepted can we unite all people of all beliefs under one God.

Any religious preference can do is take us part way on the spiritual Journey back to our Fathers House, at some time we must drop all assistance and complete our Spiritual Journey by and for ourselves.

Namaste

Mnay Blessings

If you never came across Charles Darwin or Oprah Winfrey, would you still be an idiot?

There are 3 witnesses to the veracity of God according to

Romans 1.

1. nature

2. Conscience

3. Divine revelation

Nature and conscience point to God, but there are certain things about God that we cannot know unless he reveals them to us. Before Bibles and Churches, God dealt with people in different manners (Heb. 1:1-2). But now his manner of dealing is through scipture. For anyone who for whatever reason did not have access, God would make a way of revealing himself to anyone who followed the first two witnesses as they point to the Creator - Jesus Christ.

Yes, I believe I would still believe in God. I've always been a spiritual person, open to the possibly of God. I believe I would seek God eventually.

Probably

Before the bible was written people belived in Gods.

And people belive in God in third world countries that have never heard of Jesjs

Of course it probably wouldnt be the christains idea of God

I had never read a Bible, when God called me to Him. It was the calling that caused my desire to read it.

so, yes, I guess I would still believe.

Many cultures believe in "something" or "someone" without benefit of a written text.

yap. for i myself already believed in God, Christ Jesus the One True Living Most High, even at my young age (4) not encountering any bible to tell me. It's somekind of a tender touch in my heart to worship, fear, love and adore Him, the One True Living God Christ Jesus. Then how would you explain such situation?

Yes. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I am the Word. He who sees Me sees The Father who is in Me.

Forgive others as I have forgiven you.

im not sure. I was raised in a christian home. I have many friends that dont know if they believe only because they havent been taught or havent experienced him.

YES, The Holy Spirit speaks with me and guides me toward the right path and protects me from evil impure thoughts that could potentially send me to hell.