John 8:31-32: Jesus said: If ye abide in my word, (then) are ye truly my disciples; and ...
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
If you do not know the truth you are enslaved to those who claim that they do (Romans 6). There is no way that you can harm your brother more than to convince him that he is saved when he is not. No way to serve him better than to lead him to discover the truth for himself. Please help us to reflect the truth of God's word in every possible way.
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
If you do not know the truth you are enslaved to those who claim that they do (Romans 6). There is no way that you can harm your brother more than to convince him that he is saved when he is not. No way to serve him better than to lead him to discover the truth for himself. Please help us to reflect the truth of God's word in every possible way.
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To All People Everywhere
Our Great Commission: Matthew 28:18-20. The bible is a special revelation from God. Faith is acquired by the study of the word itself (Rom. 10:17), and it is proven by the practice of the things that are learned (Rom. 12:2). "Every scripture inspired of God (is) also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Thurs, our only goal is to proclaim only what the scriptures teach, trusting that you cannot help but draw the right conclusions. Is the Bible Sufficient? Guide to Using the BibleThought Web Site We Want Your Participation BibleThought is for those who want to delve into God's Word to think through religious issues and determine exactly how the bible resolves them. If you have a question or want to discuss a topic, please just click "Contact Us" wherever it appears on this site. Questions or Comments? Contact Us No Visitors Please A Story of Leukemia Survival Tell your friends about BibleThought.net and sign up for our weekly bulletin: Sign Up Here |
What Makes BibleThought Different?
by Dave Brown
The answer is not in finding the right religious organization;
The answer is in understanding the truth that God has revealed to mankind.
There are thousands of religiously-based web sites on the Internet, and we are not surprised if you think that this is just another one. But, how many of them have faith enough to put the major emphasis upon you thinking for yourself? This takes faith in two things:
(1) Our faith in the bible’s ability to provide the information that you need to accept God’s free gift of eternal life as expressed in…
Ephesians 3:3-4: “.. how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, whereby, when ye read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; …”
… and
(2) Our faith in YOUR ability and desire to put forth the effort needed to read and understand the bible for yourself, as stated by Jesus …
Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
We find no passage where it says that you need someone to understand it for you and tell you what it means. Help and teaching yes, but not understanding. We will present what the bible says, you have to draw the conclusions for yourself.
Our pledge to you is:
That is not what Jesus promised; here is what he did promise:
Our goal is to obey Jesus' command of the Great Commission: "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Since the bible is all you need (2 Tim. 3:16-17) it is obvious that we are not essential to your salvation; but you are essential to ours. As the apostle Paul stated: “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And so it is with us. However, please recognize that understanding God's revelation is your individual responsibility.
Yes, it is very possible for you to learn and obey the gospel without ever coming to this or any other web site. But we are hopeful that the teaching given here will make the Way much easier for you to find, and for those that you will teach in your obedience to the Great Commission. Welcome aboard!!!
Why I Believe the Bible
by Dave Brown
Quite often Christians will attempt to convince others of the validity of the bible by scientific and historical evidences. While it is true that there are no scientific or historical biblical assertions that contradict valid science or history, this is not convincing evidence for three reasons. First, it is impossible to agree upon just what constitutes “valid” science and history. The best of both have their flaws, and so this is a process of comparing what could be the word of God to imperfect writings and thoughts of men. Second, the bible itself, although quite understandable, is often popularly thought to say things that it just does not.
A third problem is that miracles are, by definition, supernatural events. Miracles must contradict that which is observed by men to be science. So proving them valid by means of science is impossible. Those who have attempted to validate the miracles on a scientific basis end up with the paradoxical position of disproving that the miracles were, in reality, miracles. It is interesting to me, however, that in their endeavors to do this, they never deny the truthfulness of the testimony or that the event actually happened. They just seem to think that giving a "scientific" explanation to it will some how increase our faith in the bible; and hence the paradox.
Where does this leave us? The apostle John said it best in John 20:31: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Does this not state that reading and understanding the bible itself will build faith in the reader? This is further confirmed by the writings of the apostle Paul, who wrote in Romans 10:17: “So belief (comes) of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” To our knowledge this is the only verse in the bible that establishes the source of faith, while at the same time confirming John's statement concerning faith.
I believe the New Testament because I believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James and Jude were honorable men of sound mind. Consider the alternatives. If their writings cannot be believed then it would mean that they were either: (1) very greatly deceived, or (2) the grossest of liars.
I guess it might be possible that they were deceived and really did not see the things that they said that they saw. But this is highly unlikely. In order for so many of them to put together such a coherent and consistent account of events, both before and after the death of Jesus, they would have had to have communicated with each other. Confused and deceived men just do not do this. Even when people are in total agreement to work on a document for some mutually agreed upon purpose today, there are endless disagreements over the best way to express it, and we can say with almost certainty: they never get it right the first time. Look are our laws or scholarly publications. It typically takes years and several versions before a group of authors working together "get's it right" and even then it is not perfect.
All evidence suggests that there was no single recognized authority other than the Lord Himself and the Holy Spirit that could have brought these geographically separated minds together in such a complementary and mutually-supportive way. To think that these men were all out of their minds is just not plausible if we just honestly read what they have written and see the profoundly sublime nature of their writings. To those who doubt I can say nothing other than "Please just read it with an open heart and mind."
So, is it possible that they conspired together to pull of one of the greatest scams ever perpetrated upon the human race. We would have to ask why. What incentive would they have? That of being persecuted and giving their lives? We know why false teachers do what they do today $$$$. Again, the answer is in the words themselves. Read them and meditate upon them and then ask yourself: are these the words of conspiring liars?
We can see at first that it would have been very tempting to take advantage of the movement as literally thousands of people were being converted to Christ daily. But then came the persecution, the scattering, the threat of death, and in many cases death itself. It is clear that these men had no motivation to lie as did the many false teachers who came into their midst and tried to take advantage of them.
Had they been out to build a large following they would have appealed to the lusts of the eye, the lusts of the flesh, and the vainglory of life, just as false teachers have always done, and just as they do today. Read it and meditate upon it and you will see that this just is not the case. These were faithful believers in the God of the Hebrews, and as such they were aware of the condemnation of people who would preach a gospel that was fiction (Galatians 1:8; 2 John 9; Revelation 22:18-19, etc.).
I believe the New Testament writers because I believe that the writers were honorable and good men who were of sound mind. If these men all testified consistently in a court of law today, their testimony would be believed because they had no motivation or even ability to lie in such a coherent way.
They could not have written the document that we have today had they either been liars or deceived. Since there are no other feasible alternatives, it must be clear that what is written is indeed inspired by the Holy Spirit and from God. It is your individual responsibility to understand it.
Nothing is more important than God's Plan of Salvation.
by Dave Brown
The answer is not in finding the right religious organization;
The answer is in understanding the truth that God has revealed to mankind.
There are thousands of religiously-based web sites on the Internet, and we are not surprised if you think that this is just another one. But, how many of them have faith enough to put the major emphasis upon you thinking for yourself? This takes faith in two things:
(1) Our faith in the bible’s ability to provide the information that you need to accept God’s free gift of eternal life as expressed in…
Ephesians 3:3-4: “.. how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, whereby, when ye read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; …”
… and
(2) Our faith in YOUR ability and desire to put forth the effort needed to read and understand the bible for yourself, as stated by Jesus …
Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
We find no passage where it says that you need someone to understand it for you and tell you what it means. Help and teaching yes, but not understanding. We will present what the bible says, you have to draw the conclusions for yourself.
Our pledge to you is:
- We will not try to do your thinking for you.
- We will not promote any religious organization.
- We will not ask you for money, nor do any advertising on this site.
- We will not try to entice you with an easy ticket to heaven.
That is not what Jesus promised; here is what he did promise:
- A new and completely different life – “ye must be born again ...” (John 3:3, 5, and 7).
- A life of study, learning and improvement – “Study to show thyself approved a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightfully dividing the word of life” (2 Timothy 2:15).
- A life of persecution – “Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). If we are following Jesus, how could our lives be any different from what he had to suffer? He was different; you will be different. Jesus did not pull any punches, neither will we.
- The most rewarding life possible – “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). A promise that cannot be understood or accepted unless we take our His yoke and learn of Him.
Our goal is to obey Jesus' command of the Great Commission: "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Since the bible is all you need (2 Tim. 3:16-17) it is obvious that we are not essential to your salvation; but you are essential to ours. As the apostle Paul stated: “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16). And so it is with us. However, please recognize that understanding God's revelation is your individual responsibility.
Yes, it is very possible for you to learn and obey the gospel without ever coming to this or any other web site. But we are hopeful that the teaching given here will make the Way much easier for you to find, and for those that you will teach in your obedience to the Great Commission. Welcome aboard!!!
Why I Believe the Bible
by Dave Brown
Quite often Christians will attempt to convince others of the validity of the bible by scientific and historical evidences. While it is true that there are no scientific or historical biblical assertions that contradict valid science or history, this is not convincing evidence for three reasons. First, it is impossible to agree upon just what constitutes “valid” science and history. The best of both have their flaws, and so this is a process of comparing what could be the word of God to imperfect writings and thoughts of men. Second, the bible itself, although quite understandable, is often popularly thought to say things that it just does not.
A third problem is that miracles are, by definition, supernatural events. Miracles must contradict that which is observed by men to be science. So proving them valid by means of science is impossible. Those who have attempted to validate the miracles on a scientific basis end up with the paradoxical position of disproving that the miracles were, in reality, miracles. It is interesting to me, however, that in their endeavors to do this, they never deny the truthfulness of the testimony or that the event actually happened. They just seem to think that giving a "scientific" explanation to it will some how increase our faith in the bible; and hence the paradox.
Where does this leave us? The apostle John said it best in John 20:31: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Does this not state that reading and understanding the bible itself will build faith in the reader? This is further confirmed by the writings of the apostle Paul, who wrote in Romans 10:17: “So belief (comes) of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” To our knowledge this is the only verse in the bible that establishes the source of faith, while at the same time confirming John's statement concerning faith.
I believe the New Testament because I believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James and Jude were honorable men of sound mind. Consider the alternatives. If their writings cannot be believed then it would mean that they were either: (1) very greatly deceived, or (2) the grossest of liars.
I guess it might be possible that they were deceived and really did not see the things that they said that they saw. But this is highly unlikely. In order for so many of them to put together such a coherent and consistent account of events, both before and after the death of Jesus, they would have had to have communicated with each other. Confused and deceived men just do not do this. Even when people are in total agreement to work on a document for some mutually agreed upon purpose today, there are endless disagreements over the best way to express it, and we can say with almost certainty: they never get it right the first time. Look are our laws or scholarly publications. It typically takes years and several versions before a group of authors working together "get's it right" and even then it is not perfect.
All evidence suggests that there was no single recognized authority other than the Lord Himself and the Holy Spirit that could have brought these geographically separated minds together in such a complementary and mutually-supportive way. To think that these men were all out of their minds is just not plausible if we just honestly read what they have written and see the profoundly sublime nature of their writings. To those who doubt I can say nothing other than "Please just read it with an open heart and mind."
So, is it possible that they conspired together to pull of one of the greatest scams ever perpetrated upon the human race. We would have to ask why. What incentive would they have? That of being persecuted and giving their lives? We know why false teachers do what they do today $$$$. Again, the answer is in the words themselves. Read them and meditate upon them and then ask yourself: are these the words of conspiring liars?
We can see at first that it would have been very tempting to take advantage of the movement as literally thousands of people were being converted to Christ daily. But then came the persecution, the scattering, the threat of death, and in many cases death itself. It is clear that these men had no motivation to lie as did the many false teachers who came into their midst and tried to take advantage of them.
Had they been out to build a large following they would have appealed to the lusts of the eye, the lusts of the flesh, and the vainglory of life, just as false teachers have always done, and just as they do today. Read it and meditate upon it and you will see that this just is not the case. These were faithful believers in the God of the Hebrews, and as such they were aware of the condemnation of people who would preach a gospel that was fiction (Galatians 1:8; 2 John 9; Revelation 22:18-19, etc.).
I believe the New Testament writers because I believe that the writers were honorable and good men who were of sound mind. If these men all testified consistently in a court of law today, their testimony would be believed because they had no motivation or even ability to lie in such a coherent way.
They could not have written the document that we have today had they either been liars or deceived. Since there are no other feasible alternatives, it must be clear that what is written is indeed inspired by the Holy Spirit and from God. It is your individual responsibility to understand it.
Nothing is more important than God's Plan of Salvation.