The more I learned about reading and studying the Bible from a Bible believers standpoint the more I felt smothered by the denominational tradition I heard every week at church. It is disheartening and sad to listen to people obviously work to interpret a passage so it conforms to the position of the name on the building. I can’t explain to you the freedom you feel when you can sit down and read God’s word without constantly thinking about the position of the denomination you are a member of. When you learn to rightly divide your Bible and read it the way it was meant to be read, you can read with no fear of running across verses that teach something different than your chosen church agenda does. You can actually ignore the agenda of church tradition and be open to the actual teaching of the Bible whatever the outcome. Christians cannot be open to whatever they read because they read things all the time that don’t seem to teach what their church teaches and they have to ignore it and just pretend that their preacher knows best because he went to Seminary. Read what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3:1.
Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: Does the word of the Lord have free course in your life? Seriously. I know how you answer this because we were brought up to know how to answer all these questions the correct way since we were little. I want you to really think about this question. Does the Bible have FREE COURSE in your life? In other words do you feel FREE to change your course at ANY given point in your life based on what you read in scripture? I can answer this for you because I spent about 40 years in the Baptist church. I know for a fact that when I asked questions they were always answered to line up with Baptist beliefs. You know this because whatever belief system you grew up under is the position you were taught and then you were told that your church is right and all the other churches don’t interpret the Bible correctly. If you are a member of a supposedly non-denominational church it does not matter. You will be answered in such a way that it lines up with the agenda of the pastor and the churches chosen beliefs. How is this letting the Bible have free course in your life? You already know ITS NOT. The Bible is taught to match the agenda. I simply ask you this: What happens to a Sunday school teacher that teaches something different than the denominational standard? You know what happens; he gets relieved of his duties by the pastor. What happens to a pastor that strays too far from the denominational tradition? You know what; the Deacons relieve him of his duties and ask him to leave. You know this is true because you have probably seen or heard of this happening in your church or close by. This IS NOT letting the Bible have free course in your life. This is putting yourself in a box and that box says on the outside in bold letters “TRADITION.” When you rightly divide your Bible by who is speaking, to whom and then asking yourself; am I in the audience, you can let every verse say what is says and just BELIEVE IT. This is FREEDOM from the tradition you get taught every week. This is truly letting the Bible have free course in your life. This is absolutely being open to letting scripture change the tradition you have been taught regardless of the consequences. Let me tell you from experience, the liberty you could have in Christ is worth it. The more I deal with people bound by tradition the more I am thankful for the freedom that can be found by being a Bible believer. Comments are closed.
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AuthorSteve Schoenberger is a student of the Bible and the minister at Abundant Grace Bible Fellowship, A Mid-Acts Dispensational Bible church teaching the Bible rightly divided according the revelation of the mystery delivered to the Apostle Paul Archives
January 2025
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