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Reading the Bible

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by th1bill, Jan 26, 2010.

  1. th1bill

    th1bill Well-Known Member
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    Reading The Bible

    [*]The LORD, my God, called me to teach some seventeen years ago and to teach I must study a good deal. For the purpose of study it is a great idea to have commentaries from different sources and to compare them but always to research the things they say. There is also a clear and present danger in reading the thoughts of men about the Bible and what is meant by the scriptures. No man or woman should ever read the Bible nor should they read books about the Bible without the Holy Spirit to guide them and that means they study prayerfully and spend time meditating on what they have read.


    [*]The most important rule in Bible study to me is to read exactly what the passage says and do not add nor subtract from it. (Revelation 22:18,19) Over the past 17 years I have encountered much false teaching and sometimes I have found a single commentary will present opposing views and leave it to the reader to discern the truth. Two of these “hot” topics are Genesis 6 and the idea of angels copulating with human women. The second one and my topic today is the Gap Theory. In my walk with Christ I have found this theory put forward in one commentary that I refuse to promote and have been confronted better than twenty times on the issue, both in church and on the Internet.


    [*]The eye catcher for any student of the scriptures should be the title, “The Gap Theory.” A theory has little and often no basis in fact. In my opinion it is not at all unkind to call a theory an adult fairy tale. For better than a hundred and fifty years the world has been trying to sell the Theory of Evolution as a fact, only to have failed in spite of and often because of the falsification of evidence. For the Gap Theory, failure is even simpler.


    [*]First we know that God is unlimited in power and ability because He has revealed the truth of that fact in His creation and then confirmed it in His revelation of Himself in the scriptures. The Gap that has been theorized by men, not God, is an imaginary period of time that God has not spoken of between Gen. 1:1 and Gen 1:2. Having read the Bible through several times and having the Holy Spirit always revealing new truths I will confess that He has never indicated that there is a gap of time missing between the first and the second verses. Further more, to insist that there is is to belittle God and to begin to turn Him into some idol dreamed up by some finite man.


    [*]We need to always be mindful that God created the entire universe by speaking it into existence. There is a word in the English language that is misused because God is misunderstood. I am as guilty as the next man of misusing the word but the truth is that there is only one Awesome thing and it is not to be found inside the Creation at this time, that is God. There is nothing that compares to our God!
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  2. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    Excellent thoughts Bill. I taught for many years and during those years the need to study Scripture was a real blessing.

    You note that when GOD created HE spoke the entire universe into existence. I believe that this truth is too often overlooked and we only think of GOD as creating the earth or our solar system. All glory to GOD.
     
  3. SolaSaint

    SolaSaint Well-Known Member

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    Nice post Bill, I love to teach also, but right now I'm not in that position and I miss it. I love to study His word and yes we always will come up against commentaries that are not sound, maybe even from those we admire.

    I have trouble with theologians who try to make the bible fit evolution. This is done in many ways and the gap theory is one where they can be vague and hope to keep the evolutionists at bay. This to me only cheapens God's power. If God created it all, which these theologians believe then why do they have to make up a story to get unregenerate men to believe? If they don't believe God created the universe, changing they way He did it won't make much a difference, especially since we have no way of knowing if it is valid. All we have is God's very word, and that is it. There is nothing else to go by, for no man witnessed it and God hasn't revealed anything other than His word to us. It comes down to faith in God or unbelief.
     
  4. th1bill

    th1bill Well-Known Member
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    The study of God's Word is one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. God called me out of atheism because that is how I was raised. It took me 23 years after His call for me to learn that He was ready to take me just the way I was but He has been working on me for these past 19 years of my walk with Him and today I look back and I see His hand over and over in my life before I responded.

    We once landed our helicopter with over 300 entry holes and not one casualty, only God can do that. I would sacrifice all I have in this life if the lost could see what I have experienced.
     
  5. th1bill

    th1bill Well-Known Member
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    I dislike the bending and distorting of God's Word a great deal myself. I had a season that I was in a prison ministry and my MS from Vietnam finally put me in a wheelchair but then my home church called a pastor that is all show and I left at God's leading. The pastor at the new home chirch is very fundamental and as soon as he learned I had three web sites he began to read my posts and then called me back to teaching once more.

    It is my prayer now that God will recall you into service once more.
     
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