Do You Understand What You Read?

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good evening everyone. It is Sunday, June the thirtieth, twenty twenty four. It is currently six fifty nine pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. I wanted to say good afternoon, because in some ways it still feels like afternoon. I don't know what happened to the day, Like I don't know, it's just like gone. I don't know, it just Sundays are always so busy. But here it is now Sunday evening.

0:42 Welcome, Thank you for tuning in. I know I just uploaded the message maybe fifteen minutes ago. Ten minutes ago. I'm sorry, I forgot that I had not uploaded the message. But earlier this afternoon, I had a little space of time and I ran up stairs, turn on the microphone, and I did an episode informing everyone of the challenge I am giving everyone for the next two weeks. All right, now, all of you know that in December of twenty twenty three, I gave the sermons two point oh app sermon challenge where you're supposed to download the Sermons two point oh app either Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and then every single day you grab the app the Sermon's two point oh app and you listen to a random sermon, meaning you're not looking for a specific pastor or a specific church or a specific topic. You're just choosing a random sermon. You listen to it, you write down the name of the sermon, the name of the church, and then you write a a maybe one sentence which you write out a summary of what the sermon was about. The goal is is to have one sermon for every day of the year when you get to the end of twenty twenty four. That was the goal, and to mix it up to add some variety. There were weeks I will turn on I have turned on the MICROPHONEIC.

2:02 Okay, this week just look up sermons on Joshua one to eight. Now still random, meaning you don't look for a certain past or a certain church or look saw eighty three as we have done, and we've been doing these kind of challenges. Well. For the next two weeks, we have a very interesting challenge for the next two weeks. Every day you grab the sermons two point zero app, or you can use the beta dot Sermon Audio dot com website if you so desire. You are to choose live webcast only live webcast whatever is there, and if that's the time you can listen, that's what you listen to. You may have four options, you may have three options. Sometimes two of the three will be a wedding or a funeral, okay, whatever it is. Sometimes it's a video of people racing cars for a wana. Okay, what if it may be, that's what you get. Okay, that's what you get. What you get, and you don't throw a fit, Okay, So it will be interesting. But that's what we're going to be doing for the next two weeks. Well, I gave that challenge early this afternoon, what around four pm Central time, I think maybe three thirty four pm Central time, And now it's just it's just now seven pm Central time, and ladies and gentlemen, I've already participated in the challenge. I chose a random webcast that was live on the Sermon's two point oh app. I was actually using the Beata dot Sermonadio dot com website

3:34 for full transparency, same thing, and I chose the webcast from Bible Baptist Church. Bible Baptist Church. Now I don't have the information in front of me about them, it sounds like they're located in the New York City area, because he kept saying, We're in New York, We're in New York. We are in New York City. We are in New York City. So it's a church somewhere in the New York City area, Bible Baptist Church Church, if I can speak correctly, Bible Baptist Church. That is the webcast that I just completed, maybe fifteen minutes ago, and the sermon for tonight was Acts Chapter eight, Acts, Chapter eight, verses twenty six through forty. Acts Chapter eight, verses twenty six through forty. Overall it was it was a pretty I mean, you know, there would be things that would strongly disagree with. There would be some things I would strongly disagree with.

4:31 The definitely kind of gave the idea of which is very common in almost all of christiandom that God is speaking to us outside of the Bible. The Holy Spirit speaks to us and some still small voice, and we have to discern is that the Spirit speaking or is that me desiring but and of course I reject that outright completely. God only speaks to us through the scriptures. The end, done, finished, no no more. If you if you're trying to discern what you're hearing, what you need to do is get in the car and go immediately to a psychological hospital, a psychiatric hospital, because you're having some kind of a mental breakdown. And I know that sounds mean and rude and jaded, But if the scriptures are the inspired word of God, then if God is still speaking to us outside of the scriptures, then why do we need the scriptures? And then if you say, well, God is speaking to you, but you have to discern if it's really the spirit, or if it's you, or if it's Satan, or if it's a demon, or if it's the world or why I open my Bible, I read God is speaking the end, the end. Okay. God used to speak in different ways, but today he speaks to us through the scriptures, the inherrent inspired word of God. So there was a little bit of that, which you know, all right, you know I have problems with.

5:50 There was a good section on defending believers baptism in the webcast. There was a good section where he defended believers Baptism really appreciated that. I think in some ways he could have made that much more the focus of the sermon, but that was just that's kind of a preaching choice. He did get into a kind of a textual thing because he read Acts chapter eight, verse thirty seven, Acts Chapter eight, verse thirty seven. Acts Chapter eight, verse thirty seven, where we read these words, and Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he he spoke of and acknowledged that in many modern translations, Acts eight thirty seven is not there. If you look up Acts eight thirty seven and say, go to biblehub dot com where it gives you all the English translations, there's a whole bunch of them missing, the ESV, the New International, I mean, the NIV, so many of them are just missing. Well, then he made an argument, we see, that's why you can't trust the modern translations. That's why you can only trust the King James. But there's such a there's such a flaw in that logic. There's a there's a problem in that logic because you have to have a presupposition. Your presupposition is, well, anything that's different than the King James is wrong because the King James just by default is right, just because other translations either doesn't have a verse or

7:26 changes a verse. You can't just presuppose that the King James is right right. You would have to then first prove somehow that the King James is the only right translation. And if the King James is the only right translation, or any of the translations that came before, the King James right right. I mean, you get into lots of arguments, but that happens so many times in King James only Church. See the King James reads this way, that reads that way. See that's wrong because the presupposition is that the King James is just automatically right. But you haven't you haven't proved. You don't prove that King James is right by simply showing that the King James differs from other versions, you're just making All you're doing is demonstrating that there's a difference.

8:07 But their default is just the King James is right, based off what, based off what? Then you have to get into arguments about well, these manuscripts are wrong based off what well, because they differ from the King James. But now you're making the King James the standard. The King James is a translation. The standard would be the manuscripts right from which the King js. So I mean it gets you get into a lot of circular reasoning, so that whenever I hear that stuff, I get a little like, oh boy, here we go, here we go. It's a little frustrating, but I understand. I understand it very well, only because if you look at all the schools that I attended, whether seminary, Bible College, or Bible institutes, a good portion of them, a large number of them.

8:56 Well, yeah, I think I'd have to kind of break it all down put it this way. There were many them that were very KJV only. So I'm very familiar with that world. I understand it. I understand the arguments. I just think there's some major logical fallacies and you're you're using a lot of presuppositions to just basically say, hey, my presupposition is this is the right way, and anything that differs from this is just wrong just because that's my presupposition. And I don't like that. So there were some good things in it. He was very much a much more understated speaker, much calmer, peaceful, tranquil. Okay, where I'm maybe over dramatic, but I think the reality is is it's not whether someone's over dramatic or understated, as long as you're being you. If that's you, then just be you. That's where preaching doesn't become a performance. If you're understated, well, then be understated, because that's who you are. You're being authentic.

9:52 I just am over dramatic probably, And I mean if you if you watch me do anything, whether I'm watching a movie, a TV show, reading a book, I am over dramatic. Right. Well, in some ways I don't know if you can call it over dramatic. I'm just being me. So as long as the person is being authentic, you can't blame them for just being them. So overall it was okay. It was definitely much more a I think you could say, definitely coming from a non reform so teriological perspective. Definitely wasn't coming from a reform perspective. But overall there was some decent things there. Again, I think the best part of it was the arguments for believers baptism. And then the worst part would be the God speaking to us outside of scripture, and then you've got to figure out how to supposedly discern his voice. Okay, that part, I just it drove me crazy. But for me, as I was listening, one thing jumped out at me. Let me read it to you, and then we're going to discuss it all. Right, are you ready? Acts Chapter eight, Acts Chapter eight. I don't know why I'm in Acts Chapter nine, Acts Chapter eight. I'm using a different Bible, and all said, I can't.

11:09 Yeah, the pages look the same. Okay, you know, when you use a Bible all the time, you kind of get used to what the pages look like, right, Acts Chapter eight, Verse twenty six. I've got my book mine. I don't know all my book bags right down here, but I didn't take all the bibles out, so I just grabbed the first one I saw. Acts Chapter eight, verse twenty six. And the Angel of the Lord spake under Philip, saying, arise, go towards the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem and Degaza, which is desert. And he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia, and Eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem four to worship.

12:00 Now, the one thing in the sermon that kind of bothered me, because he he made multiple references to this, is that he kept saying that this Ethiopian Ethiopian Unich was like he wasn't satisfied in life. He was searching for something he wasn't he wasn't satisfied, he was longing for for answers. And I just don't know how we can how can we attain account? How can we come to that conclusion? Now, I know, as preachers, we love to paint pictures. Right, If we have a narrative, we read the narrative and then we retell the narrative. And a lot of times when we retell the narrative, we do a lot of artistic license, right, we kind of start interpreting things. So the idea was, here's this Ethiopian Eunich and he's just not satisfied with life, and he is searching and he just doesn't have answers. Well, I what I see is an Ethiopian, an Ethiopian Eunich, who when it comes to Jerusalem for to worship.

13:01 Now, if he's coming to Jerusalem to worship, to me, that's a high probability that this Ethiopian Unich is a convert to Judaism. I think that that would be a fair thing to say, unless he's coming there to worship wide. I think he's coming there to worship the God of the Old Testament. Right, he's converted to Judaism, all right. And when he was returning, sitting in his chariot, he read Isaiah the Prophet, which that would make sense. Why would he be reading Isaiah the Prophet. Well, if he's converted to Judaism, why wouldn't he be reading from what whatever a text he has available from the Old Testament? Why would he not be reading from it? Right? If the Old if he has access to it, which most people do not, but probably because of his position, he has the ability to to you know, access this document. And he's reading from Isaiah, which would make sense if he's been if he's a convert to Judaism and he just came from you know, the U from Jerusalem to worship.

13:56 I don't see this. Whether he's longing and and empty and seeking and not satisfied. I don't really know how we sometimes as pastors we love to paint these pictures. I just think what this shows is, here's a religious person who's reading, well, the Old Testament of Isaiah. He's religious, but he would not be saved from our understanding, from a Christian perspective. He is holding on to Judaism. He's holding onto maybe an Old Testament understanding. Does he even know anything about the Messiah? Those would be the questions. Well, he's returning, he's reading. Then the spirit said, unto Philip, go near and join thyself to the chariot. Now what this demonstrate is God's sovereignty and salvation. God knows that this man is there, he knows what he's reading, and he sends someone at the appropriate time, because well, he's going to need something, right, But God sends someone to him right now. We could have a long discs here, but look what happens.

15:01 This is the part that Nat jumped out at me. Are you ready all right? So the spirit said into Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, understandest thou what thou readest. Understandest thou what thou readest. Now I'm gonna take it away from the King James. I'm just gonna make it very simple. Do you understand what you are reading? Do you understand what you are reading? Now, let's go ahead and eliminate one group of people who may not understand what they read, all right, because that's not going to be our primary focus. We're going to go ahead and eliminate them. Within christiandom, almost all Christians would say that a lost person reading the Bible cannot truly understand it. They cannot truly understand it.

16:07 Now, the question would be, if you have a lost person, what is required for them to understand? Most people would say what is required for them to understand is they need to be saved. Now, this is where the controversy is going to start, but we'll just start right there. So they have to become saved. In other words, they truly can't understand. They need someone to explain it to them, but they need salvation. They will never truly understand the scriptures until they are saved. But lost people cannot truly understand it until salvation. That is the typical Christian teaching about lost people. But I'm not necessarily focused on lost people here, right, So we'll just say for lost people they need salvation. Then they can understand to some level. Right. That's typically now in this particular case, God sends someone to explain it, which then we could get into a whole discussion here right.

17:06 In fact, look what he says. The Ethiopian Eunich said, I how can I except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb, dumb before his shear so opened, he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare this generation? His generation? For his life is taken from the earth. And the Eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet, whom speaketh the Prophet? This of himself or of some other man. Now, immediately, obviously this tells me the Ethiopian Unich is very religious and very much understands. He immediately knows, Wait a minute, is that is the prophet speaking of himself or some other man. He even has a pretty good grasp and how to read. He just needs some interpretation.

18:02 And then look what happens. Then Philip verse thirty five opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached un to him Jesus. So Philip then provides an interpretation. He's like, hey, he is speaking of this man named Jesus, which happens to be the Messiah, the promised Messiah. So he explains it to him. So even in this particular case lost people, what does it take for them to understand? Well, we may say salvation, but in this case, this particular case, what we would say they need someone to explain it to them. They need someone to preach to them, to teach them, to guide them. Because if you say, now, because you're you're left with kind of two options, right, well, God will just give them the understanding. Well then you would say, okay, so lost people will just can pick up a Bible and God will just immediately give them understanding. Some people say, well no, not until they're saved. In this particular case, this lost person, he needs someone to explain it to him, right, So what does it take for a lost person to understand scripture? Well, I think in this case the answer is this text would scream they need someone to explain it to him. They need a preacher, They need a teacher, they need someone to explain it.

19:18 Other people will kind of go with the idea, well, they can't really understand it until salvation, which then leads us to the second group of people. So the first group of people are lost people, and we can just say, according to Acts eight, and I think maybe even other scriptures, they need they need someone to teach them, they need someone to preach to them, they need someone to explain it. And some people may say they need salvation, which leads to the second group of people, Christians. So let me ask the question, does or what is required for a Christian to understand the scriptures? What is required for a Christian to understand the scriptures?

20:03 What is required? I think that's important. Now, what some people are going to say here, there's going to be like a division. Here, there's going to be a division. Some people are going to say, what is required for a Christian to understand the scripture? Well, is God himself helps them understand? God teaches God leads them into all truth that that is very much a prominent view. I reject that view, and we'll talk about it. So here would be the question. You walk into any church Sunday morning, let's say Sunday morning. The most likely, that's the chance you'll have the largest crowd Sunday morning. You give everyone a text of scripture.

20:56 You give everyone a text of scripture. You say you have one hour. You can go to any part of the church. It's you a notebook, here's a couple of there's some reference tools up here front. There's maybe a Bible dictionary. Well, no, let's not even do that. Let's not even say there's reference tools. You have your notebook. You have a Bible, no reference tools. You cannot use your phone. We've shut off all cellf service. Are we taking your phone from you? It's just you your Bible. You have one hour, come back and see do you understand what you have read? And let the people come back, and then they have to write out an interpretation. They have to write out an interpretation. What do you think the results would be? What do you think the results would be? Come on, do you think it would be like major success?

21:52 Hey, we gave this this assignment out and everyone came back with these amazing interpretations. It was wonderful and was great. Here's the one thing I do know. I do know that you would have absolutely radically different interpretations. That much I know to be true. You're just going to get all this person's going to have an interpretation, and those interpretations are going to contradict one another, and not all of them can be right. And the reason I know that is look at all the different churches in America, and nobody can agree on anything. So I know this. When we ask do they understand what they read? I know that whatever they come up with, it's going to be a mess. It's going to be a sea of different views and opinions that completely contradict one another. So then that would go back to the original question, do you understand what you read? Do you understand? Do you understand? Now, let me kind of add a separate question, what is required for a Christian to understand the scriptures? Now, there's basically two camps, two schools of thought here. The one school of thought which is very prominent in American Christianity. Even though they would try to maybe claim they're not in this school of thought. This school of thought shows up in churches everywhere, even in churches that you would not think would go this direction. It goes in this direction, and it goes something like this. When you become

23:22 a Christian, you now possess the Holy Spirit, which now gives you the ability to understand the scriptures. It's the Holy Spirit is opening your eyes. The Holy Spirit is leading you, the Holy Spirit is guiding you, the Holy Spirit is teaching you. And that is prevalent in the evangelical world and fundamentalist world. Hey, that, how do you understand the scripture as a as a Christian? God himself is teaching, He's opening your eyes, he's guiding you, he's directing you. Well, just any reasonable person would raise their hand and go, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. If God is guiding directly and teaching all Christians to scriptures and we all possess now supernatural ability to understand it, well, ladies and gentlemen, we should have one church, one doctrine, one theology, and one interpretation because it would all be coming from God. But we don't have that. It's just massive confusion. Nobody agrees on baptism, nobody agrees on repentance. Nobody agrees on eschatology, ecclesiology, soteriology, you just name theology. Nobody agrees on anything. You can take any passage of scripture and people like no, no, no, no, no no no. You can get fifteen commentaries and you may come up with fifty different interpretations. Well, clearly, ladies and gentlemen, that would mean God is absolutely and utterly confused. And God is in a business of not only he is confused, he's confusing everyone else.

24:51 Nobody knows the answer, and it's chaos and confusion, and God doesn't even understand, wouldn't We don't want to put that at the blame God for that. That's one school of thought that God is one to teaches. And whenever I whenever I challenge this, whenever I push back on this, Christians get really mad at me. I will ask a question, well, do does a lost person possess the same ability as a same person when it comes to interpreting scripture. Now, almost inevitably, the Christian view is no, they can't understand it, because that's the Holy Spirit that gives us understanding. So the argument is they can't understand it, but I can understand it, and I have special power to understand it. And if I push back, going, well, the Bible is a book of written communication, it's literature.

25:57 It's different genres of literature. Those are understood the same way. All literature is understood utilizing the same principle. Even a lost person can understand what is said. Now, there's a difference between understanding what it says and believing it, you know, understanding it from a spiritual perspective. They can understand the basic words. If I do any pushback on that, Christians get furious with me. No, no, no, no, no. We can understand it, We can understand almost as if we possess some supernatural ability. But after two thousand years of church history, our so called supernatural ability has produced thousands of denominations, millions of commentaries. Nobody can agree literally on anything.

26:41 So where is that supernatural ability getting us? Obviously to the world of confusion and chaos? So I reject that whole thing outright. I think when the Bible says the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth, that is referring to the disciples and the authors of the New Testament, where God led them into all truth through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to produce scripture which is inspired and fallible and in errant without any I mean I'm being redundant without any error. When it says he will bring to memory all the things he said, that's not for you, but for me. He's bringing a memory to the original writers of the New Testament those things which were said. Those are versus giving promises to a specific group of people to produce a specific work which we know we know as the New Testament. There is no promise for us for some greater understanding, greater insight, greater ability. If God is the one guiding, leading, and teaching, then why did churches even worry about whether a person has gone to seminary or Bible college. Seminary and Bible college would be the biggest waste of money in the history of humankind. Why do I need to go to Bible college or seminary when I can just sit off home with my Bible opening. God is going to lead me into all truth.

28:03 He's going to guide me, He's going to direct me. So what is required to understand what you read? Do you understand what you read? I think I can demonstrate emphatically by going to any church and giving some basic tests on the Bible that they don't understand and they don't know. Not only are they ignorant, they don't understand. And I believe that in most cases you can give them a text of scripture and their ability to even produce a rational interpretation that would follow any basic rules of understanding, well, it's going to be probably a really bad I think in every case, the test would come back and it would be very poorly. The scores would be poor, they would be horrible, they would be failures. And I know this in Bible College and seminary, you didn't like the person who gets the best grade and Bible college is the person who listens to God the most, because God is the one guiding, leading teaching. And no, it's the person who studies the most. Okay, now it's not. It has nothing to do with some supernatural intervention. So do you understand what you read? What is required that you understand what you read? I reject outright this idea that God is giving us some supernatural insight, guiding and leading. I just I completely reject that out right. So that's one school of thought. The other school of thought is no, to understand the scripture? Do you understand? And

29:37 what is required is a understanding of how to interpret anything that is written, how to interpret written literature, the basic rules and foundation of reading, comprehension, and reading interpretation that you would use for anything, a novel, a textbook, anything. Those same rules of apply to understanding the scriptures, and those who master those skills are those who can master the text. I believe do you understand what you read? Well? You will understand what you read based on your level of being educated and how to read and how to handle written literature and how to understand basic rules. I think that's the only way.

30:33 I think anything anything else than that, anything less than that, just leads to I don't you're relying on some supernatural intervention is supernatural intervention. And I've had too many people believe, well, you know, I prayed about how to understand the text, and you're like, well, I don't know what god you were praying to, but you were clearly not praying to a god who understands the meaning of words. That's not what that text is about. Out that text has nothing to do with you, like over, So sometimes the people who take these supernatural approaches their way of handling the text is just insane, so that I don't believe that's God leading them anywhere, that's their own deluded mind leading them anywhere. I believe what is required if you're gonna understand what you read, is basic. You know hermeneutical principles. Let me just give you some fundamental hermonutical principles. Here's one. Context is key.

31:29 Always consider the historical, cultural, and literary context of a passage to undercover it's true meaning or to uncover it's true meaning. So the historical, cultural, and literary context. Did you hear that historical, cultural, and literary Well, if you go to church and you give people a passage of scripture and they come back, you say, okay, first of all, did you identify the historical, cultural, and literary context? Guess what? In many cases they did not know it. Many cases, the wouldn't even know how to look it up. They wouldn't even know how to research it, and they wouldn't know what to do with and they found it because they'd never been taught. First, that's the fault of the church for not teaching them. Second, it's their own fault for not seeking out the information to know how to do this. But the third thing is they try to come up with an interpretation without it, which then clearly like, well then how did you come up with that interpretation? Well, I remember what someone preached.

32:23 Well that's not you doing interpretation, or they give me. I prayed about it and this is why God showed me. And again just remember this minute. Someone says that this is the interpretation God gave me. That would make their interpretation infallible because it comes from God, which well, then you would have yeah, you would have major problems right right. Second, interpret scripture with scripture, use the Bible to interpret itself by comparing related passages and allowing scripture to illuminate its own meaning. Well, this is very important. Sometimes we have to go to other parts of the Bible to understand other parts of the Bible. When we're reading part of the Bible, we got to go to other parts that are related. We don't just group scriptures together meaningless and randomly. You've got to go to something that actually is related. Okay, well this is quoted here, or this is being alluded to here, or this is reference to the then we can possibly do that. We got to be very Some people just think you can take any scripture and connect it to any scripture, because again they have no actual skill in doing this.

33:23 They just have heard that principle scripture with scripture, and then they just start linking random scriptures together thinking that they've come to some great interpretation or like, how are you connecting that with that? What is your what is the textual relation? What are you doing? But yeah, so context is key scripture with scripture, or at least allow using other scripture to give you better understanding of the current scripture that you're reading. Next, the genre of literature. Understand the genre of the text being studied. Is it poetry? Is it history? Is it prophecy? Different genres require different interpretive approaches. So many times someone would start start arguing with me about something, whether maybe in church or anywhere, and you just say, okay, before we continue, what literary genre is the text that we're arguing about? Well, I don't know, Well, because then I why are we There's no point in arguing.

34:22 We got to be we've got to be able to identify the context. We've got to be under we got we got These are basic things we have to work on before we can even engage and in argument. That's why I always say this is all observational work. If you don't do the observational work, you cannot do the interpretive work. Study the original languages when possible, consult the original languages Hebrew and Greek to gain a more precise understanding of the text. Does people do? Does the average person in church even you ever utilize the Greek and Hebrew tools that are available? Do they even know how to use them? Now? I've tried to train my people because, especially when we had an internet connection at the church, I would always have everyone looking up, grab the blue letter Bible app, Let's look up the antilinear, Let's look this up. Let's look this up. Let's look this up.

35:12 Let's look this up. Because I'm trying to get them. At first, there were many people didn't even know how to use the apps, and I'm like, well, then, what have you been using to look up the Hebrew in the Greek? Have you? Are? You be aware of the author's intent. Seek to understand what the author intended to convey to the original audience based on the historical and cultural context. This is just we've we've we've witnessed this be obliterated in sermon after sermon after sermon, and all of our sermon reviews this year, that they people just take a text and they don't even care about the author's intent. They don't care about the uh the intended, They don't care what the author intended to convey. They don't care about the original audience, that do not care about the historical and cultural context.

35:58 They just want to insert us into it. That's a problem. But see, these are basic rules. You can't understand what you read if you're not following these basic rules. Next, apply the literal and figurative principle. You have to be able to draw a distinction and be able to know the difference between literal and figurative language, interpreting each accordingly while considering the overall message. Do you know how to determine when the language is literal and when it's figurative. Do you know how to draw that distinction? Can you draw that distinction and understand and notice that distinction because you have to interpret them differently. Do you know how to do that? Can you even do that? Have you ever been taught to do that? Have you ever done any assignments and doing that? In many cases, the churches don't even have people doing anything like this. They have activities and they have events, but there's rarely any time where the people are engaged. And these very important. Learning these principles and learning these principles consider the whole counsel of God, and sure interpretations align with the broader teaching of scripture and do not contradict established biblical truths. If you come to a conclusion, you got to then test that conclusion with the rest of scripture and make sure it's logically consistent and you're being consistent. Those are just some basic principles. Those are some basic principles that people have to know.

37:31 Those are just that's like fundamental one oh one. This is like stuff the kids need to learn and Sunday school. This is like basic They need to understand these principles, but they need to then do exercises showing them how these principles work in real life reading of the text. Not just like hey, write these principles down. No, actually say, now we're going to look up this passage. Okay, okay, how can we establish this and actually work through it. It'll be tedious. Most people will see it's boring and no fun. But that problem is nobody wants to do that in the church. So the people sitting on the view, can they actually understand what they read? I will argue they can't actually understand what they read if they don't know these basic principles. Here's a concept. Can you understand what you read if you don't even know the different hermeneutical approaches there are to the scriptures?

38:39 For example, let me give you a number of these approaches. There's the literal approach. The literal approach emphasizes taking the text at face value, considering historical context, language, and literary genre, interpreting scripture based on its plain meaning without much symbolic or allegorical interpretation. That's the literal approach. Now, some people use a literal approach here here, here, here, here, and then abandon the literal approach for this this, this, this, this this now. Do they know they're abandoning it? Do they know they're contradicting it? Do they even know what the literal approach is? Do they have any idea what the different hermineutical approaches are? Do you take the literal approach? There's the allegorical approach, And if you read any book on Hermoneutics or the history of Hermautics. You'll see that there were these allegorical schools of Hermaeutics which were very dominated in a good portion of the early Church. The allegorical approach seeks to find deeper or spiritual or symbolic meanings in the text, reading scripture with a belief that it contains hidden spiritual truths beyond the literal words.

39:52 So you say, well, this means this, or this means this, or this means this, and the next thing you know, Israel isn't Israel, Land isn't land Church which can be placed wherever you want it, and then all of these kinds of things can happen. Then you have the moral approach, where the moral approach focuses on deriving ethical and moral teaching from the text, emphasizing the practical application of scripture to guide moral behavior and decision making. Well, a lot of people that approach to scripture is everything. There's a there's a there's morality, there's they look at everything for a moral teaching. All right, there's the anagogical approach. The anagogical approach A N A G O, G I C A L. The anagogical approach. The anagogical approach looks for mystical or transcended meanings that point to the future, or some kind of reality focus that deals with eschatology. The anagogical approach looks for mystical or transcendent meanings that point to the future or eschatology realities or realities related to eschatology, seeing scripture as the offering insights into ultimate spiritual truths and the eternal destiny of believers. That's the anagogical approach. Most of you never never even heard of it. Then you have the historical critical approach. The historical critical approach analyzes the text within its historical and cultural context, considering authorship, audience, and literary techniques, seeking to understand scripture by investigating its historical background,

41:24 and employing critical methods of textual analysis. All right, that's the historical critical approach. You analyze the text within its historical and cultural context, and you consider authorship, audience, and literary techniques. You seek to understand scripture by investigating its historical background, and you employ critical methods of textual analysis. The average person in the pew doesn't even have a clue what any of that even probably means. There's probably some pastors who don't even really understand what that means, or they just even reject it as being a legitimate approach. So do you really understand what you read? Do you understand what you read?

42:06 Do you now? I find it interesting that Christians everywhere will fight, They will argue, they will disagree, they will judge, they will condemn based off what they think they understand about what they read. But what is required for them to understand what they read? Do they really understand what they read? They will look, I know this within the Protestant world. Here's what I know. The person sitting in the pew, they will come up with an interpretation without ever going to school to learn hermeneutics Bible interpretation. They may not even know a Bible study method. They've never been to any formal education.

42:50 But they will say that they have the authority to just simply read the scripture and be able to interpret it. And then they will judge the preaching and teaching of people who've gone to school, and they will think that their interpretation is just as authoritative, or maybe even so authoritative that they can tell that the people who've gone to school that they are wrong. So in their mind, what is required for them to be able to understand it doesn't require anything. They don't need schooling, they don't need it. They don't need to know hermeneutics, they just need to read it. And basically, typically they will almost fall back into the idea, well, the Holy Spirit leads me into truth, and the Holy Spirit told me this is the right way. And so that preacher is wrong, that preacher is wrong, that preacher is wrong, that preacher is wrong. So then guess who becomes the real authority, not the scripture of the individual. And they think they can just understand it based on just being them and their Bible, and they and they can tell they can and they will say this church is wrong, so I'm going to this church until they disagree with that pastor they will there will always be the one sitting in the pew thinking everyone is wrong. But based off what how do they do you understand what you read? They think they understand what they read based off I don't know what, their own just conclusion.

44:01 They don't think they actually have to go to school, They don't actually have to do anything. And this is very prevalent in the evangelical fundamentalist world. Just the average Christian thinks that they can just read and they can understand based on what And they don't believe that they need to know hermeneutics, They don't need to know that, they need to know Bible interpretation, they don't need to know Exejesus. They just can just read and then say this is what it means the end. Now, sometimes they'll fall back over into saying the Holy Spirit gave them the understanding. So do you understand what you read?

44:45 Do you understand it? Do you believe it's God the one that guides and leads you? Well, then you don't. I mean at that point, well then why you've got to answer the question. Then why isn't everyone believing in and understanding the same way. Well then you have to then argue that nobody else who everyone who disagrees with your interpretation is lost and you're the only saved person. Okay, Well that just leads to it, that leads to a very cult like mentality. So that can't be the way it works. I believe God gives us his written word and it's our responsibility. Our understanding is dependent on our work to learn how to read, how to interpret what we read and understand the principles, and I believe without that understanding, I don't know if you can really understand what you read. Now, there is a third option, right, The first option, we'll call it the kind of the supernatural school where God is the one doing the teaching and the leading.

45:43 And of course we just see that that doesn't play out in real life. The second is more of the academic approach. You've got to learn these principles. You've got to learn them, you've got to use them, and you've got to work to increase your ability and how to interpret a written text that is, you know, thousands of years old, and understanding context and literary genre and all of those other things that we've spoken of, knowing which you know, the different hermeneutical systems, knowing all of these things. Now that the problem is the average person in the pew doesn't understand any of this, but there will be the ones judging the preaching, and they will be the one saying if a sermon is right or wrong, or if a doctrine is right and wrong, based off no actual formal education. So the first approach is the supernatural. The second approach is we'll call it the academic approach, where it's based off your learning and your ability to know these principles.

46:42 And the third Okay, now I mentioned too, and I'll just add the third. It's not really the in in my focus here, but the third one is one that really that Protestants absolutely reject, and that would be well, a magisterial authority. The third view is God gave the authority to interpret to the church, and the church is the one that gives the interpretation. Now that leads you right back to Roman Catholicism, which Protestants reject. We reject the magisterial authority. We reject the church's authority to interpret the Bible. Now we say, well, no, no, no, no, no, pastors have the authority. But who judges the pastors, the people and the pew. I mean, that's literally the Protestant battle cry, right is we listen to preaching and then we judge the preaching to see whether these things are so. Now, I don't need to go to Bible college. I don't need to read some stupid book on hermoneutics. I just get to listen to the sermon and say he's wrong, he's wrong, he's wrong. He's wrong. He's wrong, and I am right because I have the power to interpret it based off Well, then what some people will go back to, well, God's given me the understanding. Well, if God's giving you the understanding, why you need to go to church in the first place. So

48:13 acts chapter eight, verse thirty. Then Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest thou what thou readest? How can I accept some man should guide me? Do you understand what you read? And what is required for you to understand what you read? Now you could just go to your church and start asking people do you understand the Bible? Well, yeah, well how do you understand it? How do you understand it? Listen to how many fall into the supernatural camp will claim that God gives them the understanding, which then is just frightening because then they're claiming they're understanding is infallible because it comes from God. It's got to be perfect, right, Okay, So they may fall to the supernatural or they just may say, well, I mean I read it, Okay, Well what is then you can say, well, what is required for you to understand what you read? Is there any requirement that you must meet to be able to even ensure that what you're that you're understanding is even remotely reliable? What is that requirement? And they're going to tell you there is no requirement.

49:20 Most will say there's no way. They may try to say, well, you have to do this, or you have to do this, or you have to do this, But then do you do you really do that? Do you really put forth the work to do that? I think you'll get some weird answers. Hey, do you do you understand what you read? That's my pencils rolling all over the place. Do you understand what you read? And what is the requirement to understand? What is that requirement? Now it's weird. And this is the bizarre thing about Protestantism and the evangelical fundamentalist world. On one hand, we want our pastors to go to Bible college and seminary where we have to They spend money, years of work and papers and tests to learn how to be able to interpret the Bible. Then they, after all of that time, sacrifice money, then they go get a job at a church somewhere, They stand up in the pulpit and preach, and then almost inevitably someone says you are wrong, Well, then why did I go to Bible college or seminary? So clearly the people in the pew will tell the pastor they're wrong, the pastor that is wrong. Don't believe that it is a requirement to go to Bible college or seminary to be able to properly interpret the scripture since they're the ones judging the preaching. Well, if they're one's judging the preaching, then why does anyone need to go to Bible college and seminary? I think Bible college and seminary is clearly a sham based off the Protestant understanding that anyone can read the scriptures and anyone then has

50:54 the authority not only to interpret it, but they have the authority to judge preaching to determine whether that interpretation is right or wrong, based off no no formal education at all. Well, if no one needs any formal education to interpret the Bible and then judge the preaching of the Bible, then why does anyone go in the first place? Because the pastor, then, by that logic, has no more authority than the person sitting in the view who's telling them your sermon. Is wrong or your sermon is right. All of my formal education means absolutely nothing. I came to that conclusion there was a time I thought that it all meant something. It's just a waste of absolute time. I can turn on this microphone, doesn't matter how many years I've gone to school, doesn't matter how many degree people you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong. You can be preaching in your church you're wrong, and then they leave your church. Why because they think they know more than you. Though, what's the point of knowing anything?

51:49 It's just all The whole thing is just like a circus. Do you understand what you read? And what is the what is required for you to understand what you read? When I listen to that webcast and he read that, that's what he immediately jumped out at me. Do you understand? On this particular case, the Ethiopian unitch could not understand unless someone explained it to him. All right, Well, a lot of people say, well, because he's lost, But once you get saved, you don't really need someone to lead to you because you've got the Holy Spirit leading you. That's the supernatural side. Well, others will say well, no, you've got to have these other skills. Well, if you have to have those other skills, do you understand what that would do? Then no one in the church can question or challenge the sermon until they demonstrate that they have obtained said skills to be able. Nobody operates that way. Anyone in church can say you're wrong, I disagree, and then they can just well leave or go start a new church. And that's why there's never ending church splits. That's why there's never ending disagreement. It's and arguments. I mean, you can be, you can be, you can be, you can have multiple degrees and biblical studies, religious education, and theology. You could be teaching a Sunday school class and someone will be like, no, I well I don't believe that that's what it says. I I don't interpret it that way. And you'll be like, did you study this passage this week? Well? No, when was the last time you studied that passage? I don't know, but

53:20 I'm looking at it right now and you're wrong. Okay, Well that is that is that's some serious skill that you can just sit there and and just immediately determine if someone's right or wrong from just listening to a sermon you've got. I mean, I don't even know what's the point of even preparing for sermons because you can determine if the sermon is right or wrong without even preparing. So what do you think? How do how should we understand this? I don't have any easy answers for you. Obviously, Protestantism and evangelical fundamentalism, we're not going to go back to a magisterial authority. So that's out the window gone, all right, So no magisteral authority. The average Protestant evangelical fundamentalists are not going to give up the power and the authority to interpret the Bible themselves. Or are they going to give up the power and the authority to judge if what is being preached is true or false? And they're going to base that off obviously on the Book of Acts or they are as Yeah, I think in the Book of Acts, Yeah, they were more noble because they listened to Paul and then determine if these things what he preached was so that they take that concept and say, hey, that's us, that's us. So we're not going to go back to a magristilar magisterial authority, and we're not going to go back to a magisterial authority. And the average Christian is not going to give up the right for them to interpret the Bible themselves, and they're not going to give up the right to be able to determine if what is preached is true or false based off their understanding.

54:49 Well, clearly, they're not going to agree within the evangelical world that there is a requirement that they have to learn certain things and principles to before they can make that judgment. They're not going to do that because they're not going to put in the work. So I don't know what the answer is because most of the evangel evangelical world already borrows from the supernatural camp. So then I like, you mix the supernatural camp with the idea that I can interpret it because I have the authority to do so, I have the ability to do so, and I have the authority and the ability to judge whether whether it's preached is true or false without any formal education. To be honest, I'm shocked that we don't have more chaos in the evangelical word. I mean, we already we have more chaos than I think we want to admit we put on a good facade, but when you just hear how many people leave this church or leave this church, or disagree with this or disagree with that, or disagree with this or disagree with that, and they have this interpretation and this interpretation, and they say this person is wrong and this person is wrong. Just look on social media when Christians start arguing about whatever. Everyone thinks they're right, and everyone thinks their interpretation is right, and everyone else's interpretation is just magically wrong. Do you understand what you read and what is required to understand it properly? That it's just my real time thinking that was

56:24 motivated by the live webcast that I listened to earlier. I would love to get your thoughts. You can email me news if at Yahoo dot com, that's news, I f at yeahoo dot com, that's news I f at yeahoo dot com. I had more, and I wanted to kind of organize this, but this is really more just like real time reaction. Like I just listened to a live webcast and I just immediately turned on the microphone and just went live. So there wasn't a lot of time to polish this and make it nice, but I wanted to raise these questions because I just whenever I hear do you understand what you read? I'm like, I just I just don't know. I just think you go to the average church. I'll just never forget. I don't end with this. We were visiting, well, it was a church we ultimately joined in Abilene before I got called out to Victory Baptist Church to be the pastor. But we were already just like fatigued because we'd been to so many churches in Abilene and we're like, we just about to give up. So we just kind of settled for this church because we had nothing. We didn't know what else to do. And I think maybe a Sunday night, or it may have been a Wednesday night, and it was coming kind of like class, you know, teaching setting, and so the pastor's talking about the baptism of Jesus, and the next thing, you know, just full blown like, no Jesus got baptized for this reason, No he got baptized for this reason. No Jesus baptism signified that no. Nobody was listening to the pastor. They just all completely like,

57:55 you know, everyone's interpretation was right. They knew it was right based off what just because they understood what they read without any requirement to understand what they read and it and I was just about I was. I. I finally got frustrated and basically said, do people even understand, well, you know what what the significance of Jewish baptism was? Do you even understand the concepts? Do you even understand what was required for a gentile to convert to Judaism and where washing would come into play? Do you understand what Jesus was demonstrating it? Do you understand? Like, oh, it was driving me like crazy, and like I was just like I think I I just recently and maybe a couple of years before, I had to write a paper about the entire thing for school, and it was just like and I kind of just went like just started reciting odd everything that was in the and then that that kind of everybody just kind of looked at me like, well, who do you think you are? But it was just so like everyone's just throwing out these wild opinions based off what, Like, I know, you haven't been sitting at home all week studying the subjects, so why are you blurting out in class? You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong based off what five seconds of reading and you just immediately assume you know. Sometimes it would drive me crazy. As a pastor. You can spend all week prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare, you preach, and before the sermon is over, you already have someone arguing with you, either in the middle of the sermon, are they coming up to you as soon as the sermon is over to tell you're wrong? Like, so, did you spend all weeks studying this? Oh? I didn't think so. But you don't need

59:28 to right because you just get to, I don't know, look at the text once and you get to tell everyone that you're right, because do you understand what you read? Well? I know, I guess, I know this. There's no requirement for you to understand anything other than just hearing it once. It's there's a I don't know, and I think this is my own hypotheses, that there is an arrogant and I think it typically shows up in Christian men. I don't know about the Christian women. You can tell me what's going on with the Christian women, but Christian men there's a almost an arrogance. Well, Now I'm a Christian, I have God and I can understand, and so I'm right. Okay, that's that's good. That's good. Well, if you would like, why don't you just get behind the pulpit and do it. Oh, you don't want to get behind the pulpit to do it. You just want to tell the people behind the pulpit that they're wrong. Gotcha. That an that's an awesome gig. I don't have to actually do the study. I don't actually have to go to school.

1:00:29 I don't actually have to do any of the work. I don't have to take tests. I don't have to I don't have to do any extra reading. I don't have to spend all this money for the education. I can just come to church, open the Bible and say he's wrong. That's that's that's the Evangelical Protestantism in a nutshell. All right, email me news if at yahoo dot com. That's news I f a Yahoo dot com. Do you understand what you read? And what is required for you to understand what you read? Godless