Do You Really Know the Bible?

There are two obstacles to overcome in order for us to attain to a viable knowledge of the Bible. The first is the fear that it is too great a task to undertake. It is not too great a task. The stories in both Testaments are exciting, educational, and written so simply that a child can read them and, with occasional help of an adult, comprehend their meaning. My children do. I have often wondered why phrases in the Bible are repeated, but then I learned that repetition is a fundamental tool of education. Television programs for children constantly repeat material: the ABC's, numbers, and animal names. The writers know that if the children are to learn, they must have the information repeated. The more important the information, the more frequently it must be repeated. Do not be afraid to pick up the Bible and start reading it. And don't be concerned about missing the "true meaning" of the stories. Just forget about that, and read it.

It is true that some folks do not know the Bible, despite much study, because they're too busy trying to interpret everything. They pay insufficient attention to the Bible. Fearing that they may read the Bible and not understand the "deep meaning" of it, very many people waste small fortunes on books to help them get the "real meaning" of the Bible. The result is that as they become bogged down in the theologies and theories which they find in commentaries and "study guides", a feeling of despair often grips them, and they sorrowfully give up their noble quest, with a "I'll never be able to understand the Bible" attitude. But in virtually all such cases, they have not given the Bible -- just the Bible -- a chance. Fear kept them from being simple, and simplicity is what God requires of those who want to learn of Him. So, step one in learning the Bible is to put away the commentaries and the Bibles with all those footnotes everywhere, and just read the Bible for what it is saying.

For those of you who would be just starting to read the Bible, do not be intimidated by the thought that everyone else already knows more than you know. I began studying the Bible assumming that everyone else already knew it, but I soon found that very few people know it at all. And, amazingly, the ones who held it up the highest, proclaiming that knowing the Bible is essential, often knew very little about what is in it!!! This brings us to the second, curious obstacle that must be overcome in order to learn the Bible, to wit, assuming that we already know it without reading it. That may at first sound incredible but it is a very real and difficult problem that has kept many from a true knowledge of the Bible. They assume that because they know their denomination's teachings that they know the Bible. They assume that because they're on the deacon board or in the choir that they know the Bible. They assume that because they are Sunday school teachers, or because they have taken a course on how to teach the Bible, that they know the Bible. They assume because they can quote 13 New Testament Scriptures by heart that they know the Bible. My friends, you don't know the Bible unless you know the Bible. And if you don't know the Bible, you're a "sitting duck" for Christian ministers who will tell you that they're teaching doctrines consistant with the Bible, yet are liars.

One of the commendable qualities of the faithful in the congregation at Ephesus, according to Jesus, the Expert on commendable qualities, was that they were able to put men to the test. "Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars" (Rev. 3:2). A good way to begin studying the Bible is to discard all that you have learned in a Christian denomination, because most of it is merely their "traditions" and "creeds", and very little of it is the truth. That which is spoken about the Bible in every Christian group cannot be rightly understood because it is twisted by the minister who cannot tell the REAL truth lest he be "put out" by those who hear him. When a minister teaches the truth about the Bible, he will be unwelcome everywhere in Christianity - and if a minister is highly esteemed within Christianity, it is BECAUSE he is lying to God's people. To know the Bible, you must come OUT of Christianity to where Jesus IS.

Let's take a little Bible test now, and see how much we know about the Book of books. Answer these questions either TRUE or FALSE. And remember, this isn't a test on what you believe. It is a test on "WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?"

What Does the BIBLE Say?

1. _____ The place where the wicked will spend eternity is hell.
2. _____ The phrase that we should "GET saved" is found only once in the Bible.
3. _____ Angels have wings.
4. _____ Man has wickedly created many evil ways of living.
5. _____ In the Old Testament, a day begins when the sun goes down.
6. _____ "Firmament" is another word for "earth."
7. _____ Adam named all the animals, except the creatures who lived in the sea.
8. _____ The devil deceived Eve.
9. _____ God cursed the serpent as well as Adam and Eve.
10. _____ The one who asked Eve to eat the forbidden fruit was the serpent.
11. _____ The "forbidden fruit" was an apple.
12. _____ The animals, came by twos into the ark before Noah went in and closed the door..
13. _____ All who faithfully trust in Jesus will live forever with him in heaven.
14. _____ The three kings who came to see the baby Jesus, came from the east.
15. _____ In the flood, only the creatures who either lived on land or flew in the air were killed. Creatures in the seas are not said to have died.
16. _____ The disciples were "born again" before the day of Pentecost.
17. _____ When the devil himself puts a curse on someone, nobody but the Lord or someone anointed by him can deliver that person.
18. _____ Every time someone in the book of Acts was baptized with the Holy Ghost, they spoke in tongues.
19. _____ The waters of the great flood came from two directions: from heaven and from underneath the earth.
20. _____ The Bible is the Word of God.

The Answers

Well, how did you do? Were you confident of what the Scriptures have to say about those subjects? Let's check your answers now, using the Bible.

1. False. They will spend eternity in the "lake of fire", a horrible place much worse than hell, and into which even hell itself will be cast (Rev.20:14).
2. False. It is found NOWHERE in the Bible.
3. False. Cherubim and seraphim have wings, but angels look exactly like men.
4. False. There is only One who can create. The Bible never uses the word "create" in reference to a man or a spirit.
5. True. For example, Gen. 1:5,8,13,19,etc.
6. False. Gen. 1:6-8.
7. True. Gen.2:20.
8. False. The Bible never says so. But on the basis of such Scriptures as Rev.12:9 and Ezek.28:13, most of the congregation, including myself, believes that he was involved.
9. True. Gen.3:14-15.
10. False. No one asked her to do it. What the serpent did was "sow the seed of discord" by suggesting that God was not being as good to her as she thought, that He had a self-serving motive for forbidding her to eat fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The decision was entirely her own. The devil didn't "make her do it."
11. False. We are not told what kind of fruit the forbidden fruit was.
12. False. Some animals came by sevens, and, despite what the movies and children's books may portray, Noah and his family went in first. The animals "went in unto Noah into the ark." Gen.7:7-9.
13. False. The future dwelling of the saints who will be saved is the new earth, not heaven. Jesus did not say, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall go to heaven (Mt. 5:5).
14. False. They came from the east, alright, but they were not kings and we are not told if there were three or thirty-three of them (Mt.2:1-12).
15. True. Gen. 7:21-22.
16. False. The Bible never says so. And for good reason. They weren't.
17. False. Only God or someone he anoints CAN curse anyone. Fear belongs to God, not to the devil. No mention of the devil putting a curse on someome exists in the Bible.
18. False. The Bible doesn't say so. In the few cases of Holy Ghost baptism in which tongues are not mentioned (Acts 8, for example), there is nothing said, either pro or con. One cannot use the book of Acts to prove that every person who receives the Holy Ghost speaks in tongues. I hasten to add that, based on experience and other scripture we believe that everyone who is baptized with the Spirit does speak in tongues, but the book of Acts itself doesn't prove it, and we must never assume something to try to justify our beliefs. If what we believe is true, the whole counsel of God and the scriptures will prove it..
19. True. Gen. 7:11.
20. False. The Bible never claims this title for itself, always reserving that status for the Divinity, particularly Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God (Jn.1:1; Rev.19:11-13).

The Bible is thrilling, though simple, and holy. It is given by the One Who created us, to educate us on an elementary level as to what life is all about, how it came to be in the mess it is in, and what is going to take place in the future. Read it.

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