Motivation of Studying

When you study the scriptures, ask yourself what is my motive?
Is it to show how bright you are, maybe to look more religious, or is it to grow and understand the messages weaved throughout scriptures from front to back?
In the second epistle of Timothy it reads: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2Ti 2:15 KJV)
From my experience, everyone learns in different ways. The main purpose in the end is that we understand all sides of an equation.
It is not just using one verse or part thereof to prove a theory. I have learned that we need scripture to intrepret scripture. Also, over the years it is also helpful to understand why it was written and the circumstances that were involved at the time.
David,wrote most of the Psalms during times of trouble, distress, and great sorrow.
The apostle Paul wrote many of his' while in a Roman jail.
One of the greatest mysteries was written by John on an isle called Patmos while he served a life sentence.
Studying, no matter what subject, is a lifetime experience. If we reach a point that we deceive ourselves that we do not need to study any longer, than we become an island unto ourselves.
I use to think and propogate that all we needed is the Bible, but the older I have become the more I have come to realize that there is so much more available to compliment my Biblical studies.
I now study and read materials, even if I do not agree totally with the entirety of the material, I can still find good information, even if only historical, that I can apply to my topic of study.
I had a pastor once tell me that if we want, we can learn something from everyone that comes in and out of our lives. I have found this to be true.
One main thing I have learned about learning is repetition. This is how I learned the lyrics of gospel songs. I would at that time record the song over and over on a cassette and play it through the night while asleep. I found myself over several days knowing the lyrics by memory.
Again, I encourage to study, healthy study, smart studying, and enjoyable study. If it feels like a task it becomes worthless.
If you are looking for a study tool that can help in your studying I would like to recommend a great piece of free software called, E-Sword. You can find it at: http://www.e-sword.net/index.htmlAgain, Happy studying. Please feel to comment, give suggestions, ideas, even tools that you know about that will help someone else in their studies.

Let's Rethink the Scripture

When is the last time you read, heard a sermon from the scriputures and something in your gut made your inner being raise a red flag? What was your reaction from this? Did you just let it go by, or did you go home and went for your Bible, Bible study helps to see if what you read or heard was acurately in the Bible scriptures.
Our culture has now gone to a level that if a person writing or speaking on scriptures must be true. Not so.
As a former evangelist, pastor, I can say that most do not go beyond the reading or hearing of the scriptures.
In Hosea, he writes the following, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." (Hos 4:6 KJV)
My objective for this blog is to tweak people to the point of where they will go and study the scriptures and the Bible.
There are so many ways to access the Bible and its many translations that basically there is no excuse to do so.
If you have a subject please mention it and maybe a can deal with it in this blog.
Happy studying.