In short: Faith - comes with proper behaviors.

Hello there, in the past about 3 years ago I was engaged with a Christian group and I was not a Christian then, but shortly after that I changed my location so no more contact. I recently had an urge to study all the religious books and that also includes the Bible. My question is how do I get the meaning of the verses and ask questions regarding the verses?

You can ask here.

There are many ways. No right or wrong. Signs of God or the messages of God are plenty.

Even the same verse that you read, you will interpret in differently in different time depending on your situation. In other words, it's very personal.

I don't often read a lot because the messages are deep and require a lot of pondering, reflection, and thinking.

To your question, internet is a good source of information and understanding. You may seek those meaning if you can't figure it out through reliable Christian websites. You can always ask here if you have questions and we'll try our best to answer because we too, like you, are constant learners.

I give you a situation how God speaks to me through Bible. Many years back, I forgot what happened and I was so afraid in my car thinking what to do. As I always depend on the Bible I then flip open a page by random and of the many words, my eyes fell on this specific verse:

Be still and know that I am God.

Wow. That verse instantly calmed me down and put me in a composed position. And I've depended on it on many occasions. A few verses came by past years.

I guess we are a better learner when we apply the verse in real life context. Everyone's circumstances is different and so is the message intended.

Keep challenging and keep seeking.

Okay sure, i just started reading yesterday. I will ask here if there is something i dont understand.

Yeah i agree most people will interpret the verses differently, that why i also get confused when i ask different people. Anyhow, i will keep your advice in mind while reading.

You're most welcome to do so.

Before reading the Bible, do pray for God to open your eyes and heart.

I'm at 1 Samuel now

Christian scriptures are to be read with a contextual, geographical, historical, cultural, linguistical hermeneutics.

That means that the objective meaning of the text must be interpreted taking all those things into account.

It does not mean something to one person, and another to another person. It is not mystical, it is not a love letter from God to you, etc.

And scripture is the only authorative interpreter of itself. If a part of scripture is not clear, it must be interpreted by another part of scripture only.

No one gets to put his own meaning into scripture.

You should try to understand what Gasout means, he's not saying God's word can be intepreted in different meanings (heretical) as he gave an example to what he means.

People have different situations in their life but the verse that speaks to him "Be Still and know that I am God" can be a love letter to him that ministered him as well as to other people of different situation.

I disagree that you said the Bible is not a love letter from God, it is.

On a site note; There are people who study theology but not christians themselves. They too depend on contextual, geographical, historical, cultural, linguistical hermeneutics and that can be a problem without the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:4 (NKJV) - And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

1 Corrinthian 13-14 (NIV) - And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.…

To me it becomes a problem when one intepret the Bible based on just historical, cultural, lingustic or even just contextual alone, what I'm trying to say is that the Bible are not just historitcal text they are of spirit that is able to speak to different people in various different situation, I believe this was what gasout was trying to convey.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Apr 27 2020, 11:19 AM

That is the difficult parts. Context is highly dependent on these.
Many Christians read and interpret the scriptures as if they are living in the Western hemisphere with a millennial worldview.

I feel that is pretty dangerous. Imagine if someone is depressed and flipped the Bible open and landed on Matt 27:5 "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself."

I concur with you, that's the rule of thumb. If Bible says thou shall not kill, I get it. No killing is allowed. I did say always good to refer to reliable Christian websites, they do discuss on the verses.

When I mean context, one needs to apply what the messages are, and not just read Bible as any history or geographical books.

Every bible is highlighted differently, because to different people, while some verses are ok, some verses hit their heart, and that's what my 'personal' means.

Reading bible, knowing bible is easy. Applying it. Digesting it. Practicing it. is the difficult part.

Every bible is personal - hence, it's always good to have your own bible where you can scribble and reflect. Then look back at those notes, when you were younger, what were you searching for. It's different in today's time. That's how we grow with God.

I don't wish to argue intellectually because even with a PhD, it's the heart that God is touching, not words. I can offer my side if anyone asks. But if the intention is to challenge without knowing, then such baseless argument is best not entertained. One can live long and remain infancy stage in the Christianity life. One maybe young but God can make wonders with him/her.

And really, I know nothing and have to learn much more. I have brothers and sisters that offer me support in the discovery journey and Ravi Zacharias - he's good. @diamondhead.

I hope the Bible has touched your heart in some ways, especially some verses or some stories.

That's very unfortunate if one thinks the Bible is the only answer.

I have only spoken once on that incidence. It doesn't happen in the thousands of decisions I make everyday.

But the whole book of the Bible is

God is love. Love is God. Love life. Love your neighbour. Love thyself.

There's plenty.

I apologize if my message is misunderstood. All I am saying, God does speak to you through the Bible. but killing oneself isn't one of it.

It's called rhema word of God.

Misunderstanding is always a problem.