Bible belief essential to salvation?

Strange happenings. I hear that a man who has believed and followed Jesus for twenty-five years has got in trouble on a Christian forum by quoting from my eBook, Fibs, Lies and Scripture and daring to agree with some of what it says. He tells me that he has been downgraded from ‘believer’ to ‘seeker’ apparently on the grounds that he said he ‘preferred to place his trust in Jesus than the bible. Jesus told us that he was the way to salvation; he did not tell us that salvation came through scripture.’ I have looked at the forum to see his various posts and confirm the story.

The strange thing seems to be that he never suggested the bible was untrustworthy, merely that there is a difference between trusting something or someone and placing one’s trust in them. And he’s right! I trust my family, but I don’t place my trust for salvation in them. I trust the Oxford English Dictionary, but would not presume that it could reconcile me with Yahweh. I trust the bible, but only by placing my trust in the work of Jesus can I expect to benefit from the fullness of Yahweh’s promises. 

My guess is that the moderators on this forum, which I feel it would be wrong to name, think that their belief in the bible is an essential step to salvation. It is not.

I saw some interesting comments from Alan Hirsch today about the underground church in China. He points out that it grew huegly without ordained leaders, buildings and bibles. Millions of Chinese brethren never even saw a page of scripture before they came to know Jesus and accept his gift of life. And in many cases these brethren went to their graves having never seen a page of scripture. Did they miss out on the promise? I don't think so.