Thursday, December 29, 2016

RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF GOD (Part 1)

Rightly Dividing the Word of God (Part 1)

Many people exclaim, “Read the Bible? Study the Bible? Believe the Bible? You’ve got to be kidding!” Here is why you must get into your Bible.

If we think something to be true, does that make it the truth? This is not an easy question for human beings to answer. Man’s history abounds with examples of people believing error even when the facts prove otherwise. For example, for centuries, people believed the Earth was flat. The Earth has always been a sphere of course, yet those who knew and proclaimed that truth were ostracized, persecuted, imprisoned and even executed. Today, to believe the Earth is flat would seem ridiculous.

Beliefs about heaven are another example. Recently, abc News featured a two-hour Barbara Walters special titled Heaven—Where Is It? How Do We Get There? Advertisements for the special said it was the hot topic in America. A recent abc News poll showed that 9 out of 10 Americans believe in heaven. For two hours, people from different religious, social and cultural backgrounds gave their views of heaven. Walters even questioned the Dalai Lama about the Buddhist perspective. It was crystal clear that not everyone agreed on what heaven is or how to get there. Yet, each individual questioned believed his or her view was the truth!

An atheist claiming heaven is a myth stated: “Heaven doesn’t exist, hell doesn’t exist.” A Muslim said, “We are told we will be in comfortable homes, reclining on silk couches … so we’re given the delights of sex, the delights of wine, the delights of food with all their positive things without their negative aspects.” An actor claiming to be Buddhist said, “I don’t think necessarily heaven and hell happen in some other life. I think it’s right now.” A well-known “Christian” minister, claiming to speak from the Bible, described heaven as “a place where you can eat all that you want and not get fat.” The program showed how confused most humans—including Bible-believing Christians—are about the afterlife.

Think on this. Not every person interviewed could be right! Who had the truth? When disagreements arise, on whatever topic, how do we determine who is right and who is wrong?

Cause of Spiritual Error

Why are human beings confused about the most serious spiritual questions? Jesus Christ stated clearly that the cause of spiritual misunderstanding is the lack of scriptural knowledge and belief in an all-powerful God.

In Christ’s day, the Sadducees taught there is no resurrection. Christ disagreed. When questioned on the subject, He taught them, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). Our time is no different. Most don’t know the Scriptures or God. Be honest. How many people actually read the Bible? Who thoroughly study the Bible? Who actually believes what they read and study? These are fair questions. Realize, the Sadducees were sincere religious people who did not believe what they read. They did not know God or His purpose for man.

The Bible is the only source of spiritual truth for all mankind. Although most people will not accept that statement—it is the truth! The Bible gives easy-to-understand answers to life’s most important questions. In fact, the Bible gives the real answer about heaven. Surprisingly, the answer is not what most people—even professing Christian ministers—think. Even though humans want to go to heaven, the Bible shows that God wants to move to this Earth (Revelation 21:1-3). The majority of biblical doctrines are quite different from what people actually believe and do. This is the very reason most people reject the Bible. For example, the Bible does not sanction observing Sunday, Christmas and Easter. The word trinity does not appear in the Bible.

The problem with humanity is we want to believe what we think—to create our own truth. The Bible challenges our thinking and quashes our cherished beliefs.


When praying the night before His execution, Jesus Christ said, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Only God’s Word is the truth. Jesus Christ allowed for no other. We are not saying that the Bible contains all truth. It provides the primary foundation for the production of all knowledge. When we want truthful answers to vital spiritual questions—like, What is God? What is man? Why is man? Where is man going? Why is there evil? Why is there human suffering?—we must turn to the Bible, not to what men think. see Part 2

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