Posted by Steve (Billy Steven Crider) on May 3, 2008, 3:36 pm, in reply to "A Sabbath Study...welcome to Sabbath School..."
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH." 2 Timothy 2:15.
There exists a condition in which doctrine is elevated above truth. Doctrine is meant to be the present application of truth. As revelation is given to the world, the perception on truth changes. As truth is presented in new light Doctrine should be revised to suit the new generation. This doesn't mean that the former truths or doctrines are to be changed or forsaken, but it doesn't mean they are not either. The whole truth, must be taken into account, the past must be harmonized into the present.
The same crowd who elevate doctrine above truth existed 2000 years ago...they were greatly instrumental in Jesus being crucified.
You take a passage of scripture out of context, place it with another scripture, or passage and say practically anything.
An example of such is "Then Judas went out and hung himself" and when placed beside "likewise go ye and do also," a damnable doctrine can be introduced to be embraced by the most gullible.
Passages of scripture can be taken out of context to say things they never were meant to be applied to. A preacher with a gripe against women drivers could take the following passages from Acts 27 and have a hay day....
15 And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, WE LET HER DRIVE.
20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
Scripture is indeed a tool to the man of God, but there are mallets, and there sledge hammers, one must be careful when choosing his tools, that the tool suit the task, there is always room for improvisation, but still...consider the path.
Lester Roloff has been gone now many years. Mr. Roloff was an evangelist. He read his Bible everyday, following an outline so that he read it through cover to cover on a certain schedule. When he preached...he preached from whatever passage of scripture he was reading on that particular day. I like that. Arnold Murray used to teach in similar fashion on his TV broadcast, but it wasn't about daily scripture with him...it was about chronologically going through the bible, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book, by book. I followed his teachings for a couple years, waking up early to catch his 5 am broadcast. He didn't skip around, and if you left off at verse 5 of a certain chapter and book yesterday, you could expect to pick up at verse 6 today. To accommodate the need for questions which arose outside the daily teaching, he held a scheduled question and answer time, in which he did jump around to address the answers he offered to questions. Dr. Hyles used to have a question and answer session as well. This is probably what I found most appealing about Sabbath School as the Adventists church offers such, the whole forum aspect of the presentation, allowing for participation by the audience. Clive never really got to teach the message he intended for Sabbath school on April 19th this year, at least I don't think he did. But many things were addressed, and it was definitely enlightening.
Personally, for many years I have presented to people that the Bible is a riddle, often citing "the Bible is a riddle, and the answer is in the middle." David Koresh taught that certain books were representative of certain seals, Psalms represented the 1st seal, and Psalms 119 was the key to understanding all of the seals, as to placing them in perspective, to clue us to the other books to be applied in the study of the seals, and their hierarchy. I have heard him make the remark in recordings which are not available to most, but I believed the Bible to be a riddle of sorts long before hearing that statement.
There are passages which were never meant to stand on their own, but were part of letters written to certain groups or individuals or both. To overlook the factors which influenced the letters and prompted the same, is not prudent.
There are some passages which stand all on their own, such as, and my favorite...the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is filled with many such passages. Proverbs promises many things to the reader of the book, especially to young men. As a young man, I read the book of Proverbs every day for years. One chapter a day minimum, reading through in a month twelve times a year.
There is a pentameter to Proverbs you pick up on after repeated reading of the book which lets you know how to read such and place certain verses as complete, and others to be conjoined to the verse preceding or following it, or both. There is prophecy in Proverbs and for that matter, I consider the entire scriptures to be prophetic, but there is undisputed prophecy in proverbs as well as a letter.
If one absolutely feels the need to pick a verse to suit a particular situation which needs to be addressed, there are many in Proverbs which stand all on their own, and can be quoted in full text and context, often in a single sentence. On that note...A word rightly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Proverbs 26
1 As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.
(continued next post...)
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