Read part one, part two, part three, or part four.
Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.
If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.
Let’s get started:
Study Means Study
There is a reason people can read the Bible for years and never see its great truths: they never really study it. There is a huge difference between just reading and actual study. Successful college students, and to a lesser extent High School students, have to learn to study books to the end that they learn the material and remember what they learned. The Bible is, among other things, a book of history, so let’s use the example of a college student studying a history book.
The diligent history student will carefully read his textbook and usually underline important passages or use highlighters to emphasize the main points. He will reread passages that are unclear, and work to understand what the author is saying. He will probably make notes, either in the book or in a separate notebook, or both, and pay attention to dates, numbers, people’s travel, relationships (such as who is married to whom, who are friends or enemies), births, deaths, and other important information. If he does not understand a word he will use a dictionary, and if he needs to know more about a person or place he will use an encyclopedia. He will think about whether or not what he is reading makes sense, and if it does not, will try to figure out why, eventually arriving at an understanding of the material. He will review his notes and strive to remember what he has read. He may even make flash cards to help him remember important people, dates, or events.
Very few Christians read the Bible that way, but we should. The Bible is not a shrine, but a tool for godliness, so we Christians should feel free to make notes, highlight or underline verses, and make any annotation that will help us in our efforts to be like Christ. In fact, now that many versions of the Bible are available on computers, it is easy to print out a book of the Bible and write all over it in order to gain greater understanding without being afraid of ruining an expensive Bible. For example, someone interested in the development of the early Church might print out a copy of Acts, then highlight the people with one color, the places with another, the healings with a third, the sermons with a fourth, the confrontations with a fifth, and so on, while at the same time tracking people’s movements in the Bible Atlas. Someone who studies the Bible with that kind of detail will learn it a lot faster than someone who just sits in an easy chair and reads it, often forgetting what he just read.
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(If this video will not play for you, you can find the original file on this page).
If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page.
Next week, part six. Thank you for visiting and God bless.
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