BibleVersity

Over the years I have developed my own set of "rules" for studying and teaching the Word of God. They are not meant as substitutes for established sound exegetical guidelines ,  but are my own personal addendum that help guide my studies.     Rule #2: Rely Upon the Author.    The best person to tell you the meaning of any work, whether it be stories, books, works of art, songs, or poetry is the author himself. In the mid 1980s a song entitled, "Born in the USA" hit the airways. Since then this song has been a patriotic staple,  now for nearly 40 years. When most of us hear that song is prompts patriotic thoughts, but that is not the intention of the song.  "This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Most people thought it was a patriotic song about American pride, when it actually cast a shameful eye on how America treated its Vietnam veterans."* Wow! That stops me in my tracks, and it probably does to you. I dare say that now that you hav

   Over the years I have developed my own set of "rules" for studying and teaching the Word of God. They are not meant as substitutes for established sound exegetical guidelines , but are my own personal addendum that help guide my studies.     Rule #1: the Bible is a supernatural book.    Everyone who reads the Bible does so with some level of presupposition. It is simply impossible to approach God's Word, or any book for that matter, without some presupposition  This is not necessarily bad, and I would even suggest that some presuppositions are necessary. Think of a presupposition as a lens through which one views certain things. Everything that you see is done so through that lens. For example, those who believe that God is no longer working through the gifts of the Spirit (cessationalists) look at Scripture through that lens. Doing so will automatically cause them to see certain verses of Scripture differently than those who believe the gifts of the Spirit are