by Dave Brown
Ye often hear it said ...
"You can prove anything with the bible."
but Paul, speaking of his own writings, said (Eph. 3:4) ...
“… when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ..."
We hasten to admit that there is a sense in which the first quote above is true. Peter stated of Paul’s writings (2 Pet 3:16): "...speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as {they do} also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction." To the "untaught and unstable" it is possible to "prove" anything; but this "proof" exists only in their minds ... it is not reality. God has given us the Scriptures so that when we read them we can have a knowledge of the truth, and so that we can act on that knowledge to produce the type of behavior within ourselves that glorifies our God and Father in heaven.
There is not error so pernicious as that which denies the very source of our only hope to know God’s will. Those who disparage our efforts to learn it and teach its truth will state that "it’s only your interpretation" and "there are many ways all leading to God." Some teach that an experience is worth a thousand scriptures, leading you to believe that you are just wasting your time in bible study. Let us remember the words of Jesus when he was quoting scripture (Matt. 4:4): "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" Is this not good enough for us?