Tunnel Vision How not to study the Bible

Pod Prep 1-15-16
HOW NOT TO STUDY THE BIBLE

BE AWARE OF THE DANGER AND TEMPTATION OF TUNNEL VISION

What is tunnel vision? It can be defined as narrowing of focus that causes a person to avoid facts to strengthen his own pre- conceived beliefs. Tunnel vision often causes a person to perceive and accept only what strengthens his preconceived thoughts about Biblical doctrines from the Bible. We will look at one of the more blatant examples. In Acts 28:3-4 people have read of the miraculous powers given to Paul to protect him on his world changing evangelistic missions. They wish to prove their spirituality by handling snakes as a regular part of their church experience, hoping to be immune as Paul was. The founder of this movement died recently of a poisonous snake bite.
Another much more popular example is that of the Rapture. Some read verses like 1 Thess. 4:16-17 and believe that all the real believers will be taken to heaven temporarily to avoid the Great Tribulation period entirely. Tunnel vision is the opposite of considering the context. The context of 1 Thess. 4:13-17 is the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead or sleeping saints. The resurrection is the theme of the New Testament. However the return of Christ and Bible’s resurrection was undermined by a young girl in the 1830’s, who was very ill, and probably, due to her condition, had visions and dreams. She thought that the dreams and visions told her that Christ would come secretly at first and take Christians to heaven. Then He would return and punish the world for their terrible sins and debauchery. These dreams really caught on with some ministers who promulgated these new ideas and the rapture was born. The Pentecostal Church was starting to grow and many people loved and accepted the new resurrection concepts. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that during the Great Tribulation Christ will come twice, first to whisk away Christians and then to punish the world. However that didn’t make any difference to church goers and the secret and public return by Christ was born and still flourishes. It took 18 centuries for this false doctrine to take hold. None of the disciples or apostles and certainly not Jesus Christ ever thought of this idea. However, Christians preferred their own ideas about Bible doctrine. They preferred tunnel vision, ignoring the facts of the Bible.

IN ADDITION TO CONTEXT, USE COMMON SENSE FOR TRUE MEANINGFUL BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING

In Matt 5:30 Jesus uses hyperbole to drive home a point. A man years ago read this verse and because of using his hand to sin cut it off. When he arrived at the hospital he would not allow them to reattach his hand. He, twenty years later sued the same hospital for not realizing that he was mentally unstable at the time and they should have forced him to have the surgery. Obviously, Jesus was saying disobedience of the law can get you in the Lake of Fire which will consume you. We should do anything to resist sin, but we do not sin with our hands we sin with our minds and hearts. See Mark 7:20-22.
Proverbs 22:5 says that if we raise a child correctly they will not depart from the way. This is a proverb or general guideline that is clearly true. Really disturber parents can ruin a child for life. However good parents are a blessing to the child, but the child still is a free moral agent and can choose the dark side. Many a teenager from a reasonable home has chosen drugs, alcoholism, gang violence and prostitution etc. to their parent’s dismay. Adam and Eve’s only parent was God and they were led astray. Do not feel overly guilty if your children have deep problems in this evil society. They may yet, later in life get a moral grip on life. Use common sense in evaluating this verse, and avoid tunnel vision error.

GOD IS NEVER EVER WRONG AND ALL HIS LAWS ARE GOOD FOR MANKIND

One must study God’s word with this premise. We should ask, “Why did God say that” and how can we gain deeper insight, to avoid tunnel vision. It is a false assumption that the Old Testament is done away. People use this idea to get around the fourth commandment and stay in and with the world. Some have tried to misuse Eze. 20:24-25 to support such a wrongheaded premise. If you see this verse in the NIV, a clearer translation, it is obvious that God is angry with them for desecrating His Sabbaths and other laws. He gives them over to their own legal devices. God, thru the prophet is obviously not saying, “I gave you bad laws so you would suffer”. God let them suffer from their own bad laws and behavior and turned away from them. Are our court decisions hurting the nation?
Even though we no longer live in a Theocracy, governed by God, the principles behind His Laws are still valid. In 1 Cor 9:9-11 the Apostle Paul is applying a minor law from Deut. (25:4) to a gentile New Testament church. He used this Old Testament law as proof that he could have asked for a salary from the Corinthians, but deferred because he did not want it to be a barrier to growth in numbers. He thought that some would be suspicious of this Jewish cleric wanting their money! He did it out of love, yet they did not appreciate his sacrifice. Note the Old Testament is quoted liberally throughout the New Testament as doctrinal support and guidance. See Act 24:14 to see what the main author of the New Testament believed.
GOD DOES NOT CHANGE BECAUSE HE IS NEVER IN ERROR
Be wary of biases from our past religious teaching which could have been due to tunnel vision. Many of those biases are of a harsh God of the Old Testament who has been replaced by a reformer, Jesus, who changed much of the Old Testament. God put curses on those that would alter or do away with any part of His written word. See Rev 22:18-19 and Num 23:19 as well as Duet 4:2 and Heb 13:8. God does NOT need to change. People need to repent and change. Christ said in Matt 5:17-18 that He did not come to do away with the law but to show its deep spiritual fulfilment. Try hard to avoid tunnel vision. God gave the Apostles the power to make legal decisions regarding new situations that required a ruling- to bind or to loose. This is meant to be used with Godly insight which would never contradict God’s wishes or laws. What about circumcision some will assert? Note Lev 19:33. Well the apostles decided that since the Bible does say circumcise your heart, that spiritual circumcision or repentance is all that is needed for gentiles. Circumcision was a national sign for Israel. It would have been an enormous barrier for gentile conversion. See Acts 10, 28, 34, and 44. God did not want Christianity to be for the few but for the entire world.

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