tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-749069622875453742.post2509047007675867308..comments2008-08-15T20:23:13.211-05:00PastorJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12630240766852093382noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-749069622875453742.post-55994526633705222852008-08-15T20:23:00.000-05:002008-08-15T20:23:00.000-05:00I do not understand why it is so difficult for people to not just read the Bible but to study it.<BR/><BR/>I would not let an uneducated surgeon perform a surgery on me or my family simply because he had read a book on the procedure the night before. So why is it that so many regard uneducated preachers and teachers as having obtained all righteousness as if all authority in heaven and earth had been given to them and not Jesus? <BR/><BR/>I am not advocating mandatory seminary training for every called preacher, but based on this post I think the issue of correct teaching and instruction is being addressed.<BR/><BR/>Was not the apostle Paul a scholar having studied under Gamaliel? Did the Lord Jesus not train and instruct fisherman intimately for three years before He turned them loose with His words?<BR/><BR/>I am not forgetting the role and the influence of the Holy Spirit by any means. It is the Spirit alone who gives us divine revelation into the scriptures but Paul instructed the young pastor Timothy to:<BR/><BR/>"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." 2 Tim 2:15<BR/><BR/>To rightly handle the word of truth indicates that we have a solid grasp (or handle) on the original meaning or intent. This is a basic hermeneutical principle. Keep the text in its context!<BR/><BR/>Another critical point is that we learn to EXEGETE and not EISEGETE. This is the basic principle of reading out of the text and not into the text. We cannot change the original meaning of the scriptures and yet this is what many preachers and teachers are doing today.<BR/><BR/>I am thankful for a congregation who is not fearful of being educated in the scriptures even if it means taking a step back from "what we have always heard".<BR/><BR/>John the Baptist said that "He must increase, but I must decrease." Maybe sometimes our decreasing means that we yield to God's word even if it means "reforming" our way of thinking.<BR/><BR/>Well voiced Unstoned!PastorJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12630240766852093382noreply@blogger.com