Since the Gulf War wherein I had a sibling shipped over to 'fight', I set on my own personal mission to find 'truth'. My prayer was that I no longer placed a 'flesh man' between me and the truth (our Heavenly Father). Well I got the truth dumped into my lap, and I began an ever so careful journey to discover for my self what that WORD literally says and what it meant for me. I take none of it lightly. And I am yet a mere student in the WORD, but once the clarity and simplicity of the Word on the level I could/can understand, I cannot return to pre-school.
“that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” - John 17:22 “one”, not 40,000. Notice that at the end of the scripture, Jesus said one of the main reasons many in the world don’t believe in Him is because of the endless divisions among Christians.
I have no disagreement with John 17:22.
“discover for myself what that WORD literally says”
To swear off help in reading the Bible is to go against the Word.
“’Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone instructs me?’” -Acts 8:30,31
What does the following sentence mean?
“John is gay.”
Maybe you said it means John is a homosexual. But what if I then told you it was written not in 2012, but 1912. Then it means John is happy. Same three words, two totally different meanings. The same thing can happen with the scriptures. I read the Word myself every day, but I also consult real live people, commentaries and the wisdom of the ages on the Word. I can’t pretend that I’m smart enough or educated enough to get all it’s meaning on my own. I’m concerned that the following scripture would be true of me.
“In them (Paul’s letters) there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.”
-2 Peter 3:16