1 John 4:8
God is LOVE
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Romans 1:20
God Created the World
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Examine the Scriptures
11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Matthew 5:18
The Law of Moses is True
18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
As I read the Bible, there are many things I do not understand...There are verses that can be interpreted more ways than one and some verses that are more difficult to understand...There are parts that one person reads one way and another one reads another way...The Bible can be and is debated by atheists and theists, over these different verses and some of the mysterious passages...
In a way these debates remind me of a current commercial that shows the different wireless coverages in the United States for various telecommunication companies...The commercial puts up each companies coverage up on something (it is a map of the United States) and people are to guess what they see...The first company has little coverage and you cannot make much of anything...The second company has more coverage but many people cannot make out the United States...But if one recognizes and sees Florida or some other states (as the commercial progresses), they can guess, yes that is a map of the United States...Now the final company has great coverage and covers almost the entire country and you can make out that the map is the USA...By looking at each coverage we see more of the picture...We realize in the end, that what the advertisers are showing is a map of the United States...
We can get an idea of the Bible by reading it once, and we can get a better idea of it by reading it again, and still learn more after reading it again...But, for me, I am smart enough to understand everything in the Bible, no matter how many times I read it...But like the maps, we can see the Truth, without seeing the whole Truth...Some Truth is better than no Truth...I think it is much better to try to understand the big picture of what the authors are writing about, than not to study it at all because we may not understand something...It is better to study the Bible' mysteries than to not read it at all...Do not be harsh with yourself for not understanding everything...Pray to God on your difficult passages, and in time He will help you understand things better...God certainly sees everything...
When I first read the Bible I read it cover to cover...I believe it was Peter Kreeft who said for beginners try reading the four gospels and then read C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity...In looking back, I would say that is excellent advice...After reading the four gospels and Mere Christianity one can start seeing much of the Truth, and His Truth...
The Bible is about God...And God is a mystery...Reading and studying it helps us unlock some different mysteries in life, as well as help us better understand other things...C. S. Lewis said that “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”...There are things that man does that are hard to understand, there are things in the world that are hard to understand, there are things in the universe the are hard to understand...There are things in the Bible that are difficult to understand...Lewis says that believing in God helps us fill in some of those things we do not understand...The Bible helps us connect some of life's dots that we do not understand... We will never be able to see the map, without reading the Bible...The more we understand God the more we see...And the more we read and study the Bible, the better we see God...
The first map we really cannot understand very much at all...The last map we see the entire picture, yet there are still many gaps...God can see the entire map of everything...This is because He created everything...The Bible story gives man the ability to reason and gives life a purpose...God is LOVE and there is a struggle in this world between good (LOVE) and evil...To know that a God of LOVE created me, shows that me that life has a greater purpose...The intangible word and feeling of love is better explained, when we believe the Creator of LOVE created us...