As you begin your search for the truth, you need to consider the matter of ‘authority’. What ‘right’ (authority) do we have for doing what we do religiously?
[Does this matter?] How may we determine what can and cannot be done?
We must always act in faith (Heb. 11:6) for without faith it is impossible to please GOD. Where does faith come from? God’s word –Romans 10:17.
Care needs to always be taken in regard to God’s word. We can handle it carelessly. In 2 Tim. 2:15, we are told to ‘rightly divide’ the scriptures. This means to exercise care in regard to context, especially taking care that no statement is taken out of its context. Scripture cannot be used to combat scripture. That's Satan's tactic. Truth harmonizes, it just takes diligent study to see it.
To understand what any context is, always look for 3 things:
a) who was speaking (the devil, God or man etc.
b) who was being spoke to (a Christian or a sinner?
Consider two examples:
1] the command to build an ark; was it only meant for Noah? Are we commanded to build an ark today?
2] Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac to please God…are we to do so to our children to please God today? See why this is important?
c) what was the subject (i.e., was a question being answered or asked?
Man, both has and can, violate GOD’S written word, therefore, GOD has been diligent in his warnings to man. Note the following scriptures very carefully.
It is possible to:
2 Peter 3:16, “…wrest…the…scriptures…to their own destruction” – to ‘wrest’ is to twist/pervert; the opposite of ‘rightly divide’ (2 Tim. 2:15) There are many ways to "wrest" scripture?
By:
1. 2 Cor. 4:2, “...handling the word of GOD deceitfully...”
2. 2 Cor. 2:17, “…corrupting the word of GOD…” – again, how is this possible?
3. Mark 7:13, “making void the word of GOD…thru teaching traditions”
4. Gal. 1:6-9, “…and would pervert the gospel of Christ by preaching another gospel”
5. Deut. 4:2, “adding unto the word…”
6. Deut. 12:32, “…adding…or diminishing aught from it…”
7. Deut. 18:20, “…speak…presumptuously…”
8. Prov. 30:5-6, “…add thou not …reprove thee…liar…”
9. Jer. 23:16, 31, “…speaking out of their own heart, not out of the mouth of Jehovah…using their tongues, and saying, He saith.”
10. Num. 22:18, “…going beyond the word of Jehovah my GOD, to do less or more.”
11. 2 John 1:9-11, “…goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching...
12. Rev. 22:18-19, “…adding…or taking away…”
13. Matt. 22:29, “…not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of GOD.”
14. John 12:48, “rejecting Jesus, and receiving not His sayings…
15. Num. 24:13; 1 Cor. 4:6, “…going beyond the word…’ and, “beyond the things which are written…”
You reject Jesus by rejecting His teachings; you reject His teachings by refusing to follow them.
REMEMBER!
Romans 10:17- saving faith only comes by hearing what GOD has said in regard to salvation in the Bible. If God didn’t speak, and I act on the principle of silence, I do not do so BY FAITH, BUT BY PRESUMPTION!
Most all religious division exists because of what is NOT in the Bible!
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