Is it me, or do you find that it can be very frustrating coming to realize that the teachings we have grown up with in modern day religion may be wrong? Be it by way of simple misinterpretation or by people purposefully trying to force others into accepting Christ by scaring them.
Do you ever grow tired of reading all the different views and opinions, interpretations and doctrines? Do you get aggravated when people argue over their beliefs, yet God has told us to love one another?
It can get pretty discouraging seeing all the postings on Facebook and other sites where people argue, and sometimes heatedly, over their views and interpretations. Sometimes they are basic views we have grown up accepting as gospel truth, yet now we question whether they are gospel or man’s wrong interpretation.
No matter how you interpret the scriptures, no matter how much you believe your way of thinking on spiritual matters, someone else will have a completely different view. Even those who are followers of Christ can’t agree on everything. We all have a different view on the bible.
I wonder why we can’t accept each other, no matter what our interpretation. Truthfully, none of us can prove most of what we believe, be it faith in God, heaven, hell, satan and a number of other topics. It is all by faith that we believe what we believe. We can’t prove or disprove anything.
I think we should ask our Father daily for His guidance into truth. Hold to what you believe, but be open enough to change when God (not some other person) gives a clearer view of the truth. When someone has a different way of looking at things, accept them. You don’t have to agree with them. Who knows, they might be right.
I don’t think any of us can say without a doubt who is completely right or wrong in our interpretations. We should seek God for truth through the Spirit, and let everyone have their right to do the same. Quit fighting and arguing over who is right and who is wrong.
One thought comes to mind in all this, ‘Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so’. The most basic and simple thing we learned long ago seems to be the only consistent thing we can all agree on.
So many christian people are so quick to defend the bible that they do not even think about this truth. They also forget the written word leads us to the Living Word (Jesus). Good comment. Thanks for sharing.
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Some things that do not get mentioned very often is that the Bible was not written in English, it was not written in verses or chapters, and much of it did not originally contain vowels or punctuation. I’ve sometimes wondered how much the beliefs of the translators influenced their choice of words in translating the Bible.
Some difficulties encountered in understanding the Bible is that the rules of grammar in the languages of the Bible can differ from what we know and the meaning of many words can differ from what we understand them to be in our modern day English.
A source of confusion is that a word you see in your English translated Bible does not always mean the same thing every time you see it. For example, the word “love” is used to translate several different words that do not all have the same meaning. This is when study books like a Strong’s Concordance or a Vines Expository can come in handy.
Generally, people who want to “prove” that they are right and that you are wrong are very quick to throw out their handful of verses that they have gathered from here, there and everywhere scattered throughout the Bible and they then use these selectively plucked verses as an offering of proof. When these plucked verses are studied within their original context, they are often found to not be related to the subject under question Ideally, the Bible should be studied book by book, one book at a time from start to finish in it’s entirety. Everything is studied within it’s context.
No wonder everyone is confused about what the Bible says. Most of us don’t really know how to study the Bible effectively. Unfortunately, Churches do very little in-depth teaching and most of them do not teach you how to teach yourself.
Some good study helps are Strong’s Concordance, The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament and Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words plus available time. It also helps to set aside whatever you’ve always been told and just sit at the Master’s feet with an open heart.
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Thank you for your comment. So true, the church today seems to cause division among believers. The intimate relationship you mentioned is what we need….with God and with one another. Thanks for reading my article.
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This is so true! I grew up in church, but my understanding of Christ became more prevalent to me once I started learning about Buddhism. It’s funny looking back, because my Mom was freaking out thinking that I wanted to become a Buddhist. But these teaching brought me closer to Christ, more so than growing up in a Baptist church, visiting my Aunt’s C.O.G.I.C. church, ending up in a Nondenominational church, having friends who were Penecostal. It’s just seems to be so much division. Developing that intimate relationship with God is what Christianity is really all about. Thanks for sharing! Love&Light to you!
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Thank you Vernon. I will check that out. I appreciate it.
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I would like to let you know I nominated you for the Liebster Award. You can go to my blog for details if you like to participate.
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Thank you for reading my article and for your comment. I appreciate it.
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Lovely post, thank you. 🙂
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Hey Vernon, I like that. No need to argue. Thanks for commenting.
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Reblogged this on Self Reflection and commented:
This is something I tell people often. What the Holy Spirit enlighten me on I’m not going to argue with you about it.
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Thank you Odette for the information. I appreciate you reading my article.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014
God is into dividing Transcribed excerpt from an audio message by Bro Ron Knight…
True and proper teaching of the scriptures is a verse by verse expository type of teaching which means you take a book, particularly an epistle of the apostle Paul, and study verse by verse.
In order to understand Paul’s ministry, a study of the book of Acts would be good, because what we see there are the acts of the apostles. ‘Acts’ is short for the actions or the activities of the apostles. Which apostles? The 12 apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ and that one, new distinct apostle Paul.
Years ago a man told me that the bible is written in past, present and future. You won’t hear that outside of a dispensational bible church. If you’ve been confused about the bible it’s because you haven’t been studying it God’s way. Paul says1to…
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.
You are to divide the word of truth. God is a God of division. The Lord said…
Luke 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
People say that Jesus came to bring peace and love. No, he came to divide some people in Israel: the believing remnant from the unbelievers. Back in Genesis chapter 1 God divided the light from the darkness; he divided the dry ground from the waters.
God is into dividing.
The thing that you need to divide the most is the word of truth, God’s word. It is all true, but you need to make divisions in order to understand it. The reason all the denominations and cults are in confusion is because they don’t rightly divide.
Your life is time past, but now and the ages to come. You have a past you live in the present, and you have a future. God’s word is that way. The apostle Paul is the one that explains that in time past God made a distinction between the nation of Israel (Jews) and gentiles.2
When you come to the ministry and message of the apostle Paul, he does not make a distinction between Jew and Gentile. He looks at all men as in Adam. Actually, you’re either in Adam or in Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Today, in the present, God has a word to all nations (aka, gentiles), including Israel – everybody. He didn’t do that back in time past. When you’re reading the books of Genesis through Acts you are reading a time-past program when God made a distinction between mankind, starting with Abraham in Genesis 12. Until you come up to the message and ministry of the apostle Paul in his 13 epistles of Romans through Philemon, God does not make a distinction between men.
But God is going to finish this (mystery) program someday3 so that he can continue on with his prophetic program4 with the nation of Israel. We’re coming close to those days, I believe; but he has to finish our program first. When he does, he will go back again and make a distinction between Jew and gentile. Those are the books of Hebrews through Revelation.
Unless you study the Bible this way, you’re confused. How do I know? Because if you don’t, I could ask you 1,000 questions you couldn’t answer. The only way you can answer the hard Bible questions is by dispensationally understanding your Bible.
The book of Acts explains how you got to the apostle Paul. Acts has a focus on the actions of the 12 apostles before the fall of Israel, the diminishing of their program once Paul is saved, and then Christ’s salvation going out to us gentiles through the apostle Paul. The reason you can trust Christ in Minnesota or in California, or anywhere in the world today, although God started in Israel in the Middle East, is because God gave Paul a message of grace for you today. That’s how we’re saved today.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.
Transcribed excerpt from Bro Knight’s message… 53 Are you Ordained by God R.K..mp3
1 1 Corinthians 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
2 Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Romans 16:25 25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
4 Acts 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
Hopefully this helps!
Pastor Ron can be contacted directly with any questions at: ronkrista3@yahoo.com.
http://m.youtube.com/user/norcalgrace
http://www.norcalgrace.com/
http://bibleanswersrightlydivided.blogspot.com/
Pastor Ron and his wife Krista have one child, a daughter Jada-Lynn Grace. Ron has nearly 17 years of experience as a Bible teacher and preacher both in the pulpit, as well as numerous Bible conferences throughout the country. Most recently he has been broadcast world-wide the last few years on YouTube.
After serving 7 years in several ministries back in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, Ron moved to Minnesota (where his wife is from), and began Twin Cities Grace Fellowship. After growing that ministry for another 7 years, and then placing it in the capable hands of Pastor Josh Strelecki, Ron and his family moved out to the West Coast in 2011 to begin this “sister ministry” Northern California Grace Fellowship.
In addition to YouTube, while in Chicago and Minnesota, Ron has hosted several local cable television and radio Bible teaching programs. Before leaving Minnesota, Ron served as radio voice of the program “Rightly Dividing The Word” for 5 years. Ron retired from that ministry in February of 2012 in order to devote more time to his ministry here in California. (That radio ministry in Minnesota has now also been handed over to Pastor Josh).
Ron has also been featured live on radio stations such as KKMS AM 980 in Minnesota, as well as WJOC AM 1490 in Tennessee, and has also served several times as guest fill-in host on live radio, focusing on Question & Answer segments during his many hours on KKMS Live. Not long after moving to California, Ron was blessed of the Lord to begin another radio ministry, and that ministry entitled “Understanding The Bible”, is aired each Sunday at 1pm on AM 710 KFIA (www.kfia.com).
Ron is also on television in the Sacramento County area through Comcast/Xfinity channel 17/18 each Sunday at 5pm.
Although Ron’s main job is to study and teach the Bible live twice a week at His Assembly, his passion throughout the course of his years in ministry has always been answering people’s questions about the scriptures. Ron ends each of his teaching sessions at his church by having an open forum question and answer session that usually goes over two hours. In fact, his current radio program, “Understanding The Bible” is devoted to answering the listener’s questions in an entirely question and answer format! His goal is to make the Bible come alive and to help people understand it. He and the saints at N.C.G. F. look forward to helping you grow spiritually as well… and would love to receive any questions that you may have!
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Welcome! I think we all go through those phases at some point but good thing is that if we are sincere in wanting to know truth, He comes to find us Himself. #fromexperience.
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Thank you Lisette, I appreciate your kind remarks. Thanks for reading my article.
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I like the sentence: i think we should ask our Father for daily guidance into truth. It will help forever to grow an intimate relationship with Jesus and hear HIM, rather then so many opinions. Its true… Everyone has their own opinion. But life changing when I learned to hear Him for myself and now thats all I blog about. 🙂
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So true Richard. Thanks for the comment.
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My wife and I were just talking about this. If we, Christians, would put as much energy in reaching the lost as we do pushing our views on other believers, it would change the world! Thx!!
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