By Kevin Cauley

We live in a society that seeks to “interpret” everything. When the President or some other important official makes a statement, news commentators are quick to point out what was said and what wasn’t said. Did he mean this or did he mean that? The analysis is endless. Many take words that were said, rip them out of their context, and “sound bite” them giving them an entirely different meaning than when they were originally uttered. And this is, more or less, an accepted practice among some because of the failure of many to believe that there is such a thing as truth. If there is no truth, then the words that I say can mean anything that you want them to mean and what you say can mean anything that I want it to mean and we just end up believing what we want to believe regarding someone else’s statements without ever having considered the possibility that someone might have meant something different than what we thought they meant.

Read more: Can The Bible Mean Just Anything?

By Mike Riley

One of the most prevalent causes of misunderstanding the Bible is that the student fails to approach the Bible with the “right attitude.” In this way, God’s method of teaching him the truth is thwarted from the very beginning. This is the very problem Jesus faced as He began His ministry among men. After His famous parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9), the disciples asked why He had used this method (Matthew 13:10). The reply of Jesus indicated that the parable method was used so that only those who possessed the wholesome, “willing” attitude to know and understand what He said would actually understand it (Matthew 13:12). Those whose attitudes were wrong in any way would see, but “see not”, and hear, but “hear not”, thus they would not “understand” (Matthew 13:13). Is this not the reason why many people of Jesus’ own nation never understood God’s great truth as revealed by His Son in person?

With the above thoughts in mind, it is highly important that we prepare ourselves with the proper “attitudes” as we approach the Bible for study. The following attitudes are “essential” as we study God’s word:

Read more: Ten Essential Bible Study Attitudes (Part 1)

By Mike Riley

6) Desire To Understand God’s Word!

Psalm 119:34 states, “Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” There are two common reasons why man is unwilling to understand the Bible: (1) “self-satisfaction” and (2) “self-conceit.” This is the way a selfish young man often loves a young lady. He loves her for only what pleasure she brings to him – thus really loving himself, not her. We must not allow our determination to seek the truth deteriorate into the plight expressed in the words, “the truth as I see it.” Let us ask ourselves the following questions regarding the truth of God’s word:

Read more: Ten Essential Bible Study Attitudes (Part 2)

By Kevin Cauley

A few years ago, the late brother Guy N. Woods told a story about a minister who called for the removal of the Bible from his congregation for a period of six months. Recently, I received an e-mail in which the writer expressed the view that the public reading of the scripture was boring and that he did not get anything out of it. Those who once simply ignored the reading of scripture evidently feel that they can now challenge whether or not it is read at all; apathy has become disdain. Moreover, it is a mark of apostasy that some in positions of leadership in the church desire to limit another’s reading of the scripture. At the high point of Roman Catholicism, Bibles were chained to pulpits and access was limited to few. Too many have forgotten the importance of reading the Bible.

Read more: Importance of Reading the Bible—Blessed is He Who Readeth