Give Me The Bible

Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And light unto my path.”

PART II

Filtering the Bible

Written by

Christopher Mentzer

In Acts 17:11, the apostle Luke wrote, “Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.” He was writing about the church in Berea who had a stronger desire for the scriptures and wanted to read them often for the truth. Quite often today though you’ll see people in the assembly without a Bible listening to everything the preacher says and basically following his interpretation of the Bible. As far as they are concerned, the preacher is quoting the passages word for word and making applications correctly. How then are we to know if we don’t follow along in the Bible ourselves?

A problem that occurs when no one opens the Bible themselves is that they view religion and the scriptures through a filtering process. By what they have learned, either through sermons or talking to others, they draw their own conclusions on religion and “filter” any future information through what they already have learned. This doesn’t allow much in the way of new information or the actual truth.

An example of this: My sister sent me an e-mail of a story of God and the reader riding a tandem bicycle showing that God is always with you and so on. I wrote back that the story only tells the goodness of God and not ‘The whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20: 27). The story made God sound like some laid back parent watching his kids at play. I urged her to view my website to learn the truth ‘before it was too late’. This last part was the kicker for her as she ran my information through the Bible Filter and gave me this response:

“I didn't know you became a Jehovah’s Witness.  How come you all of a sudden are so big into this religion?  I hate to tell you but your church is also a denomination.  I don't think I'm going to hell just because I belong to the Lutheran Church.  God doesn't care what church you go to or even if you do go to church.  You can worship and pray wherever you want.  I believe in God and I know that he loves me no matter what.  So I don't know why you think you have to save everybody…”

This was my Response:

“I am a New Testament Christian and if you've ever read the Bible you would know what that is.  Why all of a sudden I'm into religion because it's where I have to be, where I need to be, and where I want to be.  My eyes have been opened to the truth of the Bible.  The congregation I attend strictly follow the Bible as their soul Doctrine.

     You say that God doesn't care what church you go to but where in the Bible does it say that?  Which church in the scriptures was called The Lutheran Church, The Catholic church, The Methodist church?  Mine is listed in Romans 16:16. 

     You're right in saying God loves you but do you know why Jesus died on the cross?  Do you understand the Second Coming and Judgment Day?  I'm neither forcing you nor anyone to become a Christian.  I simply want to you read what the Bible says because it's what God says.  It's not up to anyone or me but yourself to decide to change.  2 Cor. 5:10 "For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things `done' in the body, according to what he hath done, whether `it be' good or bad."  Every individual must answer for the things they have done in life. “

I haven’t heard back from her and probably won’t. In my hometown the only people who discuss the Bible outside of the church building are the Jehovah’s Witnesses and therefore assumed me to be one. Most churches, denominations or not, urge people to change before it’s too late. The problem lies in who is right when all churches say they are right. That’s where the Bible comes in, reading the scriptures tell us who is following the doctrine of God and who is following that of men (Matt. 15: 8-9). Every comment she made was either from our parents, the local pastor, or her own conclusion from growing up in the denominational church. I never did mention hell to her and yet she understood that much. All too often people don’t like what the Bible has to say because it might make them feel bad. Truth or not, they’ll simply overlook or literally remove that portion of the Bible that doesn’t conform to what they already have learned. If only my sister, as well as others in the denominational churches, would read the Bible without the filter in place they would be able to understand the truth.