Tiis is an amazing question . In fact the answer to this question can make or break your bible life and your christian life. Did you know there are millions of christians that do not know how to read the bible correctly? Why is that important? If someone twists what the bible say then they will end up believing lies and practicing things that God did not want them to believe or do .
Do not take the bible verses out of context
In fact there are religious people that spend years of their lives doing things that God doe snot aprove of and God is not please with . How to successfully read the bible for the first time Here is a great example, i was talking to a friend who said God winked at Solom sins of having many wives and he used a verse in the book of Acts.
I told him , you are taking this verse totally out of context and this winking has nothing to do with Solomon . I could not believe he was twisting the verse so much and applying it to something else that has nothing to do with the issue . It is like taking a comment from the French persident and saying the Spanish president said that . Would that be true? No
Here we see principle number one and How to successfully read the bible for the first time. Is to not take the bible out of context. What does it mean to take the bible out of context? When a verse seems to say something we need to
1 Find out if the rest of the bible in general teaches this
2 look at the Hebrew and Greek to see the orignal meaning
3 see of the context of the same chapter applies and says the same thing . So that we do not take a comment out of the meaning . Some people do that all the time . A celebrity talks on television . Some peple have not heard the whole speech and they take one comment our of the speech and try to make that person say something they did not say . This is very dishonest.
On How to successfully read the bible for the first time the last thig we want to do is to twist what God said . This is very dangerous . It is bad enough to twist someone's words But can you immagine someone twisting Gods words! This is why in understanding How to successfully read the bible for the first timeWe need to be slow to believe something without having made a full study on the topic first of all .
Another exampple is the Jehovah s witnesses they take one verse in revelation that says
Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God .
I love Jehovah s witnesses but this verse as it seems to say Jesus is created . The bible as a whole does not teach that. In fact looking at most bible verses, the bible teaches that Jesus is God and Jesus is the creator. Then what should we do in this case ?
Read the Greek The word beginning in Greek is ARCHE it means initiator, the beginner . So in fact the verse is wringly translated. The verse should read
Jesus is the initiator and the beginner of creation
This is why we should be careful the way we read the bible . Here we took the context of the whole bible that teaches Jesus is God and Jesus is the creator. To know How to successfully read the bible for the first timewe went to the Greek and we found out that this is where the problem was. In the translation . The bible has many of what i call apparent contradictions . The bible does not have one contradiciton . But God mad eit so that when we study further nd read carefully we understand the meaning . I think God doe sit so that we would study the bible more .
On How to successfully read the bible for the first time we have the other example of Solomin chariots. 1 Kings 4 26 says Solomon had 40000 horses In 1 Chronicles 9 25 it says Solomon had 4000 horses. Is there a contradiction ? No
When we read carefully and this is the reason why many people think they found a contradiciton which is in fact just a negligent way of reading the bible .
1 Kings says Solomon had 40000 horses alone. A Chronicle ssays Solomon had 4000 horses attached to chariots. O then the 40000 were loose horses and the 4000 had chariots. That makes sense. As it goes with every apparent bible contradiction . The bible never has contradiciton . But God is wise and we need first of all to understand the bible to understand how God speaks.
On How to successfully read the bible for the first timelet us first understand and learn to know God and the wa God speaks . God is not a human and God has a very distinctive way of speaking.
Pray before you read the bible
unless you pray before you read the bible you will be totaly confused. The words of the bible are not human words. Human words have one meaning . The words of the bible are alive. How to successfully read the bible for the first time. By starting to pray first. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Unless God gives you spiritual discernment you cannot understand the bible correctly . Human reasoning cannot understand the bible .
How to successfully read the bible for the first time Recognize that only divine help can help us understand the bible correctly . Praying everytime you read the bible is a wise practice and it is a reverent way to start your time with God . Reverence for a holy God before whom angels veil their faces.
Seek what God is saying and not what you want the bible to say
Many people today seek what they want to hear. This is a dishonest practice that God will not bless. When we come to the bible we need to be honest and find out . Here is the book of the divine creator . I am here to find out what God is saying . Doing any other way is dishonest and deceiftul. The worse thing we can do is try to deceive God .
It is also selfishness to try to get our way and twist the bible to fit our views. It does not work this way . Humans beings cannot ceate truth . We are here on earth to seek and accept truth . Only honest people will accept truth . Truth comes from God . Humans can believe things does it mean something is true as long as we believe it ? No Something does not become true because we believe it .
How to successfully read the bible for the first time We need to be honest. All honest people will accept the truth . All dishonest people will reject the truth . Many christians are dishonest they ar echristians because their family and friends are Many atheists are honest, they are atheists because their family and friends are .
Know the whole bible to find the full meaning
This is another mistake people make when they read the bible for the first time or many long time christians and ministers. In knowing how to successfully read the bible for the first time.one needs to understand the general tenant of a topic God speaks about to understand the meaning of the whole bible . This is as above . It is important to take a bible concordance. In this bible concordance you will be able to take all verses on a topic . For example hell or the secon coming or babylon .
Then to know how to successfully read the bible for the first time you will be to slowly study all verses and ask God for guidance. And only after a while maybe weeks of study you will be able to come to a conlcusion on what the bible says on a topic . The problem is that people are very quick to come to conlcusions and they destroy their soul from twisting the meaning of what God said to fit what they want the bible to say . The bible cannot be studyied this way . People think it is ok to act in such a way . But when twisting someone^s words is bad enough . Can you immagine someone wilfully twisting what God said?
This is dishonesty we cannot twist the meaning of the bible and make the bible say something it did not say . When we take a verse out fo contect we destroy Gods reputation . We make God say things He did not say . Like we said above in the bible there are many times what is called apparent contradictions . God put these there wilfully . To deceive ? No God put there apparent contradictions i guess so that He tests who will be honest enough to find the real meaning and who will want to twist the bible to their own destruction .
When you seek how to successfully read the bible for the first time. Then this is a very important principle for you to not twist the Word of God . And to have a better christian life. We want our wish to be true but God tells us tue trhty . Will we follow the truth ? Or will we follor our own wisnes and seek to find some obscure bible verse to prove our point ? On how to successfully read the bible for the first time .
Take the notion first that God wants you to be happy and God wants us to live forever with Him . God loves you so much that He wants you to live in his home forever . God made pleasure, God made sex, God made friendhips. God made nature to help us be happy . The things God forbids are the things that came from sin after the fall of Adam and Eve . We do not need to have these things to be happy . In learning how to successfully read the bible for the first time
Do not follow a multitude to do evil
The whole world is under the spell of Satan . The christian world is not immune to that . Jesus calls most churches babylon . And Jeuss says that when He return many will try to enter heaven and will not be able . On how to successfully read the bible for the first time . You cannot follow the majority and the ways of this society.
Satan when He tempted Jesus twisted the bible . Satan took one part of a verse to make the bible say what He wanted it to say . Interesting that so many people are doing the same thing . In Matthiew 4 Satan quotes psalms “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
But in doing so Satan did not look at the context and Jesus answered with a different text taking the bible into context . Jesus said You shal not temps the Lord . We see that the big problem is when people take a verse out fo context and do not seek to know the real meaning of the bible . On how to successfully read the bible for the first time this is a good prindiple to take . Pry before you read . Understand that the bible is spiritual and spiritual things are only spiritually discerned.
Understand that God put many apparent contradictions in the bible . One goal God could have had in mind was to have us study further to find the meaning of the riddles. We saw above one verse seems to say Jesus is a created being . When we take the context we find out that Jesus is God and the greek did not translate the word properly .
Why is this important ?
This is importanr as if you follow a church, a pastor and you do not study the bible for yourself then you can be deceived in believing things that are not in the bible . Also for example Revelation says those who receive the mark of the beast will not make it to heaven . They are worshippers. Does understanding this topic well can make or break your christian walk ? Yes
As many churches twist the meaning of the beast and the mark of the beast . Also if someone believe there are to be ceught up before tribulation . And their belief is wrong. Then they can end up destroye because they did not prepare for the tribulation and were thinking that they would be a secret rapture before.
On how to successfully read the bible for the first time. We also have the example of the Pharisees, they thought that Jesus was a poor men and that He did not come from God. They looked at the apprence and did not see spiritually . They had the bible and were responsible to know what it saud . As the old Testament talks of the coming Messiah in detail. They did not know how to successfully read the bible for the first time. Yet they were masters in Israel for the poeple . Yet the basis of honesty and techniques on how to read the bible , they did not have . They thus led people astray.
