The Therefore and 20/20 Rules

[mizzdy]

Turtle, have you ever heard of esword? Here a link its almost all free, you can get several translation including Youngs which I like very much. Theres dictionaries, concordances, when you use the KJV there are clickable links to the Strongs, BDB and others so one can see the words original meanings. Its a fantastic tool and after downloading you don't have to have internet access to use it! On my esword program I have all of Josephus' writings, and so much more that it will take me at least a few years to read all of the stuff! I always recommend it to people it really does help enhance our studies.

shalom,

Mizz

[vlad]

The main idea and suggested methods of the thread are correct.

But this is not an easy thread.

I have noticed that sometimes one and the same idea is taken literally as an ideal example by some people and as a situational practice by others. It seems to depend on interests. For example some people think that there is a general idea of redistribution when they read about early Christian communities. Others say that that only refers to those apostles at that time and should never be applied to any modern society. Who is right? No end of arguments. Material institutionalized interests are still extremely important.

Then again I met some people who said that I sould be ready for the end of the world (and they have a kind of society) and they kind of accused other denomiations for being too unprepared to live in a new world here on earth. I just asked them why don't they form an economic brotherhood and live in a commune to be at least slightly resembling the ideal and show a good example to others. Practice is much more important than mere words. There was no answer. They just said that they were ordinary people and could not afford that.

In my opinion there is always a danger of scholasticism in any reading. My idea is that one should read not only with his eyes and mind but also with ones heart. Otherwise we can easily become those bookers who judged by letter not by spirit. The method is not enough. Any method may be misleading. There must be a talent and our Lord's blessing.

Edited August 28, 2011 by vlad

[Shiloh62]

Amen,brother. Good points.

[madmaggie]

I have found quite often, that people will use the Bible in a cut and paste style to prove their points. You see if you take any thing that is said or printed out of context you can make it say anything you like.

Satan even did when tempting Jesus in the wilderness. See Matthew 4:1-11

Now at times, one verse, or one chapter, may be used by the Lord to speak to us. However you should not make entire doctrines based out of one verse. Some verses are not even complete sentences. One needs to remember that the authors did not break up there books by chapters and verse, that was years later!

So how do we discern true doctrine? Well a simple way, is to use the 20/20 and the Therefore rules. They are similar to each other, and of course are not rules in the sense of you must always do it. They are more of guidelines to help with study, but its easier to say rule then guideline.

The first one is this

The Therefore rule.

When you start reading a chapter or verse in the Bible, and the sentence starts out with the word Therefore, you need to go back and read what it is there, for.

You see in English, the word therefore is a adverb. It is describing something. So if you see it, you need to look at what was said before, to fully understand the context!

The next one is this. The 20/20 rule.

As we all know 20/20 vision is perfect vision. That is where I think this phrase came from, but how you practice it is thus. Read 20 verses before and 20 verses after the verse you are studying. If you do that you will have a real clear context of what is going on with that verse and what it means!

Of course you may not be able to do this due to hitting the beginning or end of a book!

If you follow these two simple guidelines of Bible study, it will help you to really know Jesus' voice so that you may follow him more closely!

See John 10!

If anyone else has suggestions on good ways to study the word please add on!

Good post! I had never heard the 20/20 rule before. Thanks!