Have you ever wondered about yourself under the banner of the title? The majority of people attend their churches usually out of tradition. They grew up there or it was a place to go that they liked or were invited and what was said just made sense.

When it comes to bible study they listen to their pastor and when they study on their own they usually do so under the influence of the teaching they just heard so when they interpret scripture it is based around that rather than having no bias at all and allowing scripture to interpret scripture. Does this make any sense?

I had the hardest time with this myself in realizing that I wasn't always coming to the Bible without a denomination bias of reading. Not an easy thing to shake.

Have any of you recognized this in the church? In you? How did you deal with it after you recognized it?

I happened to come across a podcast which is actually teaching me to come to the word without bias and keep the scripture in context without injecting my own thoughts into what it is really saying. It is actually helping me to prove or disprove things by using scripture and not just a few words out of the bible. By knowing scripture but also by analyzing preachers when they are correctly interpreting something and when they are seducing the scripture.

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John

Dead on, DEADn!

One of the greatest and most humbling revelations I ever heard from the Holy Spirit was that my Theology was leading my heart and mind while the Scripture trailed along behind, looking for slots to fill in! How stupid of me, and even worse how many years it took to finally hear it!

And how scary it is to my flesh to think that the Scriptures are right, true, and much wiser than I am!

I listen differently now, with a glimmer of understanding when it says His ways are higher than ours. And psalm 73 is profoundly electric!

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Tom Cameron

Sidewalk

Thank you for the acknowledgement on this. I am thankful to know someone is in agreement with this. My personality and way of ministry has been way ahead of my study in this arena. For me often am praised because of my patience, listening ear and asking questions to probe the heart of others yet I often find myself searching for answers to combat false doctrines, teaching, thinking,etc. and have often found myself at a loss in some situation when trying to teach someone an error because emotions get too much in the way or scripture twisting was on the forefront without realizing it.

This has really caused me to go to scripture more and look at context and ask what is being said vs. just taking a verse and making it fit my life just because. It is too easy to do that and in such we deceive ourselves in the process. It may be a reason why so many denominations exist.

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John

Deadn, if you don't mind me asking, what podcast are you listening to? I have been sharing this same conviction for a while now and have been looking for a good teaching on the subject.

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Tyler

www.fightingforthefaith.com

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John

John, this a very good point you raise here.
I think many (if not most) of us have been conditioned to some extent or another by the particular group we associate with to view bible doctrines through the glasses that were prescribed to us when growing in our faith.

This was certainly true for me, but as I exposed myself to teaching and fellowship from a wider range outside of my normal group you find the things you took as certain, now challenged. This in turn caused me to re-look at what I believed on certain subjects to see what was solid truth or not. This is one of the great benefits of Sermon Index sermons, in that you can find a whole spectrum of different positions on certain issues, but from people who uphold the authority of scripture.

One of the main ways I found (and continue to find) really helpful is reading through the bible book by book, chapter by chapter at a pace that enables you to understand what is being said. This has many times highlighted where scriptures have been taken out of context to support a doctrine and you can see the true context and meaning. It also gives you a good solid overview of the revelation of God to us and are less likely to be deceived into highlighting one particular passage on it's own to push a teaching.

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Dave

HeyDave

Thanks for the input.

I was raised in the Lutheran Church til 3rd gradish. Mom quit the church because of church politics. I was saved when I was 20 and I went back to that church and then left because it was lifeless to me. I found myself in an Assemblies of God church. That is like equator vs. north/south pole in doctrine and I learned things there I never knew.

When I came to sermonindex I came from the discussion board. I listen to occasional sermons but it is the discussion board that I am focused on more for it provides me a bit of fellowship online.

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John

Hi Deadn

When i first became a christian a firend whos mother had died gave me all of her teaching tapes that she had collected over many years. Back then i worked as a security officer in a whare house and i was able to listen to about 350 tapes of sermons. these helped me to grow in understanding, by the end of these tapes i started yearning for understanding the bible myself as some of the tapes contridicted each other and i wanted to see who was right. A pastor of my church told me his method of studying the bible and for about 3 years i studied this way. i eventually met a father of the faith and when we sat down and we discussed subjects in the bible i found to my horror that my study method was completly flawed. The man took me under his wing for 3yrs Showing me how the christians from the old days use to interpret scripture.

This was painfull process because God started to break down all of my foundations that i had built and for the first time i started to see truth compared to a lie (it wasn't a nice process to realise i was flawed in many conclusions). the man that taught me said to me that i needed to learn how to read the bible for my self and to test every doctrine that i hear against the word so that i didn't just believe everyone (including himseelf)with out seeing this in the bible.

since this time i am able to check when my understanding is in the flesh or spirit and can see clearly truth and lies. I found that it can lead to the deepest spiritual study that sometimes has taken me years for my carnal mind to comprehend the spiritual principle. For me personally it was very freeing to able to walk through the word with Jesus and have explotions of insight on different subjects.

One book that i have found to be very solid in teaching on how to read the bible is A.W.Pinks interpretation of scripture. if i find i have come to a dead end in my study or things don't make sense this book has always shown me where i might have taken a wrong turn in my study and has allowed me to get back on track. :)

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karl rashleigh

crusader

Great input! I often doing believe I have a good understanding of studying scripture although I think this podcast I am listening to is sharpening that end of it. It is a process and in that I am also crossing paths with people who challenge the bible even being truth. I would think that these studies will help clarify those challenges and answer them regardless of whether that person wants to accept that answer or not.

I am taking note of that book you mentioned and will look for it. It may serve me well as it is doing for you.

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John

Hi deadn

yeah it is a great tool for studying it carrys every major aspect of interpreting the bible correctly. i must admit that i found it hard to read to start with as i wasnt very educated at the time and A.W.Pink doesnt write in basic language. I had to pray alot for God to allow my mind to comprehend some of the principles.

i have found sometimes as well that when i come to a dead end on a study that i can find a sermon that can open the path again for my search but i only look for these after i have exhausted my search through scripture as i don't want to influence my study. :) for example i have been writing a program for about 7 years now on addiction and there was point that i couldnt go any further until i heard too different sermons on different subjects. as they brought revelations into other sins it opend the path for me to bring other scriptures into it which made it flow biblically and the principle became sound biblically. :)

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karl rashleigh