Why should we know God's Word?

In our day and age where anti-intellectualism runs rampant in the visible church, it is not surprising to see poll after poll verify what students of scripture have known for many years. The visible church does not know much about the scriptures they profess to believe in. This is sad considering many saints during the Reformation period lost their lives for the sake of being able to read and study God's word. Not to mention the many passages in scripture that speak as such:

Isaiah 66:2 This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
John 8:31-32 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Psalm 19:7-8 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Psalm 119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
Psalm 119:11 I have hidden Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
Psalm 119:162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.

The posts on this blog will address essential Biblical doctrines of the Christian faith. You can find much of the background for the posts here. My prayer for these posts is that the people who read them will be encouraged to open their Bibles and not just read a verse or two, but learn them and indeed, be transformed by them. As Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." (John 17:17). This is my prayer as well.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Reading through the Scriptures

As we begin 2010 let us seek to set aside time each day to read God's word. We always have time for our pet projects, television, the newspaper, surfing the internet, and any other interests of ours, but it should be our greatest interest to listen to God through His Word!

There are many excellent Bible reading programs out there and this website has many of them. You can click here.

IMPORTANT! It is not as important as how much you read, but how much you grow in your love, joy and peace in our awesome God as you read the scriptures. So if you do not read through the scriptures in a year, but do read His word and experience more of Him in real knowledge and goodness, then that is what matters! So read prayerfully, thoughtfully and in awe of the plan of redemption found throughout the pages of God's love letter.




8 comments:

Exblogitory said...

Thanks for dropping by:) Your statement "Christianity is dead" is a contradiction, for as long as Christ is alive, Christianity will be alive.

The bad news is that everyone who trusts in the Law will be judged by the Law and will be found wanting. Most people don't want to imagine God being just in His judgement, but if He were not, then it would not only contradict God's word, but also leave us no hope for true justice. True justice requires God to condemn you for breaking His law. Who has broken His Law? You, me and everyone else!

The good news is that Christ perfectly fulfilled the Law, so that those who trust in Christ alone will be counted as having perfectly fulfilled the Law. Why? Because Christ perfectly fulfilled the Law on their behalf.

The Law was fulfilled in Christ, so God's justice would not be compromised in lavishing His love upon lawbreakers.

I'll take God's law fulfilled in Christ, and His everlasting love. How about you?

Unknown said...

Christ may be alive but his message has been perverted.

I do not believe in your bad news and see it as base fear-mongering. God is not one who wants us to live in fear of punishment and hope of reward - that is for children and animals - but rather to know ourselves as Him and to unite his will with our own. That is the Law of Thelema which says Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. God's word in the Bible is full of contradictions that you obviously do not want to look at - your God is one who promises different things at different times, condemns people for mundane happenings, and condemns his own creation! Thats as insane as a potter cursing the pots he made because they didn't turn out right!

We need more than 'trust in Christ,' we need a fulfillment of True Will. Christ may be a symbol of the perfect fulfillment of the Law - he is a symbol of the God-Man where God has become Man and Man has become God - but he did not die so that millenia of his followers could molest & threaten others into an equal amount of suffering. Thanks for your comment, and I hope you check out my actual blog at http://christianityisdead.wordpress.com

Exblogitory said...

In reply to "Christ may be alive but his message has been perverted." May be we're getting somewhere:) What message are you referring to, and what basis do you have for the belief in your message?

"Rather to know ourselves as Him." Sounds like the first lie Satan told Eve, "you will be like God." This would be a dreadful mistake, and the "fear mongering" is more like "love spreading" since it is the truth.

Friend, you think your sins are minor and of no consequence, but you hope against hope that God will wink at them. Don't act like you are just some innocent soul, who does not transgress the law daily. You put your hope in the law that says, "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them." You cannot even live up to the greatest command of the Law to "Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, ALL your mind, ALL your soul, and ALL your strength." You have never even done this in one full day of your life! No one has.

Why do you think even the high priest Aaron had to offer the bull sacrifice for his own sins before he could offer the goat sacrifice for the people and the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement? Because even he had sin that needed to be forgiven.

I pray you turn away from your gross idolatry of the Law, and trust in the only hope you have before God, who has a MOUNTAIN of evidence to condemn you into hell. That's not fear mongering but love, and I pray you consider the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ). HE is the once for all time sacrifice who alone can take away your sins. Trust in Him.

Blessings,
Chris

Unknown said...

As it is written in John: "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?"

And in Luke 17: "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

So was it Satan or Jesus who spake this word? And perhaps the Serpent in the Garden

Exblogitory said...

Are you claiming this is another "contradiction," or are you looking for a serious answer?

Neither scripture you reference proves anything you've been saying, so I am not sure what you are getting at with quoting them.

Also, I noticed you didn't give much of a look at the rest of my comment. The rest is also important, to say the least.

Unknown said...

" You have never even done this in one full day of your life! No one has."

To make a commandment that no one can achieve is absurd. "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt" is the fulfillment of God's Law in this New Aeon.

I don't believe the fairy tale stories of the Bible, so I don't need a way to explain away lines such as 1 Timothy 2:12, Judges 19:25-28, Ephesians 5:22, Exodus 2:11-12, II Kings 2:23-24, Ezekiel 23:19-20, Deuteronomy 25:11-12, 1 Samuel 18:25-27, 1 Peter 2:18, etc etc

Exblogitory said...

In reply to: "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt"." This is intriguing, because you don't believe the "fairy tales" of the Bible so you believe this so-called Law.

So what kind of authority do you base your presupposition on? Who "revealed" this to you?

The scriptures are proven and reliable and if you are truly interested I'd be more than happy to answer any questions. There is no "explaining away" anything.

Unknown said...

"To make a commandment that no one can achieve is absurd."

No. Rather, it's illustrative. It shows our inability to achieve God's great standard--perfection. He requires nothing less of us than His own standard for Himself. And if you claim to be a god ("if thy will be God's will, Thou art That") then can you live up to this standard? Can even consistently live up to your own standard for yourself?

It seems you see the significance of the Law (it is something that we fall short of constantly), so you should have no problem seeing the significance of God sending a substitute to achieve His perfect standard in behalf of all those who will humble themselves before their Creator and acknowledge their need of His gift. Better grab hold of God's grace before it ceases...