"No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means."
I was blessed to commune with some friends over lunch yesterday and we happened to begin discussing some Bible verses and their meanings. I was respectfully impressed by a difference in opinion that my friend and I shared. I resorted to my bible later that night and even after prayer, I didn't see things the way my friend did. That's when it hit me: God is individual and specific to each one of us. His word is His WORD, but no two people will read and understand it the same. Think I'm kidding? Meditate on this: Proponents of slavery use the Bible to support their position. Proponents of capital punishment use the Bible to support their position. People opposed to same sex marriages use the Bible to support their position. I am one that believes that the same Bible that condemns, is also the same Bible that forgives. You cannot read a verse and take it at face value any more than you would pick up a raw chicken and eat it. God's word is food that needs to be prepared, ingested, and digested properly. Take time to understand what you are reading. Learn not just that it IS so, but HOW it became to be and WHY it is so.
"Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like trying to eat without swallowing."
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