ping
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The bible does warn about “quarrels about words.” But again one of those deep scholars might say this doesn’t mean what it seems to say...
Anyhow, be careful about raising strawmen.
And yes, relationship is where it starts. Be careful about twisting the words of people who emphasize this fact into some kind of seeming assertion that the bible does not matter. For “God has made all things beautiful in their time.”
I can personally vouch that one can study the bible for decades and nothing seems to happen until the relationship begins to click in earnest. All that study will prove to be exceedingly helpful as preparation, but it might as well have been in a foreign language until the basis for putting it into practice has been established. “Ah, this is what God means.” You see it with your heart, not just your head.
Thanks for the ping, Rn;) In the same vein, we cannot be approved as workmen for God unless we study and rightly divide His word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). He promises us that we will not be ashamed if we do so.
It seems to me, as a Catholic, we need to turn our conscience over to God the Father and Jesus Christ... That’s it, no bible studies, no translations no nothing. It then becomes automatic.
About halfway through the first paragraph I remembered gearing R.C. Sproul reading this text on his radio program.
Thank you.
I’d rather phrase the truth behind this in the positive:
If one really loves God, he/she will love His written word.....
BTW - did you know scripture NEVER refers to itself as “The Word of God”? It is most often referred to as scripture. “The word of the Lord” is all through the Bible, and in the book of Acts almost always refers to the spoken word through God’s servants - not to the OT scripture.
“The Word of God” as a term in itself is found only I believe in Revelation 19:13 referring exclusively to the Lord Jesus - “And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.”
I’m open to being corrected if I am wrong........
His Word convicts us all - it’s natural to be conflicted and He designed us that way. Way too much guilt for those who (as was called out in Romans) have fallen from Grace.
You cannot know Jesus apart from His Word. It is the Bread of Life! (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4) The Living Word and the Holy Spirit work in tandem, revealing the Word to your spirit. If you study the Bible as purely an academic pursuit, focusing on theological opinion and religious reasoning, you end up with much of the religious confusion of the last 2,000 years. Ignore the Word and attempt to be “spiritual, but not religious,” you end up in another religious ditch of mysticism. If you combine both, you are really in trouble.