How to Enhance Your Understanding of the Holy Bible

Introduction
The Holy Bible is the Word of God.

Although God inspired a variety of different people to record His Holy Words over a period of approximatgely one thousand five hundred years, the Holy Bible still has a consistent message from its beginning to its end. However, the message is presented in a variety of different ways, such as history, poetry, satire, songs, prophecy, commandments, and figurative imagery. This short article will provide some suggestions on how to read the Bible so that you can understand the message of what you read within the context of how that message is presented.

Discussion
As you read the Holy Bible it may be useful to identify the type of information you are currently reading. However, instead of focusing on the format of the information, such as narrative, poetry, or prose, it may be better to look beyond the format to the intended meaning of the information. The following suggestions may help enhance your understanding of the Bible as you read it.

Context: In order to avoid misunderstanding a specific scripture verse it is important to consider the verse within the context in which it appears. When a scripture verse is snatched out of the Bible without regard to its original context, then a variety of wrong interpretations can be applied to that verse. To avoid this type of error it would be wise to verify an interpretation of a specific scripture verse as being consistent with the entire passage in which it appears, and with the entire Bible from cover to cover.
Literal or Obvious: Some of the verses in the Bible only have one possible logical interpretation. For example, do not move any of the original boundary markers that separate two pieces of real estate because the properties involved belong to different people or families. However, some scripture verses have both a literal meaning and a deeper spiritual meaning. For example, "a tree is known by its fruit." The obvious literal meaning is that apples grow on an apple tree and pears grow on a pear tree. However, this particular verse also has a spiritual application: "people are known by their behavior, and good people will usually do good deeds, and bad people will usually do bad deeds." Even though some verses may have a deeper spiritual meaning, the spiritual meaning does not nullify the obvious literal meaning. Therefore trying to nullify the obvious literal meaning of a verse by forcing a spiritual meaning on the verse is never appropriate.
History: A significant amount of the Bible is about the history of the human race and about the Hebrew people in particular. When it is obvious that you are reading a historical narrative then it is usually best to simply read the information in the same way you would read a history book. Try to understand what happened, and what impact it had on the people in the story, and how it affected future generations.
Commandments, Rules, Promises, and Warnings: The Bible contains a lot of information about what we should do, what we shouldn't do, the benefits of following God's rules, and the warnings of what will happen when God's rules are disobeyed or ignored. This includes rules for individuals, for societies, and for governments. Many of the rules in the Old Testament were intended for the benefit of the people who where alive at that time based on their customs, and how a society should function to fulfill God's purposes for mankind, and to enhance the well-being of all people. Some of those rules still apply today, such as honor your mother and father. However, some of the rules no longer apply because Jesus Christ has revealed a better way for us. For example, divorce was permitted for any reason in the Old Testament because of the hardness of people's hearts. However, Jesus expects us to be better examples of the love of God and there are only a few reasons for divorce that are acceptable to God today. Another example is that foods were separated into clean (lamb) and unclean (pork) categories but today all healthy foods are considered to be clean, including pork. These few examples are provided here to encourage you to read the entire Bible before you condemn or approve of a specific action or behavior. It would also be wise to not simply ignore a scripture verse using the argument that the verse only applied "back then" and it doesn't apply today.
Prophecy: There are two major types of prophecy in the Bible as follows:
- Prophecy that has already been fulfilled in the past: Some of the prophecies were written to inform people of what was about to happen. Then when that event actually happened it certified the truth of everything the prophet had said.
- Prophecy that will be fulfilled sometime in the future: Some of the prophecies were written for those of us who are alive now and those prophecies will be fulfilled sometime in the future according to God's perfect timetable. We can be confident that those prophecies will be fulfilled because God said they will happen and because God has already given us proof of His ability to predict and control the future based on other prophecies that have already been fulfilled.
Heaven and Earth: Most of the Bible provides information about things here on the earth. However, sometimes the Bible describes an event that has taken place in heaven or that will take place in heaven sometime in the future. Heavenly events always have an impact on events here on the earth. Those events may have already happened in the past or they may be waiting for fulfillment sometime in the future.
The Messiah or Savior of the World: The entire Bible is about God's perfect eternal plan for His creation. It includes references to God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son (or Messiah or Savior). All three are present in the first book of the Bible called Genesis, and all three continue throughout the entire Bible, and all three are present in the last book of the Bible called Revelation. As you read the Bible you will discover specific scripture verses that talk about one, two, or all three of the different persons of God but all three persons are One God and they are not three different gods.
Parables: Parables are used throughout the Bible to present a hypothetical situation. Then the hypothetical situation is interpreted in terms of the people that were actually alive and who were listening to the parable. Please be patient as you read a parable because the parable will almost always be explained after the entire parable has been presented.
Imagery: Images are sometimes used in the Bible to represent specific people, things, or events. Sometimes the Bible clearly explains what these images mean. But sometimes the Bible is silent on the interpretation of the images. However, God knows why He decided to use images, and what those images mean, and why He decided to not explain the images to us. Instead of becoming frustrated because you cannot understand the images, or devoting a lot of time trying to unravel the images, it may be better to simply accept that the meaning of some images will not be revealed to us until God decides it is time to reveal what the images mean. A much better use of your time and energy may be to attempt to put what you do understand into practice in your own life.

Conclusion
The Holy Bible is the most important Book in the entire world.

The knowledge we gain from reading the Bible is the only knowledge that has eternal value. When we read the Bible we are investing our time in learning information that will be extremely valuable to us forever.

"Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens." (Psalm 119:89, NIV)
"All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal." (Palsm 119:160, NIV)
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." (Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:24-25, NIV)
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, NIV)
"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:17, NIV)

Since the Words of God are eternal, wouldn't it make good common sense to invest some of our time every day in reading the Bible?

Respectfully,
Grandpappy.

Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com