ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed

[Bob Estey]

"Prayer", says you! I think that I (finally) feel a change in the wind, says I

So, we come to it at last! The means of getting to know God w/o using the Bible is, "prayer"

OK, GREAT!! Wait a minute, prayers to whom, exactly

You know (although it would be nice and all), we really don't need to know His Name, do we, or anything else about Him Instead, we could just refer to Him, sing our hymns to Him, etc., as the "Unknown God", like they used to do on Mars Hill. For example, we could use the music to the "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know" children's hymn, but do so with a slight adjustment to the lyrics, like this,

"The unknown God loves me, this I know, for the words that I prayed at Him, tell me so" ;)​

You know, it still rhymes and is actually kinda catchy, IMHO, so let's go with it

--Papa Smurf

I think God could accomplish what he wants without the Bible. However, he has chosen to give us the Bible. We can learn a lot from it.

 

[marks]

As a quick for instance, check out the timeline below, which puts the writing of James between 40-45 AD, and the Gospels of both Mark and Matthew (as well 1 Corinthians) between 53-55 AD.

If I remember correctly, don't they have a fragment of Matthew from the 30's?

Much love!

 

[Papa Smurf]

If I remember correctly, don't they have a fragment of Matthew from the 30's?

Much love!

Hi Marks, while they're always making new discoveries, I believe that the papyrus Greek fragment known as "P52" (from John 18:31-38) is still the earliest NT copy that we possess. If memory serves, it comes from either the end of the 1st Century or the beginning of the 2nd, and it was found in the Nile Valley in Egypt (it is amazing that it got that far in such a very short period of time, yes?).

Here's a picture of it.

​

--Papa Smurf

 

[marks]

Hi Marks, while they're always making new discoveries, I believe that the papyrus Greek fragment known a "P52" (from John 18:31-38) is still the earliest NT copy that we possess. If memory serves, it comes from either the end of the 1st Century or the beginning of the 2nd, and it was found in the Nile Valley in Egypt (it is amazing that it got that far in such a very short period of time, yes?).

Here's a picture of it.

View attachment 38655​

--Papa Smurf

Paul did write that it had gone out into all the world, so there it is, going out.

:)

Much love!