<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Young Disciple Ministries

How to Study the Bible

Eugene Prewitt

How to Study the Bible: Part 1

How to Study the Bible: Part 2

How to Study the Bible: Part 3

How to Study the Bible: Part 4

How to Study the Bible: Part 5

How to Study the Bible: Part 6

Our Father in heaven, as we study your holy Bible, I ask that you would teach us what it means, that you'd give us of your Holy Spirit that we could comprehend correctly.

Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Timothy, chapter 2, and we're looking at verse 23.

2 Timothy, chapter 2, and looking at verse 23.

Have you ever heard anyone say something like this, that there's no such thing as a foolish question or no such thing as a stupid question?

You should just know that it is not true.

And I don't like to use the word stupid, so I won't.

2 Timothy Chapter 2 and looking at verse 23.

It says, "...but foolish and unlearned questions..." What's it say?

It's going to be hard for us to make progress, isn't it?

It says, but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

If you've ever wondered why people argue so much about religion, does this verse give you an idea?

Why do people argue so much about religion?

Can I give you an example of a foolish and unlearned question?

The number 144, 000 Is it a literal or a symbolic number?

Can I just talk to you about that question for a minute?

It is the least useful question anyone could ever ask about the 144, 000.

Questions about how do you become 1 of them, what is their character like, what is their purpose on this earth, Inspiration is full of information on that.

But if you come to the question, is it literal or symbolic?

It's 1 of those things that isn't revealed plainly in any part of inspiration.

So you'll find people that will wax eloquent telling you that it's literal, and those who will wax eloquent telling you that it's symbolic.

And if they make an issue of it, the 1 thing they have in common is they have failed to avoid an unlearned and foolish question.

And what Do unlearned and foolish questions do according to this verse?

You can just watch that in your life and you'll see it.

So I guess we're talking about in your outline, we are on point number 3.8.

1 is to entertain foolish questions that require speculative answers.

Outline number 3.9, it says, do not search the Bible for evidence to support your position.

There is a way, in fact, I'll tell you a story that happened when I began teaching.

Matter of fact, I suppose it was just about the time that the oldest of you here were being born and about the time that for the rest of you, your older siblings were being born.

It was the first time I'd ever taught a high school Bible class.

I noticed that the students in my class were from families that some of them thought that it was okay to pay tithes to self-supporting institutions, and some of them thought that tithes should only be paid to the church organization.

Are you familiar with that kind of question?

And so I thought you know my students the opinion they have about this it really isn't their own opinion they have the same opinion that their parents had.

If their parent thought it's okay to pay it to a self-sufficient institution, then what did the children think?

If the parents thought it must be paid to the conference, what did the children think?

So I assigned them, first of all I took a survey to find out what my students thought.

I took a survey and I wrote down the names, 1 side and the other side, and then I assigned them to write a research paper.

I told them I would not grade them on their conclusion.

I would only grade them on the quality of their evidence and information.

How much they had, I required them to write, it was something like 4 or 5 pages.

You know, some of my students wrote, 1 of them wrote over 20 pages.

They really went into this research project, they studied it for themselves.

And when they were all done, I Compared Their conclusions to the conclusion they had before their study Now I'll tell you the shocking result Every person that thought that I should be paid to the conference before he did his research thought the same thing after he finished his research.

Every person who thought it's okay to pay Tye to a self-employed institution before he did his research thought the same thing after he did his research.

0 of my students changed their opinion by doing their own study.

Can you see in that story that it's not necessarily so that just because you study for yourself that you end up finding what is true?

That certainly a bunch of my students studied for themselves, went after it earnestly, and still ended up with the same false opinion they had before they started?

This point number 9 has to do with why that kind of thing can happen.

Line number 9, it says, Do not search the Bible for evidence to support your position.

Rather, seek for evidence regarding your position.

If you come to the Bible and you have an idea, like my students did, and then you begin searching the Bible, your mind will be attracted to verses that seem to support your idea.

Imagine, for example, that you believe that Sunday keeping is the right thing and you begin to study the Bible to see if it's okay to keep Sunday.

Turn in your Bibles for a minute to 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 2.

Now, I told you to turn there, but I didn't turn there.

First Corinthians 16 and verse 2, it says, upon which day of the week?

Upon the first day of the week, let every 1 of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings or offerings when I come.

On what day were they to give their offerings?

If you believe that Sunday keeping was right, would this verse make you think, wow, it's the truth?

You would look at it and think, wow, I should pay my offerings on Sunday.

Sunday keeping must be what the Christians were doing.

Does the verse say that we should be gathered together on Sunday?

In other words, you're not at church yet.

When do you begin laying aside your offerings?

First day of the week, because you lay them aside.

Nowadays, your parents probably get paid every 2 weeks.

Some might get paid every week, some every month.

When did people get paid back in the days of Jesus?

That's right, they got paid every day, right?

You remember that from the story of the workers?

Back to Menu

Series

How to Study the Bible

How to Study the Bible: Part 2

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

A Life-Changing Classroom

37m

Jesus Who?

55m

Digging Deeper

1h 13m

Talking Points 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

12 Earth’s Closing Events

28m

Christ in You: The Hope of Glory

1h

Lessons on Fanaticism

53m

Doug Batchelor: The Victorious Life

A Double Portion of The Spirit

1h

The War for Your Mind

03 Digital Evangelism

48m

Fill Me with the Spirit

50m

1-Defending the Faith

Ellen White and Her End-Time Relevance

1h 11m

Christianity 24-7

2. The Long and Winding Road

1h 9m

Sound Doctrine