Russell Haffner
The religious world has always been plagued with the problems of some who try to make their own opinions into laws and others who try to make God's laws into opinion. If we are going to please God we must make sure that all we do is according to His word. The question is, how do we know what is authorized in God's word? How do we know what is right and what is wrong? How does the Bible authorize? It is also helpful for us to consider how God's word does NOT authorize.
- God's word does not authorize upon the basis of our personal likes and dislikes.
- God's word does not authorize upon the basis of our opinions or the opinions of others.
- God's word does not authorize upon the basis of what is popular.
- God's word does not authorize upon the basis of what some well-known preacher teaches or may have taught.
- God's word does not authorize upon the basis of human traditions.
- God's word does not authorize upon the basis of silence of the scriptures.
- God's word does not authorize upon the basis of dictionary definitions.
These things and many others will be explored further in the Hermeneutics Course. Hermeneutics is the process of interpreting the Scriptures. Good Bible students will apply the principles of hermeneutics in bringing out the meaning of passages which might otherwise be difficult to understand.
We must always seek to accurately interpret God's word. It really doesn’t matter what I think, what you think or what any man may think; it only matters what the Bible teaches. We must stay true to what the Bible teaches and dedicate ourselves to believing and teaching only those things which can be proven to be true from the scriptures.
We hope you are enjoying the free courses provided by the WVBS Online Bible School. The school is designed to give students an online, comprehensive, in-depth study of the Bible. The lessons are pure non-denominational teaching based on an accurate "drawing out" of what the Bible teaches, not reading into the text what someone might think it teaches. The courses cover every book in the Bible, plus four additional subjects which help you in your understanding of the scriptures. The 45 courses are currently available to the students for free online viewing. We would love to hear your opinion of the courses. Your comments, suggestions and even criticisms would be appreciated.