A More Beneficial Use of the Word of God

A healer writes words from the Bible on a small piece of paper. Then he burns this piece of paper. He pulverizes the ash. He mixes the pulverized ash with water in a glass. Then he gives the glass to his patient. The patient drinks the water mixed with pulverized ash. The healer tells his patient that he would get cured from his sickness.

Here is another instance. A faith healer holds the Bible over the body of his patient lying on a bed. He prays. Then he opens the Bible. A medicinal capsule is found on the fold where he opens the Bible. He gives the capsule to his patient to drink. The patient drinks it and almost instantaneously she is cured of her sickness.

These are just two instances of using the Word of God in a rather strange way. In the first instance I was the patient. I had complained of skin eruptions. I was not cured by drinking the water mixed with ash from a paper with words written from the Bible. In the second instance my wife was the patient. She had an inflammation in her stomach and she had gone to many conventional doctors but she was not cured. Finally she was cured almost instantaneously by the faith healer who gave her a capsule from the fold of the Bible.

Present Uses of the Bible

The Bible can be used in many ways. Here are some of the ways people use the Bible.

1. We read it and learn some lessons from it. We consider it like any other book. The Bible contains stories, and these stories can entertain us and give us lessons for living. The Bible contains moral exhortations and following these exhortations make us live morally right in the eyes of human beings. A reverential way of doing this is called spiritual reading.

2. Some people use the Bible to guide them in their daily activities, even in minor ones. They have a decision to make. It may be a very minor decision, like drinking water or not. They open the Bible and read the first verse their eyes alight on. Then they interpret the verse whether it is alright for them to make the decision or not. This was called sortes biblicae (biblical lots) in the Middle Ages. Some people still use the Bible in this way today.

3. Other people use the Bible to defend their doctrines against those who criticize these doctrines. This is called apology. In this way they prove that their doctrines are the right ones and their church is the true church.

4. Still others use the words in the Bible to attack the doctrines of other churches and the practices of people. Almost every night in the Philippines beginning at 12 midnight there is a radio program called The Old Path lasting for an hour. This radio program primarily attacks the doctrines and practices of churches. This is the way the Bible is used in debates.

5. Theologians use the Bible in order to advance their knowledge of theology.

6. Speakers use the Bible to spice their talks and make their ideas more credible.

7. The Bible is used in worship and the administration of the sacraments.

A More Beneficial Way of Using the Word of God

But there is a way of using the Bible that is more beneficial to us. Here is the process.

We read it through from the start to the end. But instead of looking for the stories or for the moral lessons or theological truths we look for descriptions of God. Upon coming on a description of God we pause and talk with God. Let me give an example.

We begin reading the Bible with Genesis 1. The first verse says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” God is described here as creator of the heaven and earth. Then we pause to pray with words like ‘God, you created the heaven and the earth and that includes me. Thank you for creating me.’

Here is another example. In Isaiah 24:21 we read “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones.” God is described here as a punisher of armies. We pause and pray with words like ‘God, you punish the violent people on earth. Spare us from your punishment.’

What is the benefit we get from this way of reading the Bible? The main benefit is that we come to know more of God. And knowing him we come to love him more and being united with him we become like him. We become godly. We become divine. Then we can do what God can do because we will have his knowledge, goodness and power.

I used this way of reading the Bible, but instead of beginning in Genesis, I began with Matthew. After I finished the New Testament I went to Genesis. When I reached the Psalms a definite transformation in my life occurred. You can have this transformation too.

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Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.