Continuing the last post.

Two other things to remember when you are interpreting your bible; is to look at the Historical-Grammatical context of the text. Also remember the Scripture interprets Scripture principle. God's word will never contradict itself, it always agrees with itself. When looking at Historical and grammatical context we try to remember the time in which that book was written and we look at the language that is used in the verses. I have found that my grammer has improved dramatically since my high school days. Pronouns, participles, direct objects, etc jump out of the page as I look at God's Word indepth. Going back to God's word not contradicting itself, we have to remember to interpret based on context, starting from the ultimate context, God's purpose in giving us His word and His overall purpose to glorify Himself throught all the ages past, present, and future. The Bible is intended to be understood by the most immature mind up to the most intelligent minds, it always has applicable truths that change our lives in what ever time period we live in. I recommend reading God's Word with only you and the Holy Spirit, you can learn so much if you are willing to dive into the Bible. There are times that commentaries open up hard to understand passages, but those are only intended for you when you have exhaused your own abilities. I have found that people tend to rely on men of old to explain God's word to them and when something does not agree with what they have said, they write it off as false teaching. God never intended us to trust men over the Holy Spirit's teaching. The only way that we are going to mature is if we spend time in His word, learning what He has to teach us and praying for direction as we do this.