Contd. From
http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/The-Holey-Bible-and-the-authority-of-a-Christian-20130122
Please read that first, if you may, so that Part 2 is in context.
The authority of a Christian - Part 2
In fact most Christians do not really believe or trust the Bible or Jesus in matters of life and death. How many sick Christians run to the elders to pray for them as the Bible says they must, before they seek out help from medical science? Only as an act of desperation, when medical science cannot cure them, do they seek out God, who cannot cure them either. If a supernatural God intervened by granting miracles in our day to day lives we would not need help outside of our belief system and science would have no place in our world because God (Jesus) would be all we need.
But in reality God the author of the Bible has less power in our world then your TV Remote. So all a believer has is an illusion. His faith comes from the Bible and if the Bible is flawed his faith is flawed. Christians, the Bible, god, the devil etc have no authority or power over sceptics. Only believers grovel as if in a state of hypnosis or as if doped; brimming with awe, admiration and humility when ever sacred scripture is mentioned.
Jesus who is supposed to have all authority and power in hell, heaven and on earth and even gave Christians this authority and power to use, by invoking his name, could do NO miracles in Nazareth because he was in the presence of sceptics. So even Jesus has no real authority or power other than what the Bible says he has. Have you noticed how healing evangelists also have no power or authority to heal people, even though they invoke the name of Jesus as the Bible says they must? If they could heal the sick our hospitals would be empty and our taxes would drop. No one should believe and trust the Bible today; it might have a place in some people’s lives but not as the centre of anyone’s life. We have moved beyond it.
Christians think the NT Bible came first and then the doctrines or creed followed. But it was the other way round. The doctrines came first and the NT was canonised based on the books that agreed with the majority of a council of elders. So the NT Bible had been created to reflect a religious and political power agenda. The Nicene Creed (AD 382) which gave authority to the NT became the foundational creed of Christianity, and today is the only creed acknowledged by protestant/reformed, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic traditions.
It is ironic and amusing that the creed, which created the Bible canon (NT) and is the foundation of Christian belief and doctrine, is also in contradiction to much of biblical literature. Nevertheless, Christians continue to make the creedal profession and assert that the bible is the "infallible" foundation of faith and doctrine - an internal contradiction at the very foundation of the religion. Creed came first, and creed ultimately created canon! The NT Bible that Christians read today as the word of God was not even agreed upon at the time of creedal formation of its doctrines and teachings.
The words "We believe", stated at the beginning of the Nicene Creed, represent the core problem of the Christian religion. Those words establish, at the outset, that Christianity is not based on reason, logical argument, or scientific evidence, but on a subjective experience (opinion). If Christians ascribe to the creed, then they willingly subjugate reason to subjective experience.
Belief is highly personal. Personal beliefs are simply a set of instructions that a person receives from sources that they consider to be authoritative. It involves a willingness to suspend reason or rational review. Belief is formed in a number of ways, and we all practice it. I am not saying belief is "bad" - however, it must always be tested (eventually). In the test of belief, Christianity has largely failed. The creed states "we believe", not "we conclude". There is not a conclusion drawn on the basis of offered evidence.
Belief, in the case of religion, is a weakness and possibly a terminal mental illness. It leads individuals towards delusional thought patterns and behaviour. It both incites emotion and denounces it. Who, or what, can challenge a personal, subjective profession? The only real authority in Christian religion is the "authority of the believer". The authority of one's experience and opinion is ultimate - even the bible says so - "what we have seen, and heard, we declare to you." (1 John 1"3). How can it be tested? Christian religion spurns the test, calling it a challenge to faith, even calling it the activity of the devil.
Yes, believers believe. They have faith - but in what? They believe “IN” a person and that person is Jesus Christ their saviour. "if you believe “IN” the Lord Jesus Christ...you shall be saved." The question is: why should I? And does not unthinking, unreasoned belief lead to a dangerous set of assumptions and a life of delusion?
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