by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
What is the foundational base of\u00a0my\u00a0<\/strong>belief (and consequently, yours)?\u00a0Not <\/b>that my <\/b>understanding becomes the standard for your <\/b>belief, but how you read, interpret, and understand the revelation given by the Spirit.<\/p>\n Let us start with several observations.<\/p>\n There is <\/b>a revealing of God’s will to men. (OK, first hurdle – what scriptures are you basing this on?)<\/p>\n Such was not a personal, universal revelation to each person, but a collective, authoritative revelation through chosen men. (Hebrews 2:1-4; I Corinthians 14:37-38; II Timothy 3:16-17; etc.)<\/p>\n The problem: not only must you take into account the original writing and inspiration, but also the recognition, collection of, translation into various languages, dissemination of such texts, etc. There are indeed pitfalls all along the way of this journey. This will require you to constantly inspect your own thinking and conclusions! It is hard to argue with yourself and lose, but it is needed.<\/p>\n The question is often\u00a0mistakenly<\/strong>\u00a0asked, ‘What does that text mean\u00a0to you?<\/strong>‘ as if the meaning of the text is separate from the author’s original purpose and meaning.<\/p>\n There has from the beginning been differences in the understandings of men! (That is, in fact, the basis of the debates between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders of His day – reread, for example, chapter 5 of Matthew – ‘you have heard’ but ‘I say unto you’… or specific areas of debates of His day in Matthew 22).<\/p>\n As you can see, these same problems were present in Jesus’ day as they are now, except that the text being discussed was what we know as ‘the Old Testament’, and today that has broadened to include the New Testament.<\/p>\n The bottom line, you <\/b>must respond to this whole debate, and you <\/b>will answer to God for how you <\/b>respond. Let someone else do your thinking? (Why are you reading this<\/strong>?) Read other people’s ideas and then compare them with the original text (compare the Bereans in Acts 17). Refuse to read anyone else’s understanding? Read all<\/strong>\u00a0of them??<\/p>\n I would suggest (are you still reading this?) that you start with John 20:30-31and John 1:1. Jesus – who do you <\/b>say that He is (perhaps start reading Jesus’ asking this <\/b>question in Matthew 16:13-16)? Then<\/strong>, start a life-long conscious study of the revealed text.<\/p>\n Easy? No.<\/p>\n Needed? Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong What is the foundational base of\u00a0my\u00a0belief (and consequently, yours)?\u00a0Not that my understanding becomes the standard for your belief, but how you read, interpret, and understand the revelation given by the Spirit. Let us start with several observations. There is a revealing of God’s will to men. (OK, first hurdle – what scriptures…<\/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":[27],"tags":[139,49],"class_list":["post-93380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-belief","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14927,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-jesuits-develop-preterism-and-futurism\/","url_meta":{"origin":93380,"position":0},"title":"Did the Jesuits develop preterism and futurism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it true that 'preterism' and 'futurism' were Jesuit interpretations of prophecy that were contrived during the counter-reformation? I've read that in a couple of places and wondered what your study has led you to about that. Thank you. Answer: Preterism is the view that the prophecies concerning destruction,\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":67902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/real-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":93380,"position":1},"title":"Real Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Biblical faith is not mere belief. It is trust, but it is more than that. It is conviction, loyalty, faithfulness, allegiance, and commitment. To say that we ought to trust God and have faith is not to say that we sit back and do nothing. That is\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":61459,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":93380,"position":2},"title":"Notes on Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Definitions Vines Primarily firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing. Websters Unquestioning belief Importance We cannot please God without faith. Hebrews 11:6; Luke 17:5 Faith is connected to salvation. Mark 16:16; Ephesians 2:8-9 Christians live by faith. Romans 1:16-17; II Corinthians. 5:7; I Timothy 6:12 Paul said some would depart\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43297,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/after-accepting-christ-do-you-have-to-be-baptized-to-get-to-the-next-level-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":93380,"position":3},"title":"After accepting Christ, do you have to be baptized to get to the next level in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: After accepting Christ, do you have to be baptized to get to the next level in heaven? Answer: First, there is no mention of different levels in heaven in the Bible. There is some indication that what each person has in heaven may not be exactly the same. See:\u00a0Are\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":18570,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-judge-atheists-then-arent-you-contradicting-your-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":93380,"position":4},"title":"If you judge atheists, then aren’t you contradicting your beliefs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If you judge atheists and you think that atheists judge you Christians, then you are pretty much contradicting yourself, which is a sin in God's eyes because \"all men are created equal.\" I don\u2019t judge Christians and their beliefs, so why do you? Thank you for listening to me.\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":14264,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gospel-word-truth-seed-doctrine\/","url_meta":{"origin":93380,"position":5},"title":"Gospel, Word, Truth, Seed, Doctrine","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Carl A. Allen The denominational world has tried to seek unity by teaching we are to believe the Gospel and not enforce \"doctrine.\" According to them we should not divide over baptism, the Lord's Supper, instruments of music, tithing, marriage, and divorce, etc. because all of this falls into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/doctrine-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93380","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=93380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}