New
One person said: "your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make what you believe true."
To which another said: "That's true for all of us."
I agree. Whether the original church wants to hear that or not, this is what we all have to deal with. No interpretation of today is necessarily True.
Just because you believe something. Just because you believe the Bible supports your beliefs. Just because your church tells you that this is true, does not make it True. True is only found in God's perspective on a subject.
Safety in numbers won't be an excuse either--just look at what happened when Jesus came.
Scripture says the Holy Spirit will testify to your spirit that you are a child of God. I would strongly encourage you to know that you hear that confirmation. The confirmation of your priest isn't good enough. Nor is your personal conviction based on what somebody told you.
Nor is your emotional response to being manipulated by man to come up to the altar. You need to know for yourself from God. It is imperative.
You had better
Jesus says narrow is the way.
In my walk with the LORD, I have learned:
The Way to Find the Truth of God's Word (That is Different From the Mass Majority) is Doing the Following:
#1. We need to know that we had a genuine experience with Jesus (GOD) by His Word (the Bible) by seeking out His forgiveness and by believing that He died on the cross for our sins and that He rose 3 days later from the grave on our behalf. This reality should be the same as we are sure about the existence of air, gravity, and in knowing we are alive. You have to know Jesus and the Bible are the one and only way (and be able to defend that with others with no doubt).
#2. We need to forsake sin and not justify it (On any level); For example: We cannot say King David was saved while he committed his sins of adultery and murder because the Bible says otherwise (See 1 John 3:15, and Proverbs 6:32).
#3. We have to make a decision by prayer to dedicate our life to following Christ. This is not just going to church on Sundays. This would be seeking to spread the gospel yourself, helping the poor yourself, loving the brethren yourself, and loving your enemies yourself, etc.
#5. Do not be blindly spoon fed and accept everything just because you like a particular church or Pastor, etc.; Seek the truth of God's Word on your own with the LORD; In other words, do not be a blind following sheep, but think for yourself (with the help of God).
#6. Pray for understanding on a Piece of Scripture (And sometimes pray again, and again, and again);
#7. Believe there is one Word of God as our sole authority that is for our day that is nailed down that you cannot alter and twist yourself. Find that particular Bible that you believe is God's perfect and divine Word for our day that is without error and divine. In my experience, I have discovered this to be the KJV and I do not believe it conflicts with the original languages. The point here is that God's Word should change us, and we should never change God's Word. There are huge warnings in Scripture if we are to add or take away from God's Word. So I believe it is vital that we accept every word of the Holy Bible, and we do not accept an outside book, or church traditions or beliefs (that would conflict with God's Word).
#8. Context (An interpretation on a Verse or Passage should be based on the surrounding text and what it says.
#9. Cross References (The truth of the verse should be expressed in some other places in the Bible that say the same thing).
#10. Seek out what other believers believe on the topic by reading tons of articles on the topic or verse. While there are times God has showed me something in His Word that I don't believe other Christians widely know, I believe it is healthy to get a second opinion, but we should not let another person's thoughts cloud our thinking. If an article does not sound right (after praying for guidance), move on to another. I remember one time, that I took several days in prayer and read what felt like a hundred articles. I kept knocking, I kept seeking.
#11. Morality or God's goodness. Does your view on this piece of Scripture support basic Morality and or what you know deep down is right and good? Can the belief be illustrated by way of a real world example showing the Moral Superiority of this kind of belief or truth expressed in Scripture? This is why beliefs like Calvinism and Eternal Security seem so odd and or foreign to me. They fail a basic morality test by way of using real world examples and or looking at the fruits of it.
#12. Some things in the Bible we do have to take by faith and not by sight. Some people deny certain miracles in the Bible because they cannot see how that is possible. Others believe that Jesus did not really mean we can walk perfectly because they do not see others doing so around them. We have to walk by faith and not by sight accepting things that are eyes cannot witness to. This is important because without faith, it is impossible to please GOD. We have to believe in His Word and walk by faith.
#13. Have a willingness to see a verse or passage from a new light or perspective (that you have not seen before).
#14. Do Key Word Searches or Studies. God sometimes guides us to search out words that say the same thing and it can be really fruitful in our understanding on what a particular word says in the Bible. For knowing what a particular word says, can help us to understand a verse or passage better. I use BlueLetterBible's website.
#15. Love God, and love all others. For if we are not loving like we should, then we are not abiding in God like we should to have a proper understanding on God's Word. We need to check ourselves and make sure that we are following the Lord and His commands instead of seeking to uplift ourselves instead of Jesus (GOD).