Hello again! As usual, I pray that all is well and all will be well in your lives.
In the last post, I asked you to go to Jesus and “Ask Him to forgive you, come into your life and start a personal relationship.”
So why do that, and what does that mean?
Before we even get started, please do not forget, never forget, what I said about being humble and sincere. If you are not and/or do not want to sincerely know him, then anything going forward will be a waste of your time.
Well, let’s start with the basics, and go back to the book of Genesis.
Some ground rules for reading the bible. When you read the bible, it must be read in full context and setting. And, while it may vary depending on the language translation, there should be an observance of the punctuation as well.
When people fail to do this, it leads them into self-righteousness, spiritual bigotry and fanaticism. In fact, the part of the prayer Jesus taught us “Lead us not into temptation” is specifically for this. More on that in a future post 🙂
As an example: people who read God created everything in seven days, but fail to acknowledge the first two sentences in genesis. Namely, “earth was formless and empty”. Between the first and second sentences/verses there is a time gap that we are not privy to know about. The seven days, isn’t so much “creation”, but one of renewal from that gap. This is an example of needing to read in full context and punctuation.
Another example: explaining the creation of earth. The bible started being written thousands of years ago. The children of Israel had just left Egypt, where they most likely held some creation beliefs from the surrounding populaces. Further, thousands of years ago, even just couple of a hundred of years ago men did not understand astrophysics, particle physics, the complex studies of biology, and so on. As the bible was being written, God kept in mind that it needed to stand the test of time for every generation. And, it was created for you to understand the personality of God, not give you a crash course in doctorate level college courses that they themselves don’t have all the answers to. This is an example of needing to read in accordance to the setting.
Next, what bible version should I use? This is another one where people become self-righteous, spiritual bigots and fanatics.
Some people will condemn anyone who doesn’t use the King James Version (KJV), which is completely ludicrous. Considering alone that not everyone in the world speaks English, are they condemned for not speaking English? Are we all condemned for not speaking Hebrew, Greek, etc., the original translations? Find a committee inspired canon version that does the translation well for your language.
I grew up learning with KJV. I still like it, because the old English stands out and helps to memorize stuff. However, per the language name: “old”, the translation is becoming out of date, so when I study, I use the New International Version (NIV). When something needs detailed studying, I use an interlinear translation as well. I then look up the original words’ definitions, context and setting. These are my personal preferences and what I’ll use on the site. For the English speakers, https://biblehub.com is a wonderful site to start with, with many of the popular English translations.
So… That was a long tangent, but very much needed to be said and addressed as the site grows, moves forward and we go into the bible. I’m sorry that the tangent took up the entire post, but as said on the site, these are meant to be short weekly posts. The goal is to not overwhelm you, but let you digest and reflect on small amounts. If you are reading the blog after many posts have been published, I would still encourage you to take some breaks, digest and reflect on the content; don’t try to cram it in all at once.
The most important message from this post is: “The bible was created/written for you to understand the personality of God”. And, that’s what we will go into for the next post, God willing, as we answer the question: why “Ask Him to forgive you, come into your life and start a personal relationship.”
May God bless and keep all who read this.
May God bless and keep all brothers and sisters, new and old, in the faith in His name.
With His love and mine,
Chrom