A Question that is Often Asked
If what you believe about the Bible was wrong, would you want to be told?
Are you willing to let the Bible declare itself?
Are you interested in understanding the Bible better?
Most people would readily say “Yes” to that question, but I want you to really stop and think about it for a minute.
It is amazing how people just like you and me want to know the Truth until a Scripture is shown to reveal or put into question something that does not agree with what they have been taught. That is when our biases break into our thinking and more times than not, negate the Scripture. After all, how could what we have been taught be wrong?
The Truth is that preachers and teachers can only teach what they themselves have been taught and believe. You can’t believe in something you do not know or understand.
It is similar to the Pharisees and religious leaders of the first century. They were the ones that most of the people looked up to and followed, but they were the very ones who had misapplied, mistaught, and corrupted the Word of God. It was they whom Jesus condemned. Matthew 23:13-15,24-25
The problem is, what is being taught today is accepted as Truth when it is not. This results in falsehoods. When we fail to search out the Truth from the Bible to verify the teaching and consistency with other Scriptures, this is when false doctrine is perpetuated. 2 Thessalonians 5:21
In Acts 17:10-11, the Scripture records the Bereans being presented with the Truth. We read how the Bereans did not just take the word of the Apostle Paul as accurate, but they searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true.
This was the Apostle who was once himself Saul of Tarsus, a great persecutor of the Church, who had been enlightened as to the error of his training by Jesus. Paul went on to write much of the New Testament.
It is unfortunate that at times Truth can be difficult to find and understand. The Bible can be simple to understand if we just let it explain itself.
Even in difficult passages, we can learn to see God and His wonderful plan from the Scriptures’ viewpoint rather than from the viewpoint of those who have taught us what to believe.
The commandments and traditions of men have so permeated our minds that at times we often miss the simple truths of the Bible. Proverbs 27:17 says that “Iron sharpeneth iron…” In other words, “Scripture proves Scripture”. We must always read the Scripture in the light of Scripture. Isaiah 28:9-10
One saying you will hear me say allot is "Scripture needs NO defense".
We get off track when we allow someone to complicate the simple truths that God has allowed for us to see and to understand. It is when we try to read our beliefs into the Scriptures that things become complicated and hard to understand.
Confusion always occurs when the original meaning of Scripture is altered or changed. Two thousand years of interpretation, misuse, and abuse of God’s Word should make us more leery of what is being taught than even the Bereans were.
Humanity has never changed since Adam introduced sin into the world. Romans 5:12 We all live under the results of his disobedience and faithlessness. Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 5:18-19
It must be the Scripture that determines our belief and understanding NOT the traditions and teachings of religious leaders or the so called “Church fathers”.
If our understanding of the Bible is contrary to the Scriptures, then our understanding must change no matter where it came from or who taught it to us.
Jeremiah 29:13 says that if we search with all of our heart, we will find Him. When we find Him, we find Truth. Searching involves spending time examining the facts of book, chapter, and verse in the Bible.
Conclusion
Jesus said that His sheep know His voice. John 10:2-5 He said because they knew His voice, they would not follow the voice of strangers. When you don’t read and study the Bible and base your faith on the Word of God, you can be easily led astray.
You must know what you believe and believe what you know. Trust the Voice of God, His Word. Psalms 103:20 He will never let you down or fail you. We must allow the Bible to be the answer to all of our questions.
