En Garde! Defending The Perfection Of The Bible And Your Faith

EN GARDE! DEFENDING THE PERFECTION OF THE BIBLE AND YOUR FAITH

You know, it's one thing to be born and raised in a Christian setting of any sort, but your parents should start teaching you young, and if they don't know enough themselves, they need to send you to a really good bible school so that you can defend your faith. If you don't know what your bible says and means and you cannot interpret passages of scripture, there are people out there who will have you for lunch! They don't have to come to your door anymore, they can find and confuse you on social media like Facebook! I would like to start at my beginning...

Mom vs. False Doctrine Doorknockers - My Dad was bedridden when I was 4 with Multiple Sclerosis, and it wasn't long that he had to be taken care of in a V.A. hospital, so Mom had to watch out for us on her own early. When they came to the door - you know the ones; the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses - Mom would tell us; "Don't make a sound, and whatever you do, don't open the door! Wait till they leave!" I figured out she didn't read our bible well enough to have a clue how to defend our faith, such as it was, because she was too tied up working and being a mother all at once, and besides, even our Catholic bible wouldn't say the same thing we were taught with catechisms, because they wouldn't match, so the best she could do was to play "not at home". This gives you two precepts. If you're going to believe in your religion, you'd better read your bible and learn it and understand it ("This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." (Josh. 1:8)) And the second precept is something similar: "Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children." Deut. 4:1-10. That's right; we need to teach our children! Well, after I changed denominations, I realized I needed to be very different from Mom...

Me vs. False Doctrine Doorknockers - "Come into my parlor, said the spider to the flies" would be my motto for any number of stiffnecked doorknockers who would perchance come to my door with false doctrine, and not want to hear true doctrine from me! I have worked long and hard and studied my bible diligently and learned from my pastor and preachers and I now feel VERY able to defend my doctrine, unlike how my Mom demonstrated when I was a child. While the "Come into my parlor" motto is not the correct attitude immediately concerning false teachers, it often is the attitude you may have to take when they don't accept the truth as you show it in Scripture. "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." (2 John 1:10 - 11)  I never bid them godspeed, and when they say they want to talk about Jesus, perhaps you need to ask them what kind of church they belong to, because sometimes you can't tell by their clothing.  "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 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, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Tim. 3:13 - 17)

Ready In All Seasons - "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Tim. 4:2 - 4) It is so true what I wrote at the beginning of this study concerning what Joshua 1:8 commands! Witnessing and preaching to people who need something from the bible for their everyday life problems, and not being knowledgeable of what is written therein is like going to a gunfight with an unloaded weapon. In order to be ready to do what Paul wrote in his 2nd letter to Timothy, one must be constantly studying the bible cover to cover, and not just once, but we need to make it a lifelong obligation. How can we correct false or corrupt doctrine if we know not what it says ourselves? Also, it is not profitable to go to churches where they preach what you want to hear, and not what we need to correct our own behavior, that we might walk uprightly in the sight of God. We don't need a story teller in church, we need a preacher who tells the truth from Scripture, and one who goes all over the bible and on all sorts of subjects that we live by!

Capturing Context - A muslim I somewhat befriended was trying with all his might, and even the help of his muslim friends, to attempt to stump me in the bible, to prove it corrupt, and try to sway me toward Islam. Fat chance. I complimented him on how well read he was in the bible, but he was so handicapped when it came to understanding even one certain verse in so many places. One of his greatest shortcomings in grasping the glory of the bible and it's perfection was his lack of capturing context. Let me illustrate. He was calling Paul a blasphemer and accused him of calling God stupid. He cited this one verse of Scripture to prove his point: "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Cor. 1:25) He railed, "Is God foolish? Is God stupid? This is blasphemy!" I gave him the full section of Scripture needed to understand what Paul was saying to prove him wrong, as I had before in times past, and had instructed him to read above and below verses to understand: "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:" (1 Cor. 1:22 - 26) Now here we find the true understanding of what Paul was saying. He was saying that the Greeks, with their many gods, believed our one almighty God foolishness, and the Jews were unable to understand how could Jesus be God and yet so weak that He was able to be hung and killed on a cross by mankind. What he was saying was that only those called by God; those whose eyes were opened, were able to see Jesus and God for the wisdom and power over all sin by what transpired at the cross. my muslim friend still doesn't accept Christ, with all that he learned from me. To his hurt for now, but many seeds have been planted.

Disproving False Doctrine - Another reason for total and constant immersion in Scripture as a lifelong commitment is that it gives you the ability to nail false doctrine as soon as you see or hear it. One common false doctrine tidbit you hear is that Mary was ever-virgin, never "knew" man. I have read the bible so much, I always am able to correct this false teaching from this part of the gospel, and mind you, it is even in their own version of the bible! "Is not this the carpenter's Son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us?" (Matt. 13:55 - 56) Another church of false doctrine peddles door to door that there are three Gods, not one. Really? And then why does the KJV, which they accept, say this: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:" (Deut. 6:4) And also this in the Gospel: " I and My Father are one." (John 10:30)

Knowing Your Bible By Interpretation - One might read throughout Scripture how wine and strong drink (in the Old Testament) were a part of the Israelites' and Jews' lifestyle, but that is not to take for interpretation that it is okay to drink all the time, not especially for anyone whose family has a history of drinking problems. Yes, the people drank wine chiefly, and strong drink, some, but are we interpreting that the bible means for us to keep a bottle under the shelf for whatever occasion? And did you know that the wineries of the Golan Heights these days have casks of nonalcoholic wine? "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted." (Prov. 31:4 - 5) These are the wise words of the mother of king Lemuel. Oh, and there is more; "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." (Prov. 31:6 - 7) While these mother's words in Proverbs seem to be wise instruction to her son the king, is she saying in the latter part condemnation to the alcoholic and their alcoholism, or is she speaking of the medicinal use of alcohol in those days? If you have a study bible, you know the correct interpretation given by the doctor of theology that wrote it, and yet there are some who will tell you the PhD in their title stands for "permanent head damage". May God guide you in every reading what you should believe, because there is only one true doctrine, and it needs be interpreted correctly!