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How to read the Bible

How to read the Bible. More to it than you think!. It seems so simple. Just read the Bible. It is what it is. It’s not a road map. It’s not a cook book. It’s certainly not a self-help book! So why is the Bible dividing friends, families, churches, denominations, religions?. My Bias.

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How to read the Bible

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  1. How to read the Bible More to it than you think!

  2. It seems so simple • Just read the Bible. It is what it is. It’s not a road map. It’s not a cook book. It’s certainly not a self-help book! • So why is the Bible dividing friends, families, churches, denominations, religions?

  3. My Bias • Before we start talking about how to read the Bible, let me share with you my own bias. • 1.     The Holy Word of God “Now, wherever you hear or see this word preached, believed, professed, and lived, do not doubt that the true ecclesia sancta catholica, “a Christian holy people” must be there, even though their number is very small.” • Seven Marks of the Church, Martin Luther

  4. My Bias - 2 • I also believe that Bible Study is something of a misnomer. While it is possible to study the bible as an English text, I believe the Holy Spirit is drawing us into the Bible as a place where God meets us, converts our hearts and minds, heals our wounds, and brings peace to our souls. • This is also true of our sacraments, which places Bible Study on the same level as our sacraments.

  5. My Bias - 3 • I believe that Bible Study only makes sense in the context of frequent and regular worship. • Bible Study informs us of and about WHOM we worship and adore. • Bible Study built on worship leads us out into the community for the sake of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

  6. Case in point - 1 • Let’s look at one Bible text and see how it can be interpreted differently by different people. • Exodus 7:20Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants helifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. • …one writer says: “Deposits from the Abyssinian lakes often color the flood waters a dark reddish brown, especially in the Upper Nile. That might well be said to look like ‘blood’”

  7. Case in point - 1 • On the other side, another writer says, “Misguided attempts to “befriend” the Bible, by helping to provide “natural” explanations for such events as the “plagues” are seriously in error, no matter how well-intentioned the commentator may be. And quite frankly, most of the time such objections are skeptically motivated. The following brief points may be offered in rebuttal. • “The divine account plainly says that the waters of Egypt “turned to blood” (vv. 17-20). While it is true that the term “blood” may be employed at times in a figurative sense (cf. Joel 2:31), the context must require it. There is no such necessity in Exodus 7. What does the term “blood” signify in connection with the tenth plague (Exodus 12:7)? Certainly not “muddy water.”

  8. Case in point - 1 • “The biblical record conveys the impression that the waters of Egypt changed immediately when Moses smote the water of the Nile with his rod. Pharaoh and his servants saw the water change color (vv. 17,20), whereas silting gradually discolors rivers. • “Ordinarily the silt influx of the Nile, in late summer and fall, was considered a blessing by the Egyptians, yet the “blood” phenomenon was a curse (“foul,” “loathsome,” and “undrinkable”) from which they sought relief (vv. 18,21). • “Normally, silting does not cause the death of fish, yet the fish of the Nile died when the waters turned to blood (vv. 18,21)…”

  9. Case in point - 2 • Matthew 1: 18Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. • This is called the virginal birth, meaning conception without human assistance.

  10. Case in Point - 2 • "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." • Thomas Jefferson, 1823.

  11. Case in point - 2 • "The virgin birth is an underlying assumption of everything the Bible says about Jesus. To throw out the virgin birth is to reject Christ's deity, the accuracy and authority of Scripture, and a host of other related doctrines that are the heart of the Christian faith. No issue is more important than the virgin birth to our understanding of who Jesus is. If we deny Jesus is God, we have denied the very essence of Christianity." • John F. MacArthur, Jr.

  12. Who is our teacher? • In the 4th and 5th centuries, a heresy rose up that threatened the existence of the Christian Church. This heresy is called Gnosticism. • Gnosticism today, according to Dr. Carl Braaten, has three elements. • 1. Gnostics deny the role of the law of God. Grace trumps Law. • 2. Gnostics think they know more, are able to correct or ignore the Bible when the Bible is, to them, obviously in error. • 3. Gnostics deny that God speaks with authority in the Bible, preferring inner personal spiritual experience.

  13. Who is our teacher - 2 • The Christian Church argued against the Gnostics in three ways. • 1. Holy Scripture • The Bible took its final form, including orthodox books and rejecting Gnostic books. • 2. Creeds • Nicene Creed, Apostles Creed, Athanasian Creed • 3. Office of Ministry • Apostolic Succession speaks to the unbroken transmission of the orthodox faith across time.

  14. Who is our teacher - 3 • Faithful Christians also have the witness of the saints across the ages. • We have the writings of the orthodox bishops and pastors who were there in the 4th and 5th centuries, defending the faith against the Gnostics. • We have the writings of Athanasius of Alexandria, Chrysostom of Constantinople, Ambrose of Milan, Basil of Caesarea and hundreds of other, faithful interpreters of Holy Scripture.

  15. How do you read the Bible? • May I suggest the following pattern? • 1. Begin in prayer, thanking God for the gifts of Scripture and Creeds and the Holy Spirit drawing us closer to the heart of Jesus. • 2. Read the text for the day. It doesn’t need to be long. A verse or two is usually sufficient. • 3. Think about what God is trying to tell you in this text. • 4. Talk to God (pray) about what God is telling you. • 5. If, after all this, you still don’t understand what God is saying, the problem isn’t with the text. Read the saints. Talk to an orthodox pastor.

  16. Be careful! • It is an old saying, “If you want to test your faith, study the Bible.” • We especially need to remember those for whom reading the Bible can be dangerous. • Every 3 minutes and Christian is martyred! 160,000 every year! • Would you read your Bible if you knew it was dangerous? • We can read our Bibles almost freely in this country. • Go ahead and read your Bible everyday!!

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