The Teachings of Men, part 21...The Bible

For every Bible version ever published there have been critics and opponents, supporters and opposers. Some hold certain versions to hero...or idol...status while there are others that hold the same version in derision. Every believer in the Bible has their favorite version and their least favorite version.

And every last person believes they are right.

I have favored versions and least favored versions. There are versions I will read and versions I will not read, at least not unless I am doing so for research purposes.

Much has been written on every Bible version out there. I do not wish to rehash old ground. It's not likely that anyone will ever hear me sing the praises of the King James version, as some do, it's also not likely that anyone will ever hear me sing its evils. My point in all this is to say that I'm not about to get into the KJV controversy, although I am beginning to believe that there may be something to some to their beliefs on the newer versions.

As with all my other studies on the teachings of men, I did not set out to find my heart and mind turned to Bible versions. I have my favored Bible (written of in My Bible, My Friend) and I very much like that Bible. I like the version (ESV) and the feel and look of the Bible.

My husband doesn't understand my speaking of 'the feel of it in my hand', he says he doesn't care how the Bible feels just give him the Bible. I told him maybe it's a book person thing. I think I was in high school when I learned to favor certain books for the way they felt in my hand. I got a library book that had probably been read dozens of times. It was a paperback and it molded to my hand like it was made to be there. Next to accuracy that is what I want in my Bible. It's sad to say but I would pay a lot to get a Bible that fit my hand like that, one that made me feel as though I was being met by a dear friend every time I pick it up. Thankfully, I did not pay a lot for my dear friend. The Lord was kind enough to let me get it for around the ten dollar price range.

And I guess one could say that I sort of fell in love with that Bible. I'm not saying I idolize it but for some reason it quickly took favored status for me and I still favor it.

I think.

The trouble is...in this teachings of men I hit a point where I was studying in 1 Timothy (thanks to my husband) and I found myself reading several verses in three different translations. What I discovered while doing so was astonishing. There before my very eyes was clearly laid out the problem with my beloved Bible and the version I favor so much of the time. Here is what I found:

1 Timothy 5:17 English Standard Version (ESV)

17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

1 Timothy 5:17 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

1 Timothy 5:17 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

17 ¶ [a]The Elders that rule well, let them be had in [b]double honor, [c]specially they which labor in the word and doctrine.

There is clearly a HUGE difference in the words 'preaching and teaching' and 'word and doctrine'. I won't rehash everything I wrote on those verses because my intent this time isn't to cover what is being taught but to go into where I ran into a problem and how my heart began to be drawn into delving deeper into the Bible as we know it today. 

When did 'word and doctrine'...the very definition of Scripture...become 'preaching and teaching'? My husband and I discussed it when we discovered the variance. We came to the conclusion that people, and in this case it's people in pretty powerful places, powerful in the sense that they are putting the very word of God into the hands of millions of people, have an agenda to promote the entire 'church system'. It appears that they are using our very own Bibles against us in order to accomplish that goal. 

I already know just enough of the history of the Bible to know that in 1881 the game changed. I'm not going to delve deeply into this because it's one of those areas that is controversial. The thing is that in 1881 two men, last names of Westcott and Hort, created a manuscript of the Bible that was very controversial at the time. It would appear, from letters written by these very men that they held to "heresies" and did not believe people would receive their version of the Bible well. They set out to keep the fact that they were behind that manuscript secret until after it was well received. 

The history here is fascinating but does begin to delve into 'he said, she said' kind of stuff. There appears to be two sides of this story, both claiming they are right. As I write this I find myself thinking that maybe all of our history should be this way. There are always at least two sides to every story. I think of the Civil War and how we had the governments side, the Norths side, the Souths side but we also had the slaves side, the slave owners side, the northern soldiers side, the southern soldiers side, and how all of those sides would have varied just a bit, if not a whole lot, from each other. 

Today we have all those sides of the story but to get them we often have to go delving on our own. We have to find the handwritten accounts of the soldiers, the heartrending accounts from the slaves. We have to look beyond what the history books want us to see and see the Civil War through deeper understanding.

The Bible may be the most important part of history we will ever hold in our hands and yet we take it as whatever we can buy at the Bible bookstore.

Let me just take a moment to say that I am not, absolutely not, going to get to the point where I will say 'this' is the only right Bible. I hold strongly to the belief that the right Bible is the one you have access to. If the only Bible a person has is a mockery of the Scriptures...they should use it.

I can hear the outcry of that statement already. I am sure that there are those out there that would say certain versions of the Bible will lead people straight to hell. And they are right but that will only happen if the Lord is sending them to hell anyway. For the elect...God can and will use any version of the Bible to pull them to him. The very worst Bible, so long as it uses the name of Jesus, can be the tool through which the Lord draws an elect soul to salvation. 

I am going to stand firmly on that stance and put my faith firmly in the Lord's sovereignty. If you have only one Bible...use it. Don't worry over what translation it is or how accurate it is. If you have access to many Bibles...use them. Compare them to each other. Decide for yourself which one you think is best. 

I happen to have a love for Bibles. I truly enjoy them. I think I could easily pick up Bibles as a hobby if there were such a thing. What I mean by this is I like to look at different Bibles, explore them...enjoy them. Sometimes I will buy a Bible at second hand stores just so I can flip through it, read any notes written in it, and generally just experience that Bible. 

I don't buy near as many Bibles these days as I used to and most of the ones I have bought over the years have passed through my hands and moved on to someone else. Some of them, though...some of them have stayed. 

I found myself adding to my collection a couple of weeks ago. I found a like new 1599 Geneva reprinted Bible at a thrift store. You might say it was love at first sight. This Geneva Bible brought me joy just seeing it. I hardly even flipped through it, knowing almost before I picked it up that it would be going home with me. 

Once home I explored this new Bible much the way a new mother might explore her brand new baby. Fingers? Toes? Hair color? In this case it was what's here? What's not? I read a few verses... and the exploration was well underway. 

I quickly discovered this new Bible of mine claimed to have a leather cover but was stiff and unyeilding in my hands. I did not like that. The flow of the words were almost melodic...a joy indeed. I also discovered some parts of it are harder to understand than my ESV are. 

A couple of weeks acquaintance has, for now anyway, landed this new Bible the privileged position of taking up residence right along with my favored Bible. The leather is softening with use. It still doesn't mold to my hand but it is less stiff. I still marvel at the melodic tone to some of the verses, still struggle with what some of them are saying. What I did not expect was the very different kind of struggle I have had since studying those verses in 1 Timothy. 

Where I had been taking my ESV at it's word, believing what was there, now I find myself either reaching for the Geneva first or double checking my ESV against it. I've also done much research on my favored ESV Bible and while I won't go into what all I discovered, I will say that I was shocked to find out that the ESV removed something like 33,000 words from Scripture. I found this statement on the av1611 website:

A word comparison with the New Testament of the KJB and the ESV reveals the ESV removes over a staggering 33,000 words! And that is nothing to sneeze at. That equals removing the complete books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Malachi, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and Jude - combined! 

That’s a huge part of your Bible that someone decided you didn’t need!

And that’s just the words ripped from the New Testament!

I am not promoting that website. I was simply doing an internet search to find out which verses might be different in my ESV and came across that site. While it appears to be a KJV only site it did give me plenty of verses to compare. Most of them the changes did not concern me, a few of them like Romans 2:9 did. In that one the ESV didn't just change a bit of wording but they removed the word soul and with it they changed the meaning of the verse from tribulation in eternity to tribulation on earth. A careful reading of context there will still gain one the knowledge that Paul is talking about eternity but how many people may not read it that closely and how much better is it to simply say the soul will have tribulation? 

Those 33,000 words though...

Wow. I just can't hardly wrap my mind around that. While I realize many of those words were simply little things like ye or something that may have been unnecessary...shouldn't we be the one's to decide if something is unnecessary? There are plenty of times in my Scripture studies when I scan over some things while delving deeply into others. The thing is though, not all those words are little unnecessary words. Here's a list of verses from the same site above (the full article can be found at: http://www.av1611.org/kjv/ESV_Fruit.html):

In case you think the ESV simply removes insignificant archaic words. The ESV removes “key” words and phases from hundreds of verses. The following are some examples of the words “taketh away” in the ESV. The words marked in red are removed in the ESV.

Mathew 19:9

KJB

And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

ESV

And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."

---

Mark 9:49

KJB

For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

ESV

For everyone will be salted with fire.

---

Luke 9:55-56

KJB

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

ESV

But he turned and rebuked them.

And they went on to another village.

---

Luke 22:64

KJB

And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?

ESV

They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?"

---

John 3:13

KJB

And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

ESV

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

---

John 8:59

KJB

Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

ESV

So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

---

Acts 9:5

KJB

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

ESV

And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."

---

Acts 18:21

KJB

But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.

ESV

But on taking leave of them he said, "I will return to you if God wills," and he set sail from Ephesus.

---

Romans 8:1

KJB

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

ESV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

---

Romans 13:9

KJB

For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

ESV

For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

---

1 Corinthians 10:28

KJB

But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:

ESV

But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience--

---

Galatians 3:1

KJB

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

ESV

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

---

Ephesians 3:14

KJB

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

---

Titus 1:4

KJB

To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.

ESV

To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

---

Hebrews 2:7

KJB

Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:

ESV

You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,

---

1 John 5:7

KJB

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

ESV

For there are three that testify:

the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

Those aren't insignificant words. I am not speaking against the ESV. Not even close. But I'm also not promoting it at this moment either. My favored Bible happens to be one of the 2001 versions despite the fact that I bought it brand new in 2016. I am so very grateful the Lord oversaw that one and at least made sure I received an older version because what I understand of the 2016 version would come close to making me burn it. Supposedly the newest revision has them stating that Eve's desire will be contrary to her husband as opposed to saying it will be for her husband in Genesis 3:16. There's a huge difference in desire for one's husband and her desire being contrary to her husband.

Supposedly the word used for that verse can be translated either way so Crossway wasn't violating the Scriptures in doing so but it does appear that they switched up which side of the translation of that word they were on. Considering the ESV is said to be one of the gender neutral Bible versions...I can only wonder if this doesn't somehow fit in with a bigger...possibly much bigger...agenda.

According to the article I mentioned above, "only about 5%-10% of the RSV text was changed in the ESV". The RSV was apparently burned in the pulpits when it was first published. While I could really care less about that and I have to wonder if we would all be wise to rush out and buy any Bible that the 'churches' deem so bad they must be burned, it is an interesting bit of history behind the ESV Bible, or rather about the version that was the ancestor of the ESV Bible. 

Please don't get me wrong, I am not basing all my opinions and thoughts on that one article but that one article does seem to pull together all of what I was able to glean from reading multiple other articles. I am not bashing the ESV. I still like my ESV Bible and will continue to use it.  What I won't do is use it wholeheartedly anymore without double checking it against an older translation, one that was made off the Textus Receptus rather than the newer manuscripts which some say, and my own research appears to support, are corrupt. 

Here's where my opinion probably doesn't agree with most others that have done this very same research...I still say, whichever Bible you have is the 'best' and 'most accurate' Bible. Even the very worst paraphrase out there still gives the Lord's names and hopefully has actual Scripture there hidden among the authors version of what they want the Bible to say.

When I first started writing this post I intended to delve deeply into this issue of whether or not our own Bibles are being used against us to promote the 'church' system. Time has passed, though, since I started this and with it my desire to search out any, maybe I should call them conspiracy theories, behind why 1 Timothy and so many other verses have been twisted.

As I sit here, pulling this post together, I am choosing to back away from that particular study. Just as I believe that whichever version of the Bible you have in hand is the best version at that moment in your life, I also believe the Lord has preserved His word for us. Yes, the modern versions appear to be perverted and it would seem they are being used to push the church system on us.

I did read somewhere that The Roman Catholic Church had to give up their goal of total control as they knew it prior to the reformation and instead instigated a different plan, one that would get to the 'enemy' through a different way, and so they supposedly set out to infiltrate the Christians they so opposed.

Maybe they accomplished that through our own Bibles. I did an internet search for approved Roman Catholic Bibles. It's kind of astonishing at how many versions of the Bible are being used in Roman Catholic Churches and in Protestant Churches. And it seems fishy to me that a religion that so opposed another would use the exact same holy book as those they opposed. Of course, Roman Catholics do add in the Apocrypha so maybe that is supposed to make all the difference. I don't know.

All that aside though, I would encourage anyone with the least bit of interest in this subject to do their own studying on it. See if you can figure out how deeply they are trying to brainwash us into the 'church' system with our own Bibles. I would love to hear your opinions on this topic as well as any articles or information you may know of. 

What form is love?

Love.

A short four letter word that says so much. And so little. It is the example of an all loving, holy God toward His people. We see His love in the creation He made. The beautiful butterfly. The majestic tree. The delicate flower. Plants that give air and food...our very life source. A sky that brings thirst quenching rain and healing sunshine. Even the ground beneath our feet holds a medicine to our bodies that only a caring creator could have envisioned and put in place.

Love is the very definition of a parents commitment and care for their child. A newborn baby would die within days lest someone cared enough to tend to it. A parent guides a toddler away from danger because the idea of them being injured hurts the parent. Love for their child has a parent stepping back and letting them go when the parent would rather hold them close and keep them little.

Love. It is all that we are. It is like the air we breathe and the water we drink. It flows through us in so many ways.

Love. That very word is beginning to take different, less pure, meanings these days. It is the oft flaunted term for 'accept me for whatever I want to do', 'embrace my sin', 'do not speak ill of me in any way'. It has even come to mean 'allow me to do anything I want to'.

In the last week I have seen the word love written on more articles of clothing than I can count. It's there, sweet and innocent, but without the innocence it should hold. Still, Scripture speaks of love. It tells us so much of what love is. In fact, 1 Corinthians 13 gives us the very definition of love.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

 My intent here is not to set out guidelines for what love is...we already have them in Scripture...but to expand on some thoughts I have had since writing my last post on love. I am sure just about everyone has been accused of not being very loving in their life. I have even heard parents tell children 'that's not very loving'.

Do you ever notice that most of the time when one person accuses another of not being loving, that their accusation stems from their own idea of what it means to show love to another?

Yes, we have Scripture to set the guidelines on what love is. Those that follow Scripture should strive to follow that definition of love. But sometimes love shows up in different ways for different people.

I have a relative that never met a stranger. Literally from toddlerhood on this relative embraced (for lack of a better word) everyone she met. Warnings that not everyone is nice, warnings that all people aren't your friend, warnings of any kind were like nothing to this relative. They simply did not sink in.

I watched this relative grow up. And I watched people be drawn to her unlike anything I had ever seen before. This relative of mine loved people and they loved her in return. She was like a ray of bright sunshine in the life of every person that ever crossed her path. A brief encounter with a stranger in town left them happy as they departed, happy to have been graced by the presence of my relative. It was astonishing to say the least.

I still marvel at how she was able to make people happy simply because she was there. As a child she had a bright infectious smile that she turned on everyone. As an adult, the smile is still there and she still hands it out freely. But it's not just her smile. It's something deep inside her. She is able to pour love onto everyone she meets and they can feel it during even the briefest of encounters with her.

Love never came to me like it did to her. I was never graced with the ability to spread love like a flower girl in a wedding spreads rose petals, dropping it with every step I took. I never saw a strangers day turn around simply because I graced them with my presence.

I have rarely been rude or short with people that pass my way (although there were times past when my temper got the better of me and I did speak harshly to strangers, usually those that were mean to my kids). I am friendly to those that I encounter. But I do not have the ability to ooze love on everyone. Not like my relative does.

And I have tried.

I have spent a good deal of time studying 1 Corinthians 13 the last few months. I have even handwritten it. Four times. Pondering each word. Absorbing it. Taking it to heart. Taking my heart apart in light of it.

And you know what?

I've come to the conclusion that love does not look the same for everyone. Love is not always oozed through every pore of a person's being. Love may not fall from someone's lips like rain from a rain cloud. Some people show love in every action they make, every expression, every word. Some people show love in a more reserved, behind the scenes kind of way, and some people fall somewhere in between on the spectrum of how they show love.

Everyone can ooze love on someone. Everyone does ooze love on someone. Love flows between people like an invisible thread, connecting us to those closest to us, connecting us to everyone we meet.

I remember as a kid, first encountering the idea that love does not diminish, it only grows. 1 Corinthians 13 in the Geneva Bible says, 'love is bountiful'.

Love is huge.

It grows. It swells and encompasses. It is never ending. It's capacity for growth does not stop. Love is bountiful. I think that may be my favorite part of 1 Corinthians 13, unless my favorite part is 'love endures all things' or 'If I ...have not love, I am a noisy gong..."

But...love, I have come to the conclusion of, does not look the same to all people. Not only do we all show love in different ways but...we all interpret love in different ways. 

I have only recently begun to realize just how far reaching that statement is. How much our own idea of what love is influences just how we see, feel, and give love to others. 

A month or so ago I realized that I am a person that must see love to feel love. In other words it does not matter if someone tells me they love me, saying 'I love you' are only words. I have said those three little words many times in my life and not meant them. It was a product of certain expectations on me during my childhood. I learned to say 'I love you' even when I did not love someone. 

So for me, being told 'I love you' is only words. I must see and feel love to feel loved. 


Once that realization set in my eyes were opened to some other things as well. I may not ooze love like my relative does. I may not be every person I meet's best friend. I may go quietly about my life but that does not mean I am not showing love. I have used my relative as the measuring stone for what it looks like to love others for years, and for years I was striving for a goal I could not attain.

Then came the slow realizations, one on top of another, that opened my eyes to the fact that love has many forms. And that it shows up for each of us in different ways.

I have come to the conclusion that we hand out love based on how we feel love. I need to see and feel love therefore I show love by doing. I write letters. I buy gifts. I do laundry. I set aside my own needs to focus on someone else.

My husband has this very endearing...sometimes maddening...way of seeing life through 'I was never like that' or 'I never wanted those kinds of things' and therefore he tends to think everyone else is that way too. I remind him often that he is unlike anyone else, that no one else is like him, and that no one else sees things that way.

But I am coming to the conclusion that we all view life that way. Our version of life, and our view of other people, is seen through our own eyes and experiences. I once saw something that said 'you' are someone different to everyone because everybody has their own idea of who you are and who you really are does not match any of those versions other people have in mind of you because you are all of those versions of 'you' and none of them. You're bigger than what others see of you.

And so we all love based on our idea of what love is. What it is for us to feel love, what it takes for us to feel it. And we hold others to expectations they cannot meet because we need them to show love based on our idea of what love looks and feels like.

1 Corinthians 13 gives us the very definition of what love is and it gives us an idea of how to live that out but there is also a huge variance for how that love is shown. Sometimes love is oozed like a heavy rain, pouring down on all in it's path, sometimes love blows through like a tornado, touching here and there but effecting everyone, and sometimes love is a slow gentle mist. Or maybe it's even tucked in a corner somewhere, quiet but flowing out to all who come within it's grasp.

Love is shown in a variety of ways and all too often those ways do not show up the same in each person. And so...love. Love is patient. Love is kind...

Love is bountiful.

Love grows and expands. It flows from one of us to another. It is smoothed on like the softest of silks, gentle and embracing, it is whispered through the air and flutters against someone like the softest of butterfly wings brushing your skin, it is poured on in correction, hurting the heart as it strives to save the person in the wrong.

Love is handed out through hugs and gifts. It is delivered through the mail in a written letter. It is given as a gift wrapped with more love than wrapping paper. It is shown by setting aside your own wants or needs to focus on someone else. It is being a friend to a stranger. It's treating the unlovable like your beloved brother. It's a clean house so all that live there can enjoy it. It's clean clothes in a closet. It's food in the kitchen so no one goes hungry. It's a home that looks like a tornado blew threw because a toddler lives there and messes are better than constant scoldings. It's money given away. It's a handmade quilt. It's...

Whatever form love takes for the person giving the love.

The Teachings of Men, part 20...Scripture says

Scripture is one of those things that you can read it a thousand times and never see something then go back again and there is a whole new concept to be studied on and learned. That has been the case for me lately.

Generally when I read Scripture it is the verses about the Lords will, predestination, and the elect that stand out to me just a little stronger than the rest but since doing this deep study on the teachings of men I have been seeing more and more of what the Lord says about us turning to others.

Scripture does not tell us that we cannot read the writings of men, nor does it ever tell us not to listen to what others have to say about Scripture. It does tell us things like:

Iron sharpeneth iron, so doth [a]man sharpen the face of his friend. Proverbs 27:17 Geneva

I know that I gain much when I am able to discuss Scripture with someone else, even if that someone does not hold to the same beliefs that I do. 

We are also told: 

My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Ecclesiastes 12:12 ESV

That follows Ecclesiastes 1 which says: 

The words of the [a]Preacher, the son of David king in Jerusalem.

2 [b]Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher: vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

3 What remaineth unto man in all his [c]travail, which he suffereth under the sun?

4 One generation passeth, and another generation succeedeth: but the earth remaineth [d]forever.

5 The sun riseth, and the sun goeth down, and draweth to his place where he riseth.

6 The [e]wind goeth toward the South, and compasseth toward the North: the wind goeth round about, and returneth by his circuits.

7 All the rivers go into the sea, yet the sea is not full: for the rivers go unto the place [f]whence they return, and go.

8 All things are full of labor: man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

9 [g]What is it that hath been? that that shall be: and what is it that hath been done? that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10 Is there anything, whereof one may say, Behold this, it is new? it hath been already in the old time that was before us.

11 There is no memory of the former, neither shalt there be a remembrance of the latter that shall be, with them that shall come after.

12 ¶ [h]I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem:

13 And I have given mine heart to search and find out wisdom by all things that are done under the heaven: (this sore travail hath God given to the sons of men, [i]to humble them thereby.)

14 I have considered all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, and vexation of the spirit.

15 That which is [j]crooked, can none make straight: and that which faileth, cannot be numbered.

16 I thought in mine heart, and said, Behold, I am become great, and excel in wisdom all them that have been before me in Jerusalem: and mine heart hath seen much wisdom and knowledge.

17 And I gave mine heart to know wisdom and knowledge, [k]madness and foolishness: I knew also that this is a vexation of the spirit.

18 For in the multitude of wisdom is much [l]grief: and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. (Geneva)

There in the words of the Lord are warnings about studying and the writings or readings of books. There is a standard to set our lives too. '...in wisdom is much grief...he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.' 

What knowledge is spoken of there? Would the Lord tell us not to increase in the knowledge of Him and His word? Or might those verses all apply to worldly knowledge and wisdom? Might they apply to the things written by men as opposed to Scripture? 

And so my thoughts have turned to these things, delved deeply into them. I have always loved books. They are like the best of the best friend, embedded deeply into a part of who I am. 

At least they used to be. Anymore I cannot seem to read a book for anything. It does not matter the author. It does not matter the topic. I recently set out to read a book written by A.W. Pink. Here I am many months later and I have not made it past the fourth chapter. 

But I can read Scripture day in and day out with no trouble. 

All I can assume is that the Lord does not want me reading much, if any, of the writings of men. He seems to prefer that I stay focused on Him through His Word. 

And so I do. 

But that brings me to what I was saying before. Scripture is such a deep, rich experience that we can glean new information, new understanding from it, even when we have read a passage hundreds or thousands of time. 

Such is the case with me as I have studied deeper and deeper on the teachings of men. These days when I read books and verses that are as familiar to me as I am to myself I see new things in them. I see Paul's warnings against those that are 'greedy for gain'. I see the admonishments to work with ones hands. I see...much that shows us the standards we should have for others that might wish to teach Scripture in any capacity. 

It is with my eyes now opened to these teachings that I move forward into what I have begun to call phase two of the teachings of men study...the study I never intended to do, the study I keep thinking the Lord will let us finish...the study that seems as though there is no end in sight. 

With these new eyes...

I look to what Scripture says.