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NASB | Mark 16:18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Mark 16:18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well." |
Subject: Lack of Indifference |
Bible Note: Dear Zoe, Please be extremely careful when it comes to suggesting that the Scripture contains hidden messages waiting to be deciphered. Our Lord seeks to communicate the truth to His own. The doctrine Sola Scriptura recognizes that the majority of Bible cannot be properly understood outside of the regenerative and illumining work of the Holy Spirit. Your second sentence there reflects the Alexandrian School of Thought, a notion antithetical to Sola Scriptura. We must, indeed, exert every effort to understand all that Scripture has to say about any given subject -- that is the definition of theology. In that process we have to ferret out our non-Biblical presuppositions. We come to our study of the Word with a whole pile of assumptions. I think you'll find that one of those sorts of things deal directly with the notion of the ministration of death. Tim does a good job of clarifying this in his post to you. Keep in mind that we must bring everything that the Scripture has to say on a particular topic -- in fact, that is the definition of doctrine. Furthermore, I think you've also got to be careful with your definition of truth. Everything in the Bible is true, but not all truth is in the Bible. For example, the Scripture never says that 2 plus 2 is 4, yet this is a fundamental truth. Of course, all truth has its roots in God. That's part of His nature. However, He has given man the ability to think. Human thought is limited and fallible, because of the Fall, but we never want to denigrate that important faculty. The Word emphasizes the importance of sound thinking. Indeed, without reason, words strung together into sentences would be of little value. Clearly the Lord is a rational being. In Him, Doc |