Studying the Scriptures

Verse of the Week:

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.  For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
Romans 16:17-18

Studying the Scriptures

I remember being so excited about the Women's Spring Banquet that was coming up.  The speaker was supposed to be good, and I was open and ready to learn whatever God revealed to me.  I arrived with my pen and Bible and was all ready to go.  As I was signing in, one of the ladies in the sign up booth smiled at me and said, "Oh, how sweet, you brought your Bible." I remember responding to her comment and smiling, while at the same time, it seemed strange that she would notice that I had my Bible with me.  After all, it was a Christian banquet and the speaker was to talk about the Bible.  As I sat down at my table, I started looking around at the other tables to see if other women had bought their Bibles. Not a Bible in sight; maybe their Bibles were hidden in their purses or maybe most women were going to read their Bible electronically with their i phones or tablets, etc.  After all, I was still living in the dark ages when it comes to technology.  I still liked the feel of the book in my hands rather than reading it electronically.


Back to the story.  As the banquet continued, I grew excited when the speaker came up and started to give her message.  As she got into her message and started quoting scripture, I noticed that as I checked the scripture in my Bible that she was misusing portions of the scripture.   Sadly enough, some of the scripture had nothing to do with her message.  I came away disappointed about the message because I felt that some parts were not scripturally based.  But more importantly, I was sad because hardly anyone else was checking the scriptures on their phone or in their Bible to see if what she was saying was accurate.  I felt like I was in a room full of misguided people who were taking information to heart that simply was not correct. They assumed that what she was saying was Bibically based and therefore took it as the solid truth.

It grieves me that people go to church in today's world, and many of them never open their Bible.  They depend on their pastors and teachers to share with them all the information they need to know about the Lord whether the information is truthful or not.  The scriptures are clear that we need to be aware of teachers who might be giving us false information. Romans 16:17-18 says,  ^"I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.  For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people." Paul warns the Romans to be aware of teachings that were contrary to what they had learned.  How do we learn what God truly says?  By reading and studying the scriptures for ourselves, and by checking the scriptures in the word that teachers might be using in their messages and sermons. Even the Bereans, who listened to Paul preach, checked the scriptures to make sure that Paul was preaching the word.  "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11)

We sometimes forget that humans are not perfect, and therefore teachers of the Word do mess up at times when they preach.  We need to be careful to not put pastors, Sunday school teachers, and leaders on a pedestal and expect them to share ideas from the Bible perfectly. 

What could happen if we fail to study the scriptures ourselves? Here is an example...

Adolf Hitler claimed to be a Christian and grew up Catholic.  However, when he came to power, his goal was to eliminate the Jews.  Prior to World War II, Hitler tried to "Nazify" Christianity by suppressing the old Testament teachings. He had pastors and teachers sign agreements to only teach what he wanted them to teach, and had schools that taught children exactly what he wanted them to learn.  People were deceived by Hitler's teachings. As a result, 6 million Jews were killed in World War II. ***

Are you studying and checking the scriptures?

For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Romans 16:18

***Source: Hitler, God, The Bible- by Ray Comfort