Featured Creating Your Own God

I would reply by saying,
" Let's all learn to get past studying a "verse" or even a passage, and rather, reading and believing it all in context."

As believers, we shouldn't be asking ourselves, "what is the least that God is saying?", but rather, "what is all of what God is saying?".
Read it all, my brothers and sisters, start-to-finish... and not "in verses".
Begin at Genesis 1:1, and go all the way through to Revelation 22:20.

In the end, there should be no "open-ended statements" that remain unresolved,
and His words will make sense to us as a whole, and not "piece-meal" as "systematic theologies" are designed to convey.

Well-said and I agree with you.
In fact, every time that you advocate reading and believing the words on the page ( and not the inventions of men ), I will agree with you, Van.

How to avoid creating one's own image of God?
Study His words thoroughly and completely, believing each and every one of them.
For we live by them ( Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4 ), and in Him we have life...which is the light of men.

How to understand them all in context one with another?
That's what believers have the Holy Spirit for ( 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, 1 John 2:20-27 ).

Therefore, we don't need men like John Calvin or John Wesley ( or Van or Dave G ) to show us how to understand them;
We as believers have it within ourselves to simply follow His commands right here, and we will learn, over time, to rightly divide it:

" Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." ( 2 Timothy 2:15 ).

" Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2 as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3 if so be ye have tasted that the Lord [is] gracious." ( 1 Peter 2:1-3 ).


As always I wish you well, Van.

 

Yes, indeed --to all of the above.

 

In my previous post I quoted most of your last post which I agreed with.

But these two ideas I take issue with. It is good to have spiritual mentors, both face-to-face or through books of the present and past. I know the value of reading Calvin, Packer, Boice, Spurgeon, Dr. M-L-K, A.W. Pink and so many, many more.

We need to do private reading and study of the Scriptures and get some input from men and women of God who are and were far deeper into the Bible. The Lord has provided them as resources for us.

As for Systematic theology, they are very helpful. Reymond and Culver have been indispensable aids for me. And I would like to get Bray's Systematic too. These books go over large chucks of the word of God. They review many biblical doctrines. They help the believer and I praise God for raising them up for the benefit of the Church.

 

Those who presume to be "messengers of truth" need to take heed to the above.

 

@Van

You never answered the question concerning where you derived the “interpreter translation.”

do you claim authorship, or is someone else the author?