The Bible is a divine and sacred book, but in the wrong, spiritually unprepared hands it is almost always a disaster. This is not a baseless conclusion, and History has chronicled the issue.
Through the centuries, the selective use of Scripture quotes has justified the execution of heretics, the bloody Crusades, slavery, apartheid, homophobia, and the genocide and oppression of natives.
We will always see things not as they are, but as we are. We will understand the Bible not as what it says, but as we are.
Jesus said “Whoever has ears, let them hear” many times in the Gospels (Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:23; Luke 14:35). All over Revelation and in Revelation 2 in particular, the same was declared seven times to the seven churches. “Having ears to hear” refers to those whose hearts have been transformed and were ready to act upon the truth they were given.
Our goal is to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. This is why we need to read the Bible with an alert awareness on guard against the workings of our ego-dependent and fallen nature. Humbly submitting to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we could follow Jesus’ hermeneutic and, at the same time, be reformed by the text.
John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
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