Christian Living

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Proverbially, it makes your head hurt, and also effectively establishes doubts in your mind, to hear the multiplicity of interpretations from the community of Christians and non-Christians, as they expound upon so many of the Scriptures texts. Do we not have a tendency to color the outcome of our interpretation by our own religious or political preferences? That is a serious thing we've done if we engage our personal ideas and biases into the message of the Bible.

It is a known fact, to all who have lived a life given to the study of the Bible, that when thoughtful consideration and hours have been invested and our Bible study has some history, we often see that we have been persuaded of some misunderstanding, and therefore, we must rethink our "beliefs." Often we are more convinced of a belief and can explain why we believe it. That is why the regular and systematic study of the Scriptures is a requirement for all believers. It is during that time which we spend in the study of the Word of God that He speaks to us and He reveals spiritual truths that do not otherwise penetrate our understanding. Our true living experience is in the realm of the spirit/Spirit, and it is there that the spiritual truths or facts, are spiritually discerned and properly understood.

We live among a great deal of pagan practices. We are largely unaware of it, primarily because we do not study the Bible nor Ancient History overall. If we do look, even briefly into the pages of Scripture and of Ancient History, we see that many of the life styles of the pagan cultures are the ones we live today. We are creatures of habit and complicity to those activities, unless we have the Word of God to provide us with Wisdom from God, and to give us direction in the setting up of parameters for our behaviors. But of course, we deal with the erroneous notion that we know best, and that most things have changed since God gave the instructions.

We also must over-ride the instructions of our modern day philosophical and psychological communities. They intend to liberate us from the ropes of religion that bind us and create conflict within us. Of course most of those practitioners are not Bible students, and have not been enlightened by the Spirit of God regarding the effectual handling of the conflict. They do have a fair bead on the real conflict, but they are working on the wrong team for the resolution of the problem. Their team has no liberation to offer, only the further miseries of being bound all the tighter. That is why they do not have a great deal of successes, and therapy continues into years, with the final effect being that of a vicious circle of the same troubles remaining active as were present at the beginning of therapy.

I have not digressed from the original topic. I have made a point that we are looking to resources that have no real and effective Source. Modern psychology is all about self. Self expression, self indulgences of every kind. If one has read the Bible they have understood that these are the very wishes the enemy of our lives has in mind for our failures and our ultimate destruction. The self indulgent style of thinking and living is destructive to us. It is not what God desires for us. That is why He has given us His Wisdom, His Word, to enlighten us as to how we can circumvent and overcome the destructive behaviors of our unplugged human nature. We got unplugged from the Source of wisdom and good understanding. which is God, by wrong choices made long before we arrived here. In the Bible we are instructed how we may reconnect to the Source, which is God.

It is vitally important that we read and study the Word of God. It is from that Source that we gain knowledge and wisdom. We gain the spiritually accurate interpretation of the Book from the Writer Himself. Take heed to read and to apply this instruction for a less complicated life:

"Study to show your self approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed; rightly dividing the Word of Truth". II Timothy 2: 15

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." II Timothy 3: 16 and 17.

The thing needed is that we "rightly divide" what we read, and that we fit that together other texts of Scriptures accurately, as God has said it, not as we desire it to be said. We are unable to do that if we know only a Bible story or two. We cannot know if we have received truth if we only listen to another one's ideas or views. But that we apply truth to our own lives, and that we instruct and speak the truth is vitally important to the successful living of this life and the successful entry into the life which follows this one.



Ramona 10/11/10

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