Promises and Secrets

Promises and SecretsPromises and Secrets

A website for those not afraid to examine their beliefs, compare them to the real world, and make sure they fit.



Bible: Study

VIEWPOINT



Bible study is more than just reading a passage and memorizing it.

FACT



To know more about the Bible, you must study it.


BLUE VIEWPOINT



To repeat the VIEWPOINT above, bible study is more than just reading a passage and memorizing it.

The Bible is a book like few others in the world. When you read it, you learn things about what it says based on the version or interpretation you read, and then you make certain assumptions about what those things mean. These assumptions vary between individuals depending on their personal experience and education in the language, history, and culture of the section of the book they are reading, and how they interpret meaning while living in their current culture. You cannot properly determine the meaning of a Jewish feast or a pagan ceremony if you color its meaning with the traditions of a modern culture.

To assist people in the dissemination of this information, there are various notes, glossaries, dictionaries, commentaries, and encyclopedias available on the market. Many of these reference materials are factual and depend very little on opinion, but some of them are based on the experience and opinions of the individual or team that created the material. What you learn depends on the veracity or truth of the reference material.

But, everyone does it their own way

Unfortunately, ten people can read the same Bible, even the same version, and come away with some startlingly different views of the meaning of the material they have read. This is not necessarily because they are of lower intelligence or are less experienced, but may be because of something they have learned or have been told before they read the material. This includes pastors and ministers who have completed various seminary training courses. It is because of these different views that we have so many churches in the world that all claim to have the Truth, but that Truth is different from that of other churches who read the same Bible.

My wife and I recently attended a Bible study session given by a pastor of the church my wife and I used to attend. He intended the session to be a lesson in how to study the Bible. We were excited because we are always looking for new ways to view the gathering of information and extracting all the data we can from the material. We are very interested in making sure the information is accurate and truthful before storing it in our heads. The methods he described were useful and appeared to represent a good method for studying. Let's call him Bob.

Promises, promises

Bob started off by saying that when you read a passage, rather than rush through the passage to get what it says, we should slow down to catch the meaning of each word and analyze how the words fit together. We should ask ourselves why a particular word is used, and how the meanings of the individual words fit together to create an overall meaning in the passage being read. What surprised me was that this is exactly the way I have studied the Bible for many, many years. The part that surprised me was that Bob and I do not agree with each other on some fundamental concepts of the Bible, even though we both use the "same" techniques to learn.

I don't mean concepts like whether the sandals of the Israelites wore out on the 40 year trek across the wilderness, or whether rabbits are clean animals. No, this is more like what day God set aside for worship and rest, what holidays we should celebrate and when, whether God intended for those days and holidays to still be observed today, and whether there is going to be a Rapture seven years before the second coming of Jesus. To me, these are fundamental differences and, though I feel the truth is right there before us, the two of us just get different meanings. We just need to learn how to dig it out - if it is hidden - or read the plain words of God when it is not hidden.

The meanings should match the whole Book

One thing that was not mentioned by Bob is that each meaning of a particular passage should blend flawlessly with all the other passages of the Bible. If we read a passage, say Deuteronomy 12:1-8
1 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess - as long as you live in the land. 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. 4 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. 5 But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; 6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit,

, determine the meaning to say something like "Do not worship God the way the pagans do." Next, we read 1 Corinthians 10:23
23 "I have the right to do anything," you say - but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything" - but not everything is constructive.

and someone determines that the passage means "I can do anything I want and will still be saved, even if it may not be healthy for me to do so." Now, without too much assistance, most people can see a basic difference in the meaning and intent of these two passages. One clearly says not to do something and the other says you can do it if you want, just be careful. The explanation I get most of the time for this is that one passage is in the Old Testament, and the other is in the New Testament, so we only have to listen to the NT, which gives us much more "freedom".

For example

I brought this up to Bob with this question, "If someone working for you in a church capacity was teaching his class to do exactly what God said not to do, what would you do when you found out?" He said that he would get rid of that person immediately, or at least move him to another capacity. I pointed out that the head pastor of his church was doing exactly that in order to "Christianize" the practice of Easter and the pagans who followed it. He stammered a bit, then said that, well, different people interpret passages differently. When I pointed out Deuteronomy 12:1-8 and 1 Corinthians 10:23, he said that he was running late and had to get home - (I am not kidding - and neither was he).

The pastor mentioned above heard about this exchange (I assume "Bob" told him), and approached me in church the next Sunday. He told me that he had researched the matter and feels that he is correct. We discussed it right there in the lobby, and he essentially insisted that what we call "Christian dispensation" allows us to do things that are not allowed in the Old Testament. He insists those prohibitions are only for the Jews because they are "God's people". Yet, isn't that exactly what we Gentiles are claiming when we think that we have replaced the Jews as "God's people"?

God said "No.", but it's really O.K?

Now, if after reading these passages you then go out and celebrate Easter by hiding eggs for the children and have them dress in bunny costumes while searching for the eggs, are you following the Word of God? The whole point of studying the Bible is to find out the Truth about what God has in mind for us. When I use the word "us" I do mean "God's people", but in the sense that if you follow the will of God and keep His instructions, He will consider you part of His people. Where in the Bible do you read of eggs and bunnies as props for the holidays of God? Which of the two passage meanings are you following?

Let's do a study on this issue and see if we can find out where we may have slipped up. Deuteronomy 12:1-9 says:

"1 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess - as long as you live in the land. 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. 5 But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; 6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, 9 since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. "

OK. Nothing about eggs or bunnies here. The message is that God does not want us (remember, "us" are all the people of God) to keep anything the pagans have or do. We can look a little closer, to make sure we are not jumping to a conclusion.

"But, we aren't under the OT law, are we?"

In order to be completely fair here, some people say that we are no longer bound by the Old Testament because Jesus has set us free from the "Old Covenant", and nothing from the OT pertains to us - only to the Jews. They do this using, among others, the verse in 1 Corinthians 10:23
The Believer's Freedom

23 "I have the right to do anything," you say - but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything" - but not everything is constructive. (NIV)

in a manner that Paul did not intend (more on that later on this page). To those people this means we can use the Holy Spirit prompting to determine whether something is right for us since we no longer have a clear commandment list to follow. While this is not a clear statement in the Bible, there are references to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, so let's look at that to see if we can determine what God wants us to do.

In the Deuteronomy passage above, God is pretty clear about what we are to do - tear down everything the pagans use and don't use even the names of those things. However, what some are implying is that it is now all right for us to keep and use the altars, Asherah poles (think May poles on May 1 every year), keep their idols, and the names of their celebrations in order to "Christianize" the pagans. They say that since God condemned this only in the OT, and "only to the Israelites", we can use those tools and practices today and He will still bless us. I don't see anything in this passage that says it will be OK if we use these tools to bring people to Christ and, more importantly, I see no statements in the New Testament that say it is now OK to use paganism to bring people to Christ. In fact, doesn't Christ say "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day."? (John 6:44). Nothing here about Asherah poles and fertility celebrations. It seems that what was important to God for His people way back then is still important to Him.

No rules any more?

While we are on this, look at the phrase "only to the Israelites" in the paragraph above. When I bring up the 10 commandments, I am always told that they are for the Israelites only. What must I conclude from this? We can steal, murder, or become adulterers without penalty? Well, of course not, but when I say that, I am told am being silly. People tell me, "Of course God does not want us to do that." When I ask how we know that, they say, "He wrote it in our hearts." My next question, "What did He write in our hearts?" Their reply? "The 10 commandments." At that point, I do get silly and ask when they became an Israelite.

The Deuteronomy passage (and others) absolutely forbids celebrating Easter. Oh, it doesn't say the word Easter, since that word is not even in the Bible except for a well-known and identified mistranslation in the King James version, so that will slip by anyone who does not realize that we Christians have taken many of our holidays and practices from the pagans and celebrate them without question. This brings up an important point about studying the Bible. Verify that the topic of study is one you can identify in the Bible.

Finding what wasn't there

See if you can find the word Easter in the Bible. Can't find it? Well, if you read the King James version, you can find the actual word "Easter" in Acts 12:4. To many people, this "proves" that God approves Easter celebration. However, the word from which this word was translated is "pascha", which means "Passover". Then check online or in a book to see where the word "Easter" came from. In this case, you will find that the word "Easter" refers to the celebration giving honor to a fertility goddess - hence the reference to eggs and rabbits and the name of that goddess for the holiday. Now, when you check further, you will see that every pastor worth his salt knows that this is true. What they will tell you is that they are using this pagan holiday to introduce people to Jesus. Also, they will say that we are really celebrating Resurrection Day and worshipping God, just using this day to do it. Sounds noble, right? But, what about the instruction in Deuteronomy 12:1-8? It clearly says that we are not to worship God as the pagans do.

"But, that's not why we do it."

As for the "celebrating Resurrection Day" statement, in 2016 Easter came on March 27, determined by the vernal (Spring) equinox. The "Christian" excuse given to celebrate this day is for Resurrection Day. Checking my Bible to see what it says, I find that Resurrection Day came on the first Sunday after Passover. In 2016, Passover came on April 22 on a Friday, so Resurrection Day could not be until April 24. Now, what were "Christians" celebrating a month earlier than that on a day named after Astoreth or Eostre or whatever, and using the tools and symbols of paganism?

Now, what about people who can say we can do anything with impunity because of passages like 1 Corinthians 10:23
The Believer's Freedom

23"I have the right to do anything," you say - but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything" - but not everything is constructive. (NIV)

? Here is the King James version:

"All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." (KJV)

Reading this in the King James on the surface, it seems to say "I can do anything I want, I should just be careful because I may not learn from it or be helped by it."

No, read it again in a better translation

Go back up the page to the blue link right above the box with the KJV translation. The NIV is closer to the Greek translation of the passage, and it conveys a totally different meaning to this passage. However, the section heading of "Believer's Freedom" still gives the impression that we are free to do anything we want. However, Paul did not write the headings, just the text. The heading were added by translators and are based on his/her opinions and their individual "education" (indoctrination).

This 1 Corinthians passage that supposedly gives us so much freedom is not even a quote from something God said, even if it is from a passage in the Bible, and Paul is not stating it as a lesson, but is repeating what some of the members of some churches in Paul's day thought they could do with impunity.

The first clue is that this passage interpretation is not compatible with other passages in the Bible. The Bible will not contradict itself, only people cause that. That means that at least one of the interpretations must be incorrect. The difference between Bob and I is the belief that Easter is still a pagan holiday and Bob feels that it is OK to worship God that way if you ignore the eggs and rabbits. However, the OT reference passage does not say "you can worship Me in the way of the pagans if you ignore some pagan parts of the ceremony".

Now, the NLT (New Living Translation) uses a slightly different language, hinting that this passage is not something that God has said to give us unlimited freedom to disobey:

You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you. You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is beneficial.

Notice the "you say" in the text. This sounds like Paul is saying that someone is claiming to have the freedom to do anything. Whoa! Does this mean we have to read every version to compare them to each other to get the right meaning? Well, not really. Once you realize that there are huge differences between versions, you look for "contradictions" in the evident meanings. The fact that one passage seemed to mean there are some things you never do (Deuteronomy), and the other one says you can do anything (1 Corinthians), might be a reason to do a little research.

If you don't care, then don't bother

A good study Bible has notes at the bottom of the page and they can usually give the common understanding of most passages, but this does not mean even the note writers checked for any contradictions. They may be just opinions that will cause contradictions in other areas. For example, my NIV shows a note that says that you are not the only one to consider, other's personal freedom and rights are important as well. I'm not sure this is helpful in this search. I checked some commentaries and found that this Corinthian passage was actually quoted by Paul from some liberal church members of the time who felt they could do what they wanted. Paul's comments were warnings that their "freedom" might be called sin by god and their actions may mess with the understandings of others, causing them to actually relax into the same sins.

So, just because your pastor can give a reason for violating something God has made perfectly clear doesn't mean that he has checked it out. If the interpretation disagrees with any other passage in the Bible, then some investigation is in order. We are all subject to misunderstandings, but once we notice them, we are bound to check them out. If your friends tell you that you are being too literal, ask them to help you understand how God says "No!" over here, but over there says the exact same thing is "OK!" The pastor of the Bible study did not see eye to eye with me, but could not give any valid reason, so we no longer attend his "study".


Disagree? Find an error? Contact us at glenjjr@gmail.com and give us your view.

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