Bible Study Requires Time, Prayer, and Attitude    Link

Each verse in one section of Psalm 119 is a prayer offered up to God that He would bless the psalmist's study with understanding. All too often we approach Bible Study as though the primary concern is that we put in sufficient effort to attract God's attention and receive His blessing. As with other endeavors, this is backward thinking. If we are to have any success in our Bible study, we require first the assistance of the Holy Spirit. In this short article, Tom Chantry warns against trying to reform your habits first, followed by going to God for help. Rather, you should pray diligently that God will open His Word to you. ... [Read Link]

How To Make Your Own Jonathan Edwards 'Note Takers' Bible    Link

It says something about you, if you are willing to cut, rip, clamp, saw, slice, stuff, punch, and bind your own bible, just so you can squeeze a blank notes sheet in between every page of scripture. Perhaps it says that you are a really serious student of the bible, or maybe it says that you are obsessive-compulsive, as my wife said of me when I was considering doing this. A couple of years ago I read that Jonathan Edwards had done this to his bible, and I thought "what a great idea!". So I found a few book binding places that would do this for me, but the $150+ cost was more than I was willing to pay. But recently, I ran across this guy, who seems to have a do-it-yourself process down to a science. I've been keeping my bible notes on the computer these days, so I probably won't go through with this, but you might want to consider it for yourself. ... [Read Link]

Never Read a Bible Verse

You've likely heard the phrase in real-estate, that what matters is "Location, location, location". The idea behind that holds true in bible study as well, and perhaps could be better stated "Context, context, context". Failure to obey this rule will result in devastating consequence in your understanding of the bible. It's possible that by ignoring context, we can come up with a meaning for a bible verse that is completely different than what the Holy Spirit intended. In this post we'll take a look at one passage where today's church has done exactly that. ... [Read More!]

Mailbag: Battle of the Bibles - Which One is Best?

Yesterday's post on the reprinting of the Geneva Bible generated some reader questions related to study bibles, and specifically the difference between the New Geneva study bible and the Geneva Bible. I thought I'd blend in some discussion about bible translations and study bibles such as MacArthur's as well. Warning to NIV readers: this post contains dangerous challenges to your translation preferences! ... [Read More!]

Atheist: "Why Can't I Understand The Bible?"

A reader by the name of Andri wrote-in yesterday, to ask whether it's possible for someone who considers himself to be an atheist, to understand the scriptures. Andri says that he does not believe in God, but has been learning many valuable lessons from the bible, ever since childhood.
He visits Old Truth wondering why Christians keep telling him that he can't understand the bible simply because he's an unbeliever. ... [Read More!]

Salvation is Free But Truth Must Be Bought

Arthur Pink noted how readily men with a superficial understanding of Scripture consider themselves qualified to pass judgment on the teachings and writings of those who have devoted a lifetime to the continuous and concentrated study of God's Word.
He understood that the Word of God does not yield
up it's meaning to lazy people. Salvation is free;
but "Truth" has to be "bought" (Proverbs 23:23);
yet few indeed are willing to pay its stipulated price. ... [Read More!]

Are You Redeeming The Time?   

There are countless distractions that keep Christians from doing what they're supposed to, and many of them seem harmless enough, maybe even noble. But when it comes to having good doctrine and proper biblical interpretation, there is simply no substitute for spending a lot of time just reading and studying scripture. Yet, in a culture that's high-tech, fast paced, and multimedia driven, the decidedly low-tech process of just reading the bible only appeals to the sincere of heart. And on that note, I'd like to introduce the latest addition to the Old Truth movie theatre (in the upper right corner of the screen); it's a reminder for us all to make sure that we redeem the time that God has given us. ... [Read More!]

"Inner Promptings" From The Great Awakening

Anyone who is truly convinced that God is speaking fresh words of revelation will inevitably view the later prophecies as somehow more relevant and more personal than the message of Scripture, which is more than two thousand years old. Inevitably, wherever personal prophecy has been stressed, Scripture has been deemphasized. Two thousand years of church history confirms that this is true. This same issue was hotly debated during the Great Awakening. It was one area where Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield did not (in the beginning) see eye to eye. ... [Read More!]

Is The Bible The Only Book That You Should Read?

Last week I posted a Martyn Lloyd Jones excerpt which suggested that Christians should study their bibles and read the best books available, to get knowledge that is as deep and profound as possible. He was responding to Christians who say, 'I am saved, and all is right with me; I am not interested in anything else. I am not a theologian, I do not want to read great books on theology'. An anonymous commenter followed-up with: "The only 'reading material' a Christian needs is the BIBLE. Everything else is man's words". If you have similar views, here's a look at the gold mine that you may be passing by. ... [Read More!]

Bible Study: "I feel like this verse means . . ."

For a number of years, this seemed like every small group bible study that I ever went to: Someone throws a verse out there and says
"I feel like this verse is saying . . .", and then proceeds to give you their opinion of what the verse means. Afterwards, others in the group are encouraged to join-in with their opinions. But is this method of bible study helpful, or could it be as one pastor said "a pooling of ignorance"? ... [Read More!]

"A Private Hot Line to God?"

Does God talk to you personally? Would you bet your life on it? Claiming to receive personal messages from God on a regular basis places subjective experience on the same level as Scripture, argues Greg Koukl. This is the claim of a prophet, and not even Old Testament prophets did so unless they were willing to die for the claim. ... [Read More!]

"The Lord Spoke To Me, Saying . . ."

I can really identify with Steve Camp, in his account of what happened in front of 2,500 people, during one of his concerts:

"A young man stood up in the middle of the auditorium and shouted to me, "Brother Steve, I have a word from the Lord for you." Taken a bit back by his rudeness, but impressed with his courage, I asked him politely, "OK, what Bible verse did you want to share with me?" He said, "Oh no, this is a word directly from God for you personally." ... [Read More!]

---

Modern Attitudes: "No Use For Commentaries"

You've likely heard it before, or maybe you think this way yourself: "I dont read human books or commentaries, I go right to the bible for MY answers". Or perhaps you've heard a variation of this, in which the person says they get their interpretations directly from the Holy Spirit as they spend time in their prayer closet, etc..

The people that say these things are often very sincere, and are looking to God for help in understanding the bible. So what could possibly be wrong with any of this? ... [Read More!]

A Shocking Example Of "Context" Ignored

I wont soon forget the time I was driving home from the store, listening to the local Christian radio station. A pastor was speaking about the importance of using proper rules for interpreting the bible.

He gave a shocking example of what can happen if we're not careful to practice one of the most important rules of biblical interpretation,... [Read More!]