One size fits all?

[James_Lai]

BASIC RESEARCH KEYS:


The first key is laid out in John16:13a Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, it will guide you into all truth (or one truth)…..guiding doesn’t happen without you moving.


The second underline key to research is to ALWAYS “read what is written” . Not what you think is written, and not what you already believe is written…….. but what is written.

When the Bible states “about 120” {Acts 1:15} it is not 120 …it may be 119.99999 but it’s not 120.

The Bible interprets itself and fits together like an intricate jigsaw puzzle. It is up to us to see how it fits by rightly dividing the Word of truth. We do NOT interpret the Bible; we see how the Bible interprets itself with the various keys and principle of biblical research.

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

.


1.) IN THE VERSE

a.) 80% of the bible interprets itself in the verse where it is written.
b.) Words in the verse must be understood according to the meaning of the words at the time of usage.
c.) Difficult verses must be understood in light of clear verses ….relating to the same subject
d.) Any one verse must always be in harmony with scripture relating to the identical subject
e.) One scripture may not tell all the details; other scripture may add to it without contradicting each other. Scripture build-up {especially in the Gospels} helps to illuminate the complete message. One gospel may give an event from a certain perspective where another will fill in certain detail.




2.) IN THE CONTEXT

a.) If the Word does not interpret itself the verse, context will determine the meaning of the verse or verses in question.
b.) Context as related to whom it is written or the specific subject can be determined by either the immediate context, or remoter context.
c.) The context relating to the same or similar: subject must be kept within the administrative boundaries. You cannot correlate in part or in whole the same subject from two separate dispensations (administrations) unless they relate directly and are identical. Primary applicable when trying to mix or correlate the gospels with the Grace administration.


3.) PREVIOUS USAGE

When you have a word that neither the verse nor the context determines its interpretation, going back to the first usage of that word will generally illuminate its meaning. Checking the first use of that word (using a concordance) in the verse should determine its meaning; the meaning will remain the same throughout, UNLESS it is given a new definition in which case that will carry the consideration.


(Keep in mind….when searching for the first use of word…. the books of the Bible are not in chronological order)

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

LITTLE WORDS WITH BIG MEANINGS:

Prepositions and conjunctions are especially important when directing the flow of thought in context.
a.) The use of the article “THE” must be carefully noted especially when dealing with the subject of holy spirit
b.) The word “ALL” is used just as it is used today, context will determine its meaning, whether it is “ALL” without exception, or “ALL” with distinction.
c.) The use of “but” and “not” must be recognized for the degree of contrast or negation they signify in a passage

TIME WORDS must be carefully noted in regard to whether an event occurs in the past, present, or future. Some words like Then are subtle, but indicate a period of time

IN THE BEGINNING
The word beginning or in the beginning must be carefully examined to determine which beginning. At times this refers to Genesis, other times it refers to the beginning of an event in an administration; context will determine the value of the word. {i.e.} The day of Pentecost in the grace administration. 1 John chapters 1-3 is a classic example of beginning = Pentecost.



TO WHOM IS IT WRITTEN

The Bible is always addressing Jews, Gentiles, or Church of God …….


ALL THOSE LITTLE THINGS
Punctuation, capitalization, chapter headings, chapter divisions, and verse divisions were all added by translators. They are extremely helpful, but they are not “given by inspiration of God” The majority of these thing have been well supplied, but there are a good number of areas where they are inaccurate. Always rely on the context to determine the truth

CUSTOMS AND CULTURES
The Bible is riddled with references to the everyday customs of the time in which it was written. We should become familiar with the manner of life, idioms, orientalism’s, customs and culture to properly understand scripture.


FIGURES OF SPEACH
There are 219 figures of speech known in the world, 214 of them are used in the Bible. It is not imperative to know these, but helpful in research and study. E. W. Bullinger has documented these figures of speech with scriptural reference, which makes it easy to look up. Figures of speech are used by God to put emphasis on that particular passage or account.

One Last thing

The words that have been used to translate into English are not always as descriptive or informative as the Hebrew or Greek meaning, and can alter or change the dynamics of a scripture. For basic word study's, I would suggest using the resources of the Blue Letter Bible available online. As an example: the word Receiv(ed) in English has various meanings and wordforms in the Greek. Dechomi is to receive subjectively.... whereas Lambano is to receive into manifestation. The Blue Letter Bible is a great resource for checking out words.

Thank you! This is very interesting and helpful

 

[James_Lai]

"NO" to your question "Do you think it’s the right approach?" There is a reason for the "not on jot nor one tittle" proscription in the Bible.

Your mentality seems to ride on an intellectual consideration of God's Word, as though it is like any other religion's Holy Book.

I’m considering religious books from all angles. Including how they’re treated by the religions themselves.

 

[James_Lai]

I'm not sure how James regards the Bible since he describes himself as a "Seeker", but for a non-believer the Bible IS essentially on a par with the holy books of other religions.

Unfortunately there is no reason to assume your beliefs about the Bible are shared by others.

OB

I think one needs to study a subject thoroughly and objectively before making any conclusions as to the nature of it.

 

[James_Lai]

God seems to think that the book He wrote was sufficient for everyone, who am I to doubt His wisdom

Why do you think it is so?

 

[Mark Quayle]

I think one needs to study a subject thoroughly and objectively before making any conclusions as to the nature of it.

Noble as that sounds, I think it is important to understand that 'thorough and objective study' doesn't yield all aspects of the truth. Nor is there even such a thing as thorough and objective, most noticeably when attempting a study of the non-material.

You should be able to see that nobody's worldview allows them to consider all things. And, that if indeed there is first cause, then its point-of-view would be the only true view.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I'm not sure how James regards the Bible since he describes himself as a "Seeker", but for a non-believer the Bible IS essentially on a par with the holy books of other religions.

Unfortunately there is no reason to assume your beliefs about the Bible are shared by others.

OB

True, I did mistake him for someone else, a believer, when I posted that. Nevertheless, the point stands, that IF the Bible's claims concerning the Almighty are true, then it is not on a par with the other holy books of other religions.

 

[James_Lai]

Noble as that sounds, I think it is important to understand that 'thorough and objective study' doesn't yield all aspects of the truth. Nor is there even such a thing as thorough and objective, most noticeably when attempting a study of the non-material.

You should be able to see that nobody's worldview allows them to consider all things. And, that if indeed there is first cause, then its point-of-view would be the only true view.

I agree. Though it’s no reason not to attempt such investigation.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I agree. Though it’s no reason not to attempt such investigation.

With that I agree completely. I love science.

 

[eleos1954]

Hello.

I was thinking of the following. There’s about 783,137 words in the King James Bible. We know some texts are repeated in the Bible or retold in slightly different ways, so if we condense the Bible to its unique contents, it will be, say, 80% or approximately 600,000 words.

Then we know that even in different words, there’s similar ideas, and we could extract just the core meanings that are repeated and we will get even less.

So this pretty limited amount of information expressed in a certain way contained in a book we then take and offer to ALL kinds of people and expect them to learn, understand it and use it for their benefit.

Do you think it’s the right approach?

People are different. Even among siblings, you might have a child with whom it’s best to be soft and patient, and another who should be encouraged with some good pressure, he or she would take it and need it. Different personalities.

Then we have different kinds of level of education, mindset, traditions, values, ways to communicate and interact etc. How do you expect the same very limited information have a similar effect? It won’t happen.

If we look at Abrahamic religions, we see that when a single book with theoretical doctrines and some practical commands is overlayed on different people at different times, we get some variable result.

Egyptian Islam is quite different with Indonesian Islam, for example. Or north African Judaism and Judaism developed in Germany. Christianity of Greece or Christianity of the American South.

Same book, completely different faith.

Wouldn’t it be more wise to create different approaches for each population? We do adapt the Bible for children, for example. You must have at one point owned a Children’s Picture Bible. So this idea isn’t foreign to Christianity.

What do you think? Is a single Book for all is bound to be a failure?

Luke 12:51
New Living Translation
Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other!

and so it is ... and so it will be until He returns.

Children should be taught the Word of God ... from the Word of God.

To a certain degree I think children's picture bibles are actually doing a disservice to them .... many are made using cartoonish pictures ... and well .... God is not a cartoon!

The Word of God is sufficient for all.

 

[disciple Clint]

Why do you think it is so?

Thousands of years of history prove it to be so.

 

[James_Lai]

Thousands of years of history prove it to be so.

No, my question was not about why you think so, I meant why do you think it succeeded to be sufficient?

 

[disciple Clint]

No, my question was not about why you think so, I meant why do you think it succeeded to be sufficient?

Would you expect anything that God does could fail?

 

[James_Lai]

Would you expect anything that God does could fail?

Sometimes, yes. Genesis 6:1-13

God threw in the towel… “Let’s hit the Reset button” He said…

 

[disciple Clint]

Sometimes, yes. Genesis 6:1-13

God threw in the towel… “Let’s hit the Reset button” He said…

It was not what God did that failed, it was what man did. Now God could have made man so that man did not have the option to become evil but God wanted man to think and act and make decisions on his own, just as God is able to do all those things so God made man in his image. A father can do all that is possible to ensure that a child grows up with values but the child still has the option to act in any way he wants.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

What was it? His oral sermons?

Partly. But it's also the fact that for the first 30 or so years that the Christian faith existed, it's followers did so without a set of additional letters and books we now recognize (more or less) as the New Testament. All they had to go by were the Law and the Prophets and what the apostles and earliest disciples could orally communicate about the meaning of the Law and the Prophets. Maybe there were a few proto writings used from some of those same apostles and disciples, but since we don't even have copies of those, and since most folks at that time weren't literate, it's difficult to ascertain to what extent written documents were used in tandem with mostly in person oral communication those first few decades.

 

[James_Lai]

It was not what God did that failed, it was what man did. Now God could have made man so that man did not have the option to become evil but God wanted man to think and act and make decisions on his own, just as God is able to do all those things so God made man in his image. A father can do all that is possible to ensure that a child grows up with values but the child still has the option to act in any way he wants.

God clearly blamed Himself, He said I repent and grieve in what I have done… So He didn’t lay responsibility on the creation, but admitted in was the Creator’s mistake. It’s interesting He’s said to decide to wipe off almost all humans, but also land animals and plants. Maybe the flora and fauna weren’t done right as well, not just the Homo species… As for the Homo, there was hybridization with some divine beings (sons of God), and their God-human hybrid offspring Nephilim were renowned heroes.

 

[bling]

Hello.

I was thinking of the following. There’s about 783,137 words in the King James Bible. We know some texts are repeated in the Bible or retold in slightly different ways, so if we condense the Bible to its unique contents, it will be, say, 80% or approximately 600,000 words.

Then we know that even in different words, there’s similar ideas, and we could extract just the core meanings that are repeated and we will get even less.

So this pretty limited amount of information expressed in a certain way contained in a book we then take and offer to ALL kinds of people and expect them to learn, understand it and use it for their benefit.

Do you think it’s the right approach?

People are different. Even among siblings, you might have a child with whom it’s best to be soft and patient, and another who should be encouraged with some good pressure, he or she would take it and need it. Different personalities.

Then we have different kinds of level of education, mindset, traditions, values, ways to communicate and interact etc. How do you expect the same very limited information have a similar effect? It won’t happen.

If we look at Abrahamic religions, we see that when a single book with theoretical doctrines and some practical commands is overlayed on different people at different times, we get some variable result.

Egyptian Islam is quite different with Indonesian Islam, for example. Or north African Judaism and Judaism developed in Germany. Christianity of Greece or Christianity of the American South.

Same book, completely different faith.

Wouldn’t it be more wise to create different approaches for each population? We do adapt the Bible for children, for example. You must have at one point owned a Children’s Picture Bible. So this idea isn’t foreign to Christianity.

What do you think? Is a single Book for all is bound to be a failure?

James, feel free to ask me questions, but to begin with:

1. The Bible is not an instruction book, it is not the way people are to be brought to Christianity from lots of different perspectives.

2. Christ and God did not give us the Bible to have the nonbeliever read and figure everything out.

3. It would be unfair for a nonbeliever today to have just the Bible and those 12, Jesus selected, to have Christ physically with them, listening to them, teaching them, sharing life with them, mentoring them, correcting them, warning them and Loving on them.

4. The Bible is just one of the tools for the Christian, to support the Christians believes.

What Jesus established as the way to teach nonbelievers is, the way He taught the 12. Christ literally lives in and through a Christian, who is very much like the nonbeliever being mentored. The Christian (a Christ like person) spends lots of time listening, questioning, discussing, teaching, mentoring, sharing life and Loving on the nonbeliever. The nonbeliever is not to fall in “love” with a book, but with Christ. If you have seen Godly type Love, you have seen God and Christ for God is Love.

The nonbeliever is not trying to get to the point of doing something, but accepting something. The lowliest uneducated person on earth can humbly accept God’s pure undeserved charity as charity, so for a well educated person to accept pure charity as charity takes humility and no one likes to humble themselves, so there is the problem.

 

[Mark Quayle]

God clearly blamed Himself, He said I repent in what I have done… So He didn’t lay responsibility on the creation, but admitted in was the Creator’s mistake. It’s interesting He’s said to decide to wipe off almost all humans, but also land animals and plants. Maybe the flora and fauna weren’t done right as well, not just the Homo species… As for the Homo, there was hybridization with some divine beings (sons of God), and their God-human hybrid offspring Nephilim were famed heroes.

You are anthropomorphizing God. Just saying...

 

[disciple Clint]

God clearly blamed Himself, He said I repent and grieve in what I have done… So He didn’t lay responsibility on the creation, but admitted in was the Creator’s mistake. It’s interesting He’s said to decide to wipe off almost all humans, but also land animals and plants. Maybe the flora and fauna weren’t done right as well, not just the Homo species… As for the Homo, there was hybridization with some divine beings (sons of God), and their God-human hybrid offspring Nephilim were renowned heroes.

As for the Homo, there was hybridization with some divine beings (sons of God), and their God-human hybrid offspring Nephilim were renowned heroes.

That is a subject of debate among scholars and would require a thread of its own.

 

[keiw]

Wonderful! Glad to hear.

It’s not about letting down someone. It’s about different kinds of people who will take the text quite differently. Do we want that?

Its already taken differently. Jesus started 1 single religion. Today there are 34,000 claiming to be christian. Only 1 is.( 1Cor 1:10) unity of thought, no division) All claim to have holy spirit guiding them. Its not the holy spirit that is that confused. Its the dogmas of men who are misleading others in their personal interpretations. There is one truth, Either all accept it or they will lose. So how does one find the religion that has Jesus?