Bible Question (short): Study Bible Forum or Bible Philosophy |
Question (full): First of all, let me apologize to the Forum in general. My posts seem to have caused quite a bit of controversy and that is certainly NOT what I was after. So, what am I after? I guess if you were to pin me down and put me in a pigeonhole, I’d probably label myself as a philosopher, much in the same spirit as my dad. In a lot of ways I imitate his lifestyle, including his way of looking at things in the world, studying other people and how they interact with each other and with our God in Heaven. I know and realize there's probably not many people on the Forum but I like the ideas and the brainstorming that result from it. I have studied the Bible quite a bit and although I’m not particularly good at quoting book, chapter and verse, I do read a good portion of God’s Word every day. As I do have a penchant for looking for the philosophical side of a particular issue or topic, that’s where I spend most of my time, looking for such opportunities. So, I like to ask questions like “How,” “Why,” and “How about another way of looking it” just like ancient Socrates. As you can imagine this “talent” I have is a little bit of a burden to people that love me, like my precious wife and my parents. I’m quite literally serious here: To this day, my brother, sisters and parents still say I ask too many questions. But I like to motivate people to think, to look behind the curtain and dare to ask Why to the boldest person. Yes, it gets me in trouble but it also makes me a good problem solver. The most important ingredient I’ve found to make a success out of this mess I see in my life is to love people, real love for their souls, love for them to reach their potential like our Father in Heaven has for you and me. It also helps to be open minded and open hearted to their position on a issue, listen to their side of the story completely before responding…now that’s tough, I know. As I size up the “field of play” we have on this Forum, we have plenty of folks who are very, very good at research and know God’s Word quite well. Their posts are filled to overflowing with scriptures and what they think about them. Sometimes they misapply those scriptures but don’t we all on an occasional basis. Sometimes we look at something one way for years and then discover at some future time a new perspective from someone’s first review of that thing i.e. scripture. We come away thinking “What was I thinking when I concluded that way about that particular thing?” Well, again back to that field business. I’ve recently resolved to try to cite at least just a few more scriptures with my statements/posts to the Forum but you’ll have to forgive me for the few times that I fail to do so. You see just as EdB discovered with my recent question about Paul scolding Peter for his sin of discrimination against Gentiles, the answers aren’t always in the Bible, especially when it’s about one of the How or Why questions. I really do appreciate you folks who are so good about quoting from the scriptures with book, chapter and verses but I’ll continue to hold down this end of the field with my conclusions and inferences but this I promise. I’ll ALWAYS TRY to make certain these statements/conclusions, etc. are in fact based on general Bible principles and hold true to the Spirit of the Bible. If it’s anything I’ve learned to appreciate in life, I’ve learned there’s tremendous value to the whole team concept. I may consider myself in the middle of the road like most people do on most subjects in life, most especially Bible topics and religion in general. But we need to appreciate those folks on both sides of that road for they’re there for a reason. They sincerely believe the way they do (at least most of the time) because they’ve studied the issues and concluded that’s where they need to be. So with that promise being made, if at any time, you disagree or think my statement in the future needs tweaking to make it just right, please feel free to post your statement to that effect. That’s why we’re here. One last thing, just as a reminder. We’re all human, every single one of us. None of us are going to get out of this world alive and take anything with us but our souls. So let’s love one another and do a lot more forgiving and a lot less griping and complaining. It will go a long way toward getting us to where we want to go after this world is over. God bless you all. |