HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE
– The Bible has been studied by many people, from the ancient times to our modern days, and will be studied more after we pass away from this world, until Christ comes.
– To understand the Bible when we study it, there are some basic principles that we should abide in order to achieve a good result for ourselves.
– Firstly, we must remember that the Bible is the Book of faith. It means that we can sometimes use scientific facts to prove the Bible is truth, but not the other way around. It was written thousands year ago by the languages of those times, so do not try to force it to be fit with the modern day languages. Remember, some decades ago we did not even have the word ‘computer’ in our dictionary.
– Secondly, the Bible explains to us the beings and forces in the spiritual world that human’s eyes cannot see, so we have to read it and study it with faith, not with academic knowledge alone. Concerning to this matter, many people, including some biblical scholars who had no faith in the Bible, have been wrong in many subjects relating to the Book.
– Then, we must remember that, when studying the Bible, we must follow the main purpose of the Book, that God explains Himself to the human world and wants mankind to come back to Him for eternal life. When we follow it through the whole Book we will discover how amazingly accurate and harmonious it is, disregarding some faults left by ancient scribes or by many translators. If we lost focus on this purpose, confusions and contradictions surely happened right away when we encountered those faults.
– We must let the Bible explains itself by comparing all verses relating to particular subject that being studied. Do not rely on academic knowledge or human thought alone.
– The laws that were recorded in the Bible, although being applied differently to people, are good for all mankind at a whole, not for any particular individual or a group, or a nation.
– The Bible teaches God’s children to be wise, not to be stupid, as some people criticized it without complete understanding of the Book. With that in mind we will see the light and not walking in darkness anymore. In other words, with that understanding, we will know how to deal with friends and foes differently and not letting anyone takes advantage of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
(will be continued)