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[[topics_collection_iv|| Topics Collection iv ]]
======What Version of the Message? ...======
Friday, Oct 4, 2012. When it comes to the message of the bible (or some other
religions such as Islam) it is often quite difficult to get well-grounded
information about what exactly the message is about! Who is the expert who
knows? Whom should you ask?
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**Who is the expert? ...**
What exactly is the message of the bible?
I have approached this problem from different sides in the last 30 years. I started
as a regular church member (and I am still a regular church member, nothing against
that!), listening to preachers and people here and there. When you visit different
Christian groups, you will find quite a variety of teaching, from narrow to
liberal, from activist to lassez-faire.
But I also looked into theology. I studied the New Testament in its original
Greek version. I studied theological literature from different schools. The
theological schools of the 20th century show an even broader variety of opinions
about the biblical books, their meaning and their particular message than the
many Christian groups on this planet. You will find theologians who think that
everything in the bible is fake, up to very dedicated believers among them who
take every letter very serious.
You can also listen to the church teaching and doctrine. But that also quickly
leads you to an area of dispute. Do you want to follow catholic or orthodox
teaching? Or do you rather listen to the churches of the reformation with their
evangelical message? What about the teaching of the evangelical and charismatic
movement, who try to follow the original Christian message as genuinely as
possible, believe and live in it?
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**Shape your own view! Pray and follow the Lord ...**
If you want to shape your own view, you need to go to the source of all the
other viewpoints. This source is the bible itself. And it is a good idea to
look into the bible anyway - starting with the New Testament, with Matthew,
Mark, Luke or John. Only here you will find the original, and you can start
to understand why and how the different streams of Christianity got to their
understanding. It is an exciting journey!
Personally, I also think that prayer is needed to gain an understanding. Only
when you start to adress the Lord and ask him to open these books to you, you
will be able to come to a genuine understanding. There are many reasons for
this phenomenon, but I think that there is no way around the insight that only
people who start their personal pilgrimage with the Lord will be able to
fully understand what he tells us in the biblical books.
The bible itself can be a source of encouragement. Prayer can be a link
to the eternal source of life, of truth and love. When we go to the Lord in
reading, in prayer and in community with other Christians, he is able to help
us, to guide us, to strengthen us and to do many miracles in our life. We
live with wonderful possibilities day by day ...
(Roland Potthast)
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