When we read the Bible, we learn about God, about his people, history, the Messiah, and what to expect at the end.
The problems arise when we don’t interpret from what we read, but instead make up our own minds what we want the Bible to say, then go fishing through the Bible to find verses or phrases (almost always taken out of context) to validate it.
If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.
When we read the Bible, one of the hardest things to do is to be able to separate the actual from the imagined. For instance, visions are imagined, and although the vision may describe actual events, it is still something that must be interpreted.
There is also the case where something is absolutely real, such as a war or miraculous event, which we can trust to be valid.
There is a significant difference between reading the Bible and forming a conclusion from what is read, or thinking you know what the Bible means then looking through the Bible for something in it that would validate what you want it to say.
In the real world we call that putting the cart before the horse.
There are so many things I believe people want to be true, then go to the Bible and find a verse, or a phrase, or manipulate what is there to make what they want to be true appear to be biblically validated.
For example, the calendar issue- there is a real fight among some about which calendar is “correct”, citing differences when any Holy Day is to occur. Well, how do we know what calendar is the absolutely correct one?
I’ll tell you how: we find someone who is a direct descendant of one of the Jews who left Egypt with Moses, and since that day when God said the first day of Aviv will be the beginning of your calendar (Exodus 12:2), that family has painstakingly throughout the millennia kept a count of every 7 days. They have not separated months or years, but just counted the days, from Day 1 (Yom Rishon) to the 7th day (Shabbat). We then take their number of days, decide how many days will be in one month (if it was me, I would make every month 28 days since 7 goes easily into 28), how many months in one year (since we already have the Jewish months, we would use them), then go back and separate the months and years to bring us up to date.
Other issues are Holy Namers, we also have the Flat Earthers, and there are even those who claim the Tabernacle in the desert was round, not rectangular.
Oy! First of all, God knows your heart and mind and he knows who you mean when you pray. As for Flat Earthers, they can deny what telescopes show, which is that every planet or planetoid is round, so why would the earth be flat? Not to mention the pictures from space flights and mathematics that show the earth has to be round.
And the ones who say the Tabernacle was round? The description of the Tabernacle (at the end of Exodus) clearly states east side from west side, and north side from south side. So, nu?– I would like them to explain how a circle can have a side.
And for those who claim that the Bible says Yeshua (Jesus) did away with the law, well- that is an entire series of messages in and of itself.
Let me ask you: do you read the Bible to learn God’s truth, or do you think something is true then go to the Bible to see if you are right?
If you know before reading, then read to find a way to validate it, you are most likely going to be able to find what verses or words or phrases you need to do that, but you will most likely have to misinterpret or take things out of context to do so.
You can make whatever you want to appear validated by the Bible… but that doesn’t mean it is what the Bible really means.
How do you think all these different religions started? And not just within Christianity- there are some 6 different sects within Judaism, even though we are all supposed to be obeying the same Torah!
(Some may say only 6 sects because mainstream Judaism doesn’t recognize Messianic Judaism as being Jewish.)
If you are asking me, and even if you aren’t, the way I see it is that to truly know God and understand what he wants us to do and believe, we need to read the Bible and from what we read determine what God wants from, and for, us. We must first learn the Bible events, visions, and history before we can decide what they mean because only by starting with the source document, then forming conclusions from what it says, can we feel secure that we are concluding correctly.
And even then we may be wrong, but at least we are starting with the Bible and not starting with our own desired interpretation, then pulling out of context from the Bible to make it appear to be biblically correct.
I believe this to be a truism: if you start with what you want to believe, then go to the Bible to prove it, you are most likely wrong from the git-go.
I have written an entire teaching series on how to properly interpret the Bible, which you can find using this link:
How to Properly Interpret the Bible
(For those who preferred to watch a video, I placed this link in the video description).
To conclude, always start with the Bible, then form your conclusions and interpretations, using the proper set of interpretive tools (as outlined above) and you can be certain that whatever you believe is, at the very least, from the Bible and not from yourself.
Thank you for being here and please remember to “like” and comment on these messages, even just a “Nice job” or “Are you nutso?” helps me get more exposure on the Internet. And also share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers, Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!