New Christian Bible Study

Commentary

 

The Bible - Authoritative?

How do we decide what rules to live by? We're here, in the 21st century, with brains that give us capabilities far beyond those of other animals, and tools and knowhow far beyond our ancestors of even just 200 years ago. There are between 7 and 8 billion of us. We have many choices available to us. So... how should we live.

Clearly, for Christians, the Bible's an important guide. But... how much of the Bible? There are at least 7 different canons (books that are accepted as being part of the Bible) in the different branches of Christianity. Then, too, of the books we accept as canonical, how literally do we take them? All of them? The New Testament weighted more than the Old? How much should our understanding of the internal sense modify our acceptance of the literal sense?

This is going to be a big subject. Right now, it's going to be a work in progress -- a notepad of sorts. Here's one set of thoughts:

The Lord repeatedly warns the Children of Israel against situations where "everyone does what is right in his own eyes". It's pretty clear that we aren't supposed to be laws unto ourselves. See Deuteronomy 12:1-12, Jeremiah 34:8-17, Judges 17:6, and Proverbs 21:2.

The Bible

 

Deuteronomy 12:1-12

Study

      

1 These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth.

2 You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree:

3 and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place.

4 You shall not do so to Yahweh your God.

5 But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall come;

6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock:

7 and there you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you.

8 You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes;

9 for you haven't yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Yahweh your God gives you.

10 But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety;

11 then it shall happen that to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh.

12 You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your male servants, and your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

      

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