Part 2
Now look at this Method:
So what do you do if you want the truth on this issue, or any issue?
1.) Rule #1: Avoid “Methodology One”: Proving your beliefs true and holding fast to them, is not the same as, “Proving all things over and over again as a habit and way of life, and holding fast to what is good/true.” Look at that 2Th. 2:10-13 passage. Paul said that the lost in the end times failed, and Paul used the same standard and judged that those he was writing to were held to the same standard but passed the test and received a love of the truth and were true Christians making this a timeless truth.
2.) Open-mindedness: All belief groups believe in being open minded … “until” you accept their beliefs. Then they believe in being as closed as possible. If you love truth, you will continually remain open-minded to altering any or all of your beliefs in the light of the fullness of the truth, when everything that “might” pertain to the topic at hand is rightly divided. How many passages are there about closing your eyes and ears lest you see or hear. Look at Methodology One again. What is it designed to do?
3.) Habitual ongoing Labor/ Getting Every Piece of Data that Might Pertain: If you Love Truth, you, personally, must become a manual laborer and keep on gathering every fact anyone thinks might pertain to every topic at hand. Then gather all the data that “might pertain” no belief group gathers because they can’t use that information to prove their beliefs true or opposing beliefs false. Yes, that’s every piece of data that proves all your current beliefs false that the opponents to your beliefs have gathered, and every fact that might prove beliefs you believe to be wrong to be truth on that topic as well. We are commanded to be habitual, ongoing, never stopping laborers who are approved by God and won’t stand ashamed before Him. How do we determine what that outcome will be? We habitually “Cut-straight” every single piece of the word of God that “might” apply to the topic at hand. This is way different than looking for passages of scripture to prove true what we want to teach on a topic.
CONSISTENCY IN INTERPRETATION: If God, God’s word, and God’s people are not consistent in what they say and do and DON’T SAY AND DON’T DO, then looking for truth in the bible is a waste of time. I am going to use a topic almost every belief group that calls themselves Christians has closed eyes and ears about and tries to force the scriptures to conform to their beliefs only going to scripture to justify “what they want believe” on the topic, while closing their eyes and ears to everything else. Do your own study on the topic if you want.
4.) Consistency with Background Context: Pick a meaning that fully aligns with the historical, legal, architectural, agricultural … context.
5.) Consistency of Meaning of words/root words/figures of speech: Hold to a meaning for all words, root words, and figures of speech consistent with their usage throughout the Old and New Testament. We have a Greek Old and New Testament and a Hebrew Old Testament, pick a meaning fully fitting everywhere the same word, root word, and figure of speech is used.
Take the discussion on polygamy being adultery, for example. Look at all the places where someone was accused of committing adultery in the Old Testament, and all the places where the definition is given. What were the circumstances. David committed adultery, right? When? How many wives did he have at the time? How many more wives did he take afterwards? Did he commit adultery then as well? Pick the meaning that fits everything said and everything not said. How many times does the bible say Solomon committed adultery? Does God say that He took more than one wife? Does he say those wives committed adultery against Him? Don’t guess, get all of the passages that might apply? Does God illustrate Himself violating His own word/will?
6.) Consistency with the Surrounding Discussion: Hold to a meaning consistent with the entire discussion surrounding the verse or passage being considered, hold to the flow of thought, flow of arguments, meaning of points made …
For example, take the discussion this is a part of:
Mat 19:4 And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,5 and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'?
Is the context a discussion on what a lawful marriage is or is the context a discussion on whether or not we can divorce the women we are married to at any time for any reason? The context is when can we divorce, a lawful marriage, using the passages listed prior in the O.T. is any woman you have had sex with. Thus, David was married at least 18 times, possibly as high as 28, with one case of adultery. Solomon had sex with a thousand wives and concubines with no cases of adultery. God the Father had multiple wives and they committed adultery against Him. He did not commit adultery… Here’s the problem. First. Did anyone in the Old Testament believe that passage on the tendency for a man to leave his parents to have sex with his wife mean to only one wife at a time? Look at the facts. How many wives did David, Solomon, Gideon, Moses, Jacob … GOD have? Where is the condemnation of the practice? Who gave David his other wives besides Bathsheba? Look at the responses to when Jesus says, if you have had sex with her you are considered joined forever by God. Did they freak out and ask questions like, “So what? My second and third wives are not approved by God at all? Can I divorce them with impunity because it wasn’t God’s plan? Were we ever really married? Do I have to put all of my other wives and the kids by them out to the curb? What does this do to the inheritance? Did Jesus say that this invalidates my right to be king because I am descended from David’s 8th wife?
7.) Consistency with conscience: Example: If your interpretation would be a sin if a man did likewise and your interpretation results in believing God does what would be sin for us, your interpretation is wrong. i.e., there are no illustrations in the Bible where God says He commits adultery. If your chosen meaning for the word adultery would make God an adulterer, and by His own admission, you picked the wrong meaning for the word. In other words, if you hold to polygamy as adultery you accuse God Himself of adultery.
8.) God, God’s People and God’s Word are 100% consistent: Pick an interpretation for all the data that makes God, God’s people and God’s word 100% consistent in “all” they say and do and “all” they don’t say and don’t do. Any inconsistencies, are proof of incorrect beliefs/definitions.
God says that David’s only sins were those related to Uriah the Hittite (He took his wife and got him killed.) even the numbering of the people was not a sin as that commandment was for the people to pay the tax for being numbered. THEY did not pay it. THEY did not know they were supposed to because THEY didn’t know the law or chose not to pay. Yes, David “felt” guilty, but he did not violate God’s commandments in that case. Remember, any inconsistencies in what is said and done, or not said, and not done are a result of our incorrect beliefs. How many times does the bible say Solomon committed adultery? Answer: Never. Solomon was reproved for his wives, but not the number of them. He was reproved by God for taking foreign wives. Now, figure out why Solomon did not violate God’s commands for “kings” not to heap to himself wives, horses or gold. Solomon had “Heaps” of all of them. Hint: Solomon did a great sacrifice and received a vision from God.
9.) Always apply logic, reason, and rational thinking: Pick an interpretation fully fitting with all logic, reason, and rational thinking. (i.e., if the writer spent a whole chapter saying all gifts are equal and necessary, that none are greater than any others, … do not choose an interpretation for the very next verse that would command us to desire what God spent the previous 30 verses saying doesn’t exist, and that you can’t get, period, regardless of your desire. “Earnestly desire the greater gifts”, contradicts everything prior. Look for the “other” possible meaning. Note: There is one.
The passage where Jesus is said to have stated that the only lawful marriage model is the marriage of one man and one woman, for example. Understand that, in the audience, there may have been dozens of people with polygamous relationships in their past. Jesus being descended from both David and Solomon, for example. Here’s the problem.
1.) Someone in the audience says to himself, “My dad had two wives, my mom was his first wife, but his second wife was the one to give birth to a son, my half-brother, first, and he gets the inheritance, and all the benefits and I did not. If only the first marriage is legal, don’t I get to kick my brother and my brother’s mother out and take the inheritance?
2.) Is Jesus capable of being King? Was Solomon a lawful king? Sorry, if only the first marriage was ever approved by God, neither one was/is a lawful king. Sorry, not from the first wife?
3.) This is a discussion on lawful divorce. As such, if Jesus meant that only the first wife is approved by God, is Jesus stating that all other wives can be kicked to the curb even without divorce proceedings? What about the kids? Do they have to kick them to the curb as well?
4.) From the perspective of a second or third wife in the audience, what is your response to Jesus if this is what Jesus said and meant?
5.) Where are all the discussions that “Should” have been voiced out loud in this society where polygamy was practiced by most of the patriarchs including Jacob, Moses, Giddeon, David, Solomon … where is the confusion, the questioning … it didn’t happen. What was the response of the audience? Shoot, if this is what God meant, it is better not to get married at all, right? The context is lawful divorce. The only way this makes sense in a polygamous society is if Jesus is saying, once you have sex, regardless of the number of wives you have, they are your wife and divorce is not an option. EVER! That’s the only way everything makes sense.
10.) Start with the Easiest/Clearest … data on the topic: Interpret the clearest, easiest understood, most straightforward data/passages first—then the more complex or difficult passages. The complex, convoluted, and difficult passages are easy to distort to fit beliefs.
11.) It ALL fits together: Pick a meaning for the parts that fully fit with the whole of the data that might pertain without adding meaning, subtracting meaning, or distorting anything to force it to comply with your beliefs. If everything gathered (#3 above) does not fully fit with everything in #4-10 above, you have the wrong meaning, and you are forcing the scriptures to fit what you want to believe “as” truth.
12.) Keep on continuously proving all things over and over again as a habit and way of life and never stop … and hold fast to what is good/true. Getting to truth is an ongoing process that never ends. One single verse, one fact you missed, one slight change in interpretation … can force a complete reevaluation and even a complete a change of beliefs. That is, if you love truth, and obey what God commands all His people to be continuously doing for and by themselves. If not …
13.) It’s all on You! Trusting others to get to truth “for” you, is like trusting others to have a relationship with your wife / husband / kids “for” you. It cannot be done. Your failure to keep on habitually doing as God commands all His people to keep on habitually doing, proves you have gathered enough using Methodology One to hold fast to what you want to believe and fall short of 2Th. 2:10-12
I always tell everyone: Understand, “Agreement with me might only make us both wrong.” Why? Because it's true. It only takes one verse I missed, in context, cut straight, to change my beliefs.
This verse is in the present tense meaning ongoing continuous action:
“Keep on continuously proving all things over and over again as a habit and way of life and always hold fast to what is good/true.” If you love truth, and not a specific belief, you will constantly look for and reevaluate everything you can find, and yes, you will be willing to alter any and all of your beliefs to fit what the fullness of the word of God really says and means with nothing left out, and nothing distorted to try and prove “what you want to believe” true.
Starting from beliefs, and then going to those who have the same ones to get all the passages they use to prove their beliefs to be fact, opposing beliefs false, and to understand how they interpret everything to hold fast to those beliefs always results in the affirmation of those beliefs. If your goal is to do something like that, pick the beliefs you want to have first. If you want to be Mormon gather their data and use their interpretations. If you want to be a Calvinist use theirs, Roman Catholic ... you get the idea.
Everyone gets what they really want. That which we love least is always forced to conform to that which we love most. Everyone either loves the truth or their beliefs. But the "Many on the Broad path of destruction in Mat. 7 is the same many that believe Jesus is their Lord God and Savior at the end of the chapter to whom Jesus said, "Depart from Me ye who work iniquity for I never knew you."
Everyone using Methodology One, while they will get an unshakeable, unquestionable belief that they have the truth, are really seeing God at work hardening them into what they want to believe because they just love what they want to believe. Everyone picks one, and the Methodology you use proves what camp you are in. And, if you think about it, how do the lost respond when their beliefs are called into question? They jump right in with all the things they have gathered to prove their beliefs true, all the things they use to prove opposing beliefs false, since their beliefs are fact, how is everything interpreted? In the light of the unquestionable truth of their beliefs. Call their salvation into question and you will see them get angrier than a rabid dog, and Methodology One tramples everything in opposition under foot in seconds.
This is why Mat. 7:6 exists. God is hardening them into the beliefs they love. If you continue to share using Methodology One, you are fighting God Himself and deserve to be torn to pieces. Those using the second Methodology have nothing at all they can discuss with those using the first Methodology.
