Ridgell's Originals

 Just to be clear...

I believe the Bible is the word of God.  It is true.  All of it.  I get that some of it is hard to understand.  It should be.  After all, it was written by God.  But much of it is easy to understand.  Not always comfortable.  Not always the way I would do things.  But again, God and ... well, me.  

I hear a lot of discussion about whether the Bible is true, or which parts are true.  Or if what used to be true is no longer true.  

So what determines the truth of the Bible?  And this does matter because the Bible says a lot about how to use it.  Even how not to abuse it.  

So...

What the church says is true.  I think it is important for the church to study the Bible together.  Community discernment is important.  But which church decides what is true in the Bible?  Surely your church has it figured out, right.  Until the church splits over how to interpret the Bible.  And I don't see much in Scripture about the church determining what is true or not.  And what if your church is led by leaders not in tune with God (like the 10 unfaithful spies)?

Listen to the preachers.  I mean they went to school to learn how to figure out the Bible.  Though you have to decide which preachers trained at which schools.  The school that trained me teaches a way different approach to Scripture than when I was there.  So either they were wrong then (tho in fairness maybe they just didn't know enough) or they are wrong now.  And different schools teach different things.  Lot of difference in theology between Notre Dame and Baylor.  Or Abilene Christian and Freed.  You also do not see much about "trust the preacher" in Scripture.  You may see that you should examine the Scriptures to test the message they preach.  And we preachers are warned about what we teach.  

Cuture.  Listen to your world.  Shouldn't the Bible mean different things at different times and in different places?  So the Bible is a little bit of a moving target.  What was true centuries ago may not be true today.  And what is true in the U.S today may not be true in Africa.  Of course, the Bible doesn't really talk about itself that way.  And it seems odd to let non-believers of the world decide what is right.

So what is the answer to what Scripture means?

Read it for yourself first.  There is a lot of very clear teaching in the Bible.  Follow it.  Believe it.

Watch out for two things especially.

If it is not in the Bible, do not let someone convince you that God meant for it to be there.  There are lots of things you can decide based on Scripture principles, but do not confuse that with a direct teaching from God.

And if there is clear teaching, do not let someone convince you that God didn't mean it.  That He really wasn't meaning Scripture to be taken literally in our day and age.  I think God and the Holy Spirit knew exactly what they were doing.

So...

You may -- or may not -- agree with me.  That's OK.  I am not God and I did not write the Bible.

But as for me.  I am going to read it for myself.  I will listen to people way smarter than me and evaluate what they teach by the Bible itself.  

And I will try to follow the teaching.

Amazing.  God wrote a book just for me.  So I could learn better how to live as His child.

So I'll keep reading it.  And believing it.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM