Do you read your Bible? If you read your Bible, you will know the answers to the questions you seek!?

Question

Knowing the Word of God is YOUR responsibility. Don't believe an answer without looking it up first. Test everything and read a lot. Don't just blindly listen to a pastor and think it is in line with the Word of God. A lot of pastors are preaching to "itching ears". Are you getting told what you want to hear? Being...."fed"?

Answer 1

Is the word "hypocrite" mentioned somewhere in that great book? Maybe you should read more closely...

you spout about 'judge not', & give answers like:"Love your fellow man for who they are as a person on the inside. Not because they are a man of color.. "

Then turn around & say things like: "Shut-up cracker!" And "Yeah. Wear the stupid look that's on your face right now. "

Your nastiness & hypocrisy are perfect examples of why so many people are searching for other alternatives to fill their spiritual needs besides the "church", the Bible, & formal types of religion.

Answer 2

Not at all. I am an atheist, and reading the Bibles given to me by various theists has only furthered my cause for atheism. I refuse to believe in a book centered around a non-existent God who threatens to burn you in hell unless you feed his massive ego. The Bible is the word of man, not God. Gods don't write books, people do. And all people have some sort of agenda. I was once a born-again Christian. I looked it up. I found ideas like a flat earth, instant creation out of nothing (which would violate the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy), and other assinine ideas. I took the responsibility to "know the word of God". I also took the responsibility for my own life, rather than entrusting it with a non-existent God.


----Edit----
From most of the answers I've seen on here, they all seem to be derived from the idea that "the Bible is true because the Bible says so".

Answer 3

What makes you think that the Bible is the word of God -- or even the Holy Word of God? Do you even know who decided which books were to be included in the Bible and which were not?

The answer is the Catholic Pope and a group of Catholic Bishops who met at the Council of Rome in the fourth century. But then in the 1500s, Martin Luther decided that some of those books were not the inspired word of God. Noncatholics use this edited version.

If you accept those Catholics who said that the Bible is the inspired word of God for the books that are in the Protestant Bible -- how is it that they were wrong about the other books? Doesn't that mean they could have been wrong about the ones that are still in the Bible.

Or is it that yuo believe that Martin Luther is the one who gets to decide what is God's word and what is not? Then -- you would be admitting that a man is responsible for the Bible, and not God.

So -- I reject your premise.

Answer 4

Agreed! But in all honesty, the Bible isn't an easy read for young people today.

I've always been a history buff, so I've found some good books that have helped me approach Christianity. Here's some examples:

"The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith" by Lee Strobel. He's a legal investigator who asks some tough questions of some leading scholars. His findings will open your eyes:
http://www.amazon.com/Case-Christ-Journalists-Personal-Investigation/dp/0310209307/sr=8-1/qid=1159723106/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5138636-9664861?ie=UTF8&s=books

Answer 5

Very true. - Yes I think it's essential

But I wonder if you practise what you preach.
Would you be prepared to change if you read something in the bible that conflicts with what you believe or were raised to believe?

For instance, when it says do not make for yourself idols/graven images nor to bow down to them, does your church have such things? - EXODUS 20:4 & 5
If you say I'm not worshiping them - that's what the Israelites said when they made the golden calf. They actually dedicated that image to God, but he punished them for it.
EXODUS 32
(verse 5 shows they dedicated it to God)

I'm just using this example as a 'for instance'
What do you think?

The Scriptures have all the answers

Answer 6

I don't think it is quite that simple, since those who have adopted the tradition of seeking all the answers in the Bible have a history of continuous separation into conflicting denominations, largely over their contradictory interpretations of what they read in the Bible. You just gave one example - your pastor preaches his interpretation of what a passage says, and you don't agree, so you read the Bible on your own and come up with your own interpretation. I agree with you that this can result in getting answers to your questions. The problem is, those answers may not be the truth. Obviously your interpretation and your pastor's interpretation cannot both be true if they conflict. Truth cannot conflict with truth.

Reading the Bible with access to correct, authoritative interpretation of what we read will provide us with the truth. Reading the Bible without access to true interpretation will just result in the formation of more denominations.

Answer 7

wow was the a question?
Although I think you are right, I don't know if coming into yahoo answers and proclaiming your truth to the masses through a question that is really more yoou on a soap box. As far as pastors too, I think a lot of them are judged too harshly. A lot of them are really trying to teach the word of God and are in a really tough place being a shepard to so many different levels of knowlege.
If you want people to read more, give them scripture to look up as your answer, and remind them to look in context....It's a lot more gentle, and might help more people. :)

Answer 8

Yes, the word of God is true. And can give you wisdom and revelation about all of the things of life.But there is one key to it all.
Love the lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. That is the key.Our society has only one problem and that is people loving one another and not hating the differances that are in people.

Answer 9

Yes, I do. Yes, I usually find my answers. If there is not an answer found, then I depend upon my moral character to answer it. Thank you for the question. I am not always told what I want to hear, sometimes I might not want to hear it, but I do listen.

Answer 10

Yes, I've read the bible. It raised more questions than it answered, really.