Dear Parents,
One of the things we want our students at Bethel to learn is that the Bible must be our sole authority for faith and practice. People rely on many different authorities to help them determine what they believe and how they live, but seldom is the Bible their final authority. The media tells us what to believe, Dr. So and So tells us what to think, professors in college tell us how to live, but what does the Bible say?
The reason we make the Bible our sole authority for what we believe and how we live is because the Bible is given from God. II Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” No other book can claim such awesome origins. Because the Bible is from God, its words are true, accurate, and wise. God knows the end from the beginning, He knows what pleases Him, and He knows how our lives can most greatly glorify Him. Where has He revealed all of this to man? In the Bible.
If we don’t rely on the Bible as our sole authority for faith and practice, then we, by default, rely on something else. Yet man’s wisdom, human experience, and ancient traditions are either flawed or can easily become flawed. Either way, they are unreliable. Hence we check everything with the Bible. If it agrees with the Bible, fine. If it doesn’t, we reject it.
The Bible must be our authority by which we live, even as Jesus quoted: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Sincerely,
Pastor Sutton
One of the things we want our students at Bethel to learn is that the Bible must be our sole authority for faith and practice. People rely on many different authorities to help them determine what they believe and how they live, but seldom is the Bible their final authority. The media tells us what to believe, Dr. So and So tells us what to think, professors in college tell us how to live, but what does the Bible say?
The reason we make the Bible our sole authority for what we believe and how we live is because the Bible is given from God. II Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” No other book can claim such awesome origins. Because the Bible is from God, its words are true, accurate, and wise. God knows the end from the beginning, He knows what pleases Him, and He knows how our lives can most greatly glorify Him. Where has He revealed all of this to man? In the Bible.
If we don’t rely on the Bible as our sole authority for faith and practice, then we, by default, rely on something else. Yet man’s wisdom, human experience, and ancient traditions are either flawed or can easily become flawed. Either way, they are unreliable. Hence we check everything with the Bible. If it agrees with the Bible, fine. If it doesn’t, we reject it.
The Bible must be our authority by which we live, even as Jesus quoted: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Sincerely,
Pastor Sutton