# How do you use the Bible?



## Ronnie T (Apr 16, 2012)

How do you use the Bible? "What do you mean?" Do you use the Bible? "Yes." How do you personally make use of it? "What do you mean?" Do you limit your use of the Bible to times of high personal distress? Do you use it to study a Bible lesson to prepare for a Bible classes? Do you use it daily, weekly, monthly, yearly? 

Does the meaning of a statement in the Bible matter to you, or do you read because you realize the value of reading the Bible? Is meaning determined by personal impressions? When you read something in the Bible, do you let the meaning be determined by what you always have heard? Or do you allow the Bible to speak to you?

Do you study the Bible? Are you constantly seeking to deepen your understanding--even if that means thinking about things you never considered before? How do you use the Bible? 

The number one reason for abusing the Bible is this: rarely, if ever, reading it in an earnest desire to study the meaning of a statement. 

The number two reason for abusing the Bible is this: restricting the meaning of a statement to what you were told to hear instead of letting it speak for itself. 

Through the centuries the Bible has been one of the most abused books ever written. Through the centuries people fall to the same temptation when they use the Bible. A situation arises that people do not like [it may or may not be an evil situation]. They use the Bible to condemn that situation. If the words say what they want said, they apply the words to the situation they want to condemn. They do not ask, "What was the writer talking about when he wrote those words?" They are not deeply concerned with what the writer meant by the words. The words just say what they want said to condemn what they want to condemn, so they use the words. 

Is what the Bible says important to you?  Is what the Bible says good enough for you?


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## barryl (Apr 16, 2012)

Daily, 2 Tim. 2:15  How it is used by me, Doctrinal, Spiritual and Historical. Proper Context!!!!!!!!!!!


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## gordon 2 (Apr 16, 2012)

Ronnie T said:


> How do you use the Bible? "What do you mean?" Do you use the Bible? "Yes." How do you personally make use of it? "What do you mean?" Do you limit your use of the Bible to times of high personal distress? Do you use it to study a Bible lesson to prepare for a Bible classes? Do you use it daily, weekly, monthly, yearly?
> 
> Does the meaning of a statement in the Bible matter to you, or do you read because you realize the value of reading the Bible? Is meaning determined by personal impressions? When you read something in the Bible, do you let the meaning be determined by what you always have heard? Or do you allow the Bible to speak to you?
> 
> ...



a)Yes very important.

b)I always apreciate the introductions to the books of the bible that editors have deemed appropriate to include. I find them helpful to understanding the texts. I also like the references to words.

In otherwords I find it helpful what the churches or the church and individual scolars( schools) have researched and share with me as a reader. And when I read these, I try to be fully aware of the background of the notes and comments.

Oh and to use the word to condemn is not exactly graceful or worse. I don't think this comment is a condemnation.


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## hobbs27 (Apr 16, 2012)

The bible is a double edged sword, and the power in the words it contains can certainly be used to defeat Satan.I use it mostly to feed my spirit, and pray it helps me grow spiritually in knowledge I need to get me through this side and be a faithful servant to the Lord.Oh how I have failed him, and I could live a million years and never repay the debt I owe him, his amazing grace is sufficient!


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## hummerpoo (Apr 17, 2012)

Joshua 1:
 7.  "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
 8.  "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
 9.  "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

This command to Joshua is easily brought forward to the life of the believer today.

It becomes most important when we do not like what the Bible says.


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## gordon 2 (Apr 17, 2012)

hummerpoo said:


> Joshua 1:
> 7.  "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
> 8.  "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
> 9.  "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
> ...



Can you elaborate a bit?  Does the above provide for  a twisting of the meaning of the word? 

I'm concerned that the New Testament might be read as a book of law. The emphisis for christians is Christ in the heart as Christ had the Father???? and not the instructions given to Joshua, however, the result are the same or similar.

The Good News read in the same manner as  the word was supposed to be read by Joshua gives a hyper meaning, an exagerated meaning and a meaning out of context to the deemed purpose by God? No? Perhaps? Maybe?

The intruction to Joshua is a instruction to the eye and the mind, but the intruction of Jesus is to the heart and calls for a tranformation of all the being.

For example the meaning of the word as indicated to Joshua was used by the Puritans in their reading of the Good News, in my view. For this they burned witches and executed Quakers! in Mass. and New Hampshire in the name of Jesus and for the word. These" godly" christians who had fled England, who prided their independence from the world, quickly had  England (political authority) imposed on them and the english laws of religious tolerance because they were being intolerant and murderous!!!!

We often hear that we are no longer spiritual beings into the law but outside of it and onto grace, yet what do we continue to do to the Word? In some cases do we cleave to it as if we were still old Joshuas?


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## formula1 (Apr 17, 2012)

*Re:*

To quote my Pastor, "When you read this book you hear His voice".  I have always liked that one.

My take:
The scriptures are God's voice to you for Life now and Life eternal.  The more of it that goes in you, the more you are transformed into His image.


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## gordon 2 (Apr 17, 2012)

formula1 said:


> To quote my Pastor, "When you read this book you hear His voice".  I have always liked that one.
> 
> My take:
> The scriptures are God's voice to you for Life now and Life eternal.  The more of it that goes in you, the more you are transformed into His image.



I'm at the point now in my reading that Life now and Life eternal are one and the same. Now I don't know if I am ahead or backwards for this, but it sure lightens my burdens.

Also scipture is not God's voice to me in particular, cause by myself I'm not much at all, and my hearing and understanding sucks the more I get older. ( Ah to be young again. LOL) But as a member of God's people it sure talks volumes on "us" as I see it-- of you and I and our brothers and sisters in Christ, the world now and the world eternal.


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## hummerpoo (Apr 17, 2012)

gordon 2 said:


> Can you elaborate a bit?  Does the above provide for  a twisting of the meaning of the word?
> 
> I'm concerned that the New Testament might be read as a book of law. The emphisis for christians is Christ in the heart as Christ had the Father???? and not the instructions given to Joshua, however, the result are the same or similar.
> 
> ...



Was not the purpose of the law, upon which Joshua was instructed, to glorify God?
Is the purpose of the Gospel something other than to glorify God?

People today are fond of pointing out that the law could not be kept.
What person today can say he has not felt anger toward his brother?

Is love God and love your neighbor an OT or NT concept?

Do the dos and don'ts in the OT lead to salvation?
Do the dos and don'ts in the NT lead to salvation?

Was Joshua or Paul the more in need of grace?

How much different were the ministry of Isaiah and John the Baptist?
Were the Puritans, as you describe them above, more or less mistaken than the Pharisees?

I'm not sure of the answers to these questions, but my list of such questions is approaching to number of passages upon which I meditate.


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## Michael F. Gray (Apr 17, 2012)

Two things needful to properly use the Word of God, first one must realize it is the inspired love letter from the Almighty to us, without error. Secondly you need to realize the one who wrote it is a lot smarter than the one reading it.


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## hummerpoo (Apr 17, 2012)

michael f. Gray said:


> two things needful to properly use the word of god, first one must realize it is the inspired love letter from the almighty to us, without error. Secondly you need to realize the one who wrote it is a lot smarter than the one reading it.



amen!


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## 1gr8bldr (Apr 17, 2012)

Until learning to use the internet about 3 years ago, all I did was study the bible. Like I was drawn to it for a period of about 12 years. I did not watch TV, lost work days from rain, sometimes I would study all day. Now, I don't read nearly as much. I never was the "devotional" type, those who read a verse or two. I never was the "obligated reader", those who feel as though they should read it. Or the "yearly" crowd who wanted to get through it in a year. I just could not put it down. I'm glad that is not the case now. I really neglected much including family. My viewpoint has changed much this last year. I now read the bible to see what it was that , Paul for example, believed. Or Peter. I ponder over what it was they were trying to get across. No one was as clear as Paul as to his giving up of his effort to please God, building his own temple. Tearing it down in baptismal, being raised a new creation, where God is the builder. The Kingdom of God. Where he could say, "by the grace of God, I am what I am.." [or have become]


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## Ronnie T (Apr 18, 2012)

1gr8bldr said:


> Until learning to use the internet about 3 years ago, all I did was study the bible. Like I was drawn to it for a period of about 12 years. I did not watch TV, lost work days from rain, sometimes I would study all day. Now, I don't read nearly as much. I never was the "devotional" type, those who read a verse or two. I never was the "obligated reader", those who feel as though they should read it. Or the "yearly" crowd who wanted to get through it in a year. I just could not put it down. I'm glad that is not the case now. I really neglected much including family. My viewpoint has changed much this last year. I now read the bible to see what it was that , Paul for example, believed. Or Peter. I ponder over what it was they were trying to get across. No one was as clear as Paul as to his giving up of his effort to please God, building his own temple. Tearing it down in baptismal, being raised a new creation, where God is the builder. The Kingdom of God. Where he could say, "by the grace of God, I am what I am.." [or have become]



 


/


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## gordon 2 (Apr 18, 2012)

hummerpoo said:


> Was not the purpose of the law, upon which Joshua was instructed, to glorify God?
> Is the purpose of the Gospel something other than to glorify God?
> 
> People today are fond of pointing out that the law could not be kept.
> ...



I think that perhaps the law for Joshua was a law meant to reign in a people, a people freed from Eypte, but still in exile from close intimacy with God.

The purpose of the Gospel is as a key to release God's people to Him not unlike it was as related or intimate in the Garden of Eden. It is a return of the people from exile through Christ to intense intimacy for this the first new Adam.

The reason the the law could not be kept was not that all men are prone to sin and error it is that the law was a harness for a people who with time could not wear it.  Children are sometimes held in harness, but as they mature, it does more harm than good. The closer the people of God got to Him in intimacy, the more difficult is was to keep the law. I take it that the book for Joshua was a bit in his mouth. He had one foot in Eden and one East of that place. Gee and haw are not nessesary to christians... Jesus is Glorified by God, and God has Glorified Jesus.  For this "We today" are to make things happen in the Kingdom--a Kingdom (or a garden) which did not exist for Joshua or his people..

Now this is the problem I see. If we read scripture as Joshua did and make it a bit in out mouth--then Jesus did not set us free, free from the curse of being kicked out of Eden. We are not new and fresh and intimate with our Creator. We are not authors and co-creators of creation. Our burdens are not light and we bite the bit like Joshua, even harder... and call it grace. But I don't think so....

Perhaps....all Perhaps....if we read scripture with the freedom Joshua never had...we will achive very different outcomes in our time and in times to come. Many have read scripture like it was commanded Joshua, only they were given a new life Joshua never ne, but perhaps only in hope and for this the abuse  of the Gospel. They make it a harness to a beast it does not fit. They make scripture a school for prophets and the ancients only this is not the school Jesus begs us to take. He said,"Follow me".


Perhaps---all Perhaps... I too am mostly questions and yet for Jesus and the Holy Spirit I find ever increasing comforts surrounding them.


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## hummerpoo (Apr 18, 2012)

gordon 2 said:


> I think that perhaps the law for Joshua was a law meant to reign in a people, a people freed from Eypte, but still in exile from close intimacy with God.
> 
> The purpose of the Gospel is as a key to release God's people to Him not unlike it was as related or intimate in the Garden of Eden. It is a return of the people from exile through Christ to intense intimacy for this the first new Adam.
> 
> ...



I too find comfort, or, more accurately, see comfort growing; as I see the grace that is salvation leading to the "dos and don'ts", not through compulsion, but through desire.  Knowing more and more that I follow One who knows better than I in all things.

The dos and don'ts don't lead to salvation; perhaps, salvation leads to the dos and don'ts.
NT and not OT?....

And the greatest of these?
Mat. 22:
 37.  And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
 38.  "This is the great and foremost commandment.
 39.  "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
 40.  "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."


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## thedeacon (Apr 18, 2012)

Michael F. Gray said:


> Two things needful to properly use the Word of God, first one must realize it is the inspired love letter from the Almighty to us, without error. Secondly you need to realize the one who wrote it is a lot smarter than the one reading it.



Very profound and wise statement.

I agree with everything written in this thread.
I just realized this week that I need
to study the bible more so I can better
understand how to teach others the
good news. Tonight I had 16 middle
school kids that put me to shame
explaining what Faith and Hope is.
I am so happy that God has given me
and avenue to teach his word to young
people. 
I also study the Word simply because I
love it so much, what a fantastic book.


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## hobbs27 (Apr 19, 2012)

thedeacon said:


> Very profound and wise statement.
> 
> I agree with everything written in this thread.
> I just realized this week that I need
> ...



Haha, yes, teenagers can ask some deep questions at times too,I never learned so much as I did teaching, it is a great and humbling thing when you learn from your students.


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## gordon 2 (Apr 19, 2012)

hummerpoo said:


> I too find comfort, or, more accurately, see comfort growing; as I see the grace that is salvation leading to the "dos and don'ts", not through compulsion, but through desire.  Knowing more and more that I follow One who knows better than I in all things.
> 
> The dos and don'ts don't lead to salvation; perhaps, salvation leads to the dos and don'ts.
> NT and not OT?....
> ...



Amen. These words are life in a nutshell.

Now this is what I'm learning about the world of man. Peaceful conflict and disagreement are perhaps essential parts of "godly" natures. We are to work to create peace and justice via grace, but not just any peace, not just any justice. That entails disagreements and conflicts. Now what is the graceful way of doing this....without being sticlers..... and achieving results...


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## mtnwoman (Apr 19, 2012)

Great posts, y'all!! I agree.


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## hummerpoo (Apr 20, 2012)

gordon 2 said:


> Now what is the graceful way of doing this....without being sticlers..... and achieving results...



Brother Gordon, the answer is in the dos and don'ts.


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## ctmoore (Apr 20, 2012)

formula1 said:


> To quote my Pastor, "When you read this book you hear His voice".  I have always liked that one.
> 
> My take:
> The scriptures are God's voice to you for Life now and Life eternal.  The more of it that goes in you, the more you are transformed into His image.



Right! The Bible is the only book where every time you open it, the author shows up.


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