This is part of the problem I’ve been having: If something is part of the Old Law then why don’t Jews today try to make homosexuality a death penalty in places like Florida, Israel, or anywhere there’s a large Jewish population? It is this inconsistency between people and what’s said in the Bible that is really not letting me grow in my faith anymore.<\/p>\n
For instance, there are some things you teach that some people think are way off base and you are the same way. So now, in order to get the truth, I feel like I have to look up seven different ideas about something, small or big, check the history, read the Bible to see what it says, then take a concordance out and translate it to make sure I’m understanding it correctly, and it’s exhausting. What I’ve found out is that sometimes there is good evidence to believe one of two opposing ideas and that hurts my faith because I now see there are two ideas that both have good historical and biblical evidence to support them, but the person on the left is 110% sure that the one on the right is blaspheming and the one on the right is also just as sure the left is wrong. So I don’t know what to believe and how can I have faith in the Bible if I can’t believe it is true?<\/p>\n
We agree on something and that is there is one Bible and one way of interpreting it. It’s just that coming to what is actually said and finding the truth in all these ideas can take weeks. There was one time I thought was true because I knew<\/em> I had the true word of God, and now I don’t know anything at all, and I have to test ideas about life and the Bible so I can have faith again. That it holds it up. But I’ve found it’s not black and white. There are is support for different ideas. All this bickering between them about who’s right and who’s wrong, who’s going to hell and who’s not, what books should be in the Bible and what shouldn’t, and what we should watch and what we shouldn’t is destroying my faith.<\/p>\n\t It appears to me that faith to you is having other people agreeing with you. But when you find that people don’t agree about things, you struggle to have faith.<\/p>\n However, faith is trusting that what God said is true. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God<\/em>” (Romans 10:17). It is God’s Word that is true. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth<\/em>” (John 17:17). Truth is not established because John Calvin, Martin Luther, or the current pope happens to say something that happens to agree with something said in the Bible. Truth is established by God’s Word alone. If someone says something that agrees with the Bible, then they are promoting the truth — but they didn’t make it true, it already was true.<\/p>\n The reason you are not in the denomination you once were in is that you eventually realized that what they were teaching wasn’t fully supported by God’s teachings in the Bible. That there are false teachers in the world is not surprising.<\/p>\n “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons<\/em>” (I Timothy 4:1).<\/p>\n “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction<\/em>” (II Peter 2:1).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yes, studying the Bible takes effort. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth<\/em>” (II Timothy 2:15). However, you are making things harder on yourself because you make all sources equal. A source that proves itself inaccurate should be discounted. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them<\/em>” (Matthew 7:15-20).<\/p>\n God’s Word is not up for man to decide what God meant. “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit<\/em>” (II Peter 1:19-21). If two people say different things about a passage, they cannot be both right and it can be possible that they are both wrong. The one certainty is that God is right. That is where you need to put your trust. Your faith has to be in God.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: This is part of the problem I’ve been having: If something is part of the Old Law then why don’t Jews today try to make homosexuality a death penalty in places like Florida, Israel, or anywhere there’s a large Jewish population? It is this inconsistency between people and what’s said in the Bible that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[441,964],"class_list":["post-35801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-truth","tag-understanding-the-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35736,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-check-my-own-understanding-if-i-misunderstand-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":35801,"position":0},"title":"How can I check my own understanding if I misunderstand the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can I check my own understanding in comparison to the Bible, if I misunderstand the Bible itself? Answer: \"Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is\" (Ephesians 5:17). The first point to realize is that the Bible is understandable. Yes, people do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17947,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-such-a-loving-god-condemn-people-who-have-never-heard-of-jesus-or-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":35801,"position":1},"title":"How can such a loving God condemn people who have never heard of Jesus or the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I came across an old teacher of mine today and we started talking. She tells me I should join the service or go to college. So\u00a0I started telling her my views of how I think that the Rockefellers and other rich families run this world and have influence in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17795,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-so-many-teach-that-baptism-is-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":35801,"position":2},"title":"Why do so many teach that baptism is unnecessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello.\u00a0 I have spent some time on the Internet this evening looking at baptism.\u00a0 In the search engine, I typed in the question:\u00a0 \"Is baptism necessary for salvation?\"\u00a0 Naturally, several hits came up.\u00a0 I've only looked at a few and for the most part, all seem to say no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58553,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/patience-in-seeking-truth-a-necessity\/","url_meta":{"origin":35801,"position":3},"title":"Patience in Seeking Truth,\u00a0a Necessity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Garreth L. Clair \u00a0 John 8:32,\u00a0\"and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.\" ASV John 17:17,\u00a0\"Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.\" ASV II Timothy 3:16-17,\u00a0\"Every scripture inspired of God (is) also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39684,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-just-dont-understand\/","url_meta":{"origin":35801,"position":4},"title":"You Just Don’t Understand","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 119:97-104 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some people are confident that no other person can possibly understand what they are going through. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ve never struggled with addiction\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou have more money, so you can\u2019t understand my difficulties.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou grew up in the church, I didn\u2019t.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0D.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ve never experienced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17047,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/out-of-body-experiences-have-to-be-true-because-i-experienced-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":35801,"position":5},"title":"Out-of-Body experiences have to be true because I experienced them","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How are you doing? First off let me thank God for you and the very informative site you have put together. Also for having ministers such as yourself that have been blessed with the talent of teaching the gospel and blessed with spiritual knowledge and wisdom in Christ. Keep\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n