It's Not Enough to Just "Read the Bible", You Must Study It!

Many cultists say that they read the Bible daily but the question is do they even bother to understand it or study it in context?  Reading the Bible also requires you to STUDY it.  In Joshua 1:7-9, God has commanded Joshua 1:7-8 says, "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.  This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

This prosperity doesn't mean life without trials, temptations and winning every competition but this is godly prosperity.  This is about prospering in one's Christian life in the midst of all trials and persecution.  Don't buy it for a second that if you just do what's right the world will love you.  In contrast, if you do what's right the world will hate you.  The more God's grace will work in the believer, the more it produces perseverance and at the same time the world is going to hate the person who does the will of God.  Be more like Jesus then expect the world to crucify you.  There's no reason for the Christian to be surprised that the world is going to hate them the moment their good works are accompanied by the hard hitting Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Back to the topic, the Bible needs to be studied.  The first time somebody reads the Bible, there are plenty of difficult passages and stuff to understand.  An example is how relevant is the Old Testament for today.  Many people think that when it's Old Testament then it's irrelevant when that's not the case and just because Christians are allowed to eat bacon and shrimp doesn't mean they're contradicting themselves when they go against homosexuality.  One can also think of the figures of speech and alleged contradictions.  So what's needed is to really seek to understand the use of the Greek, the Hebrew, the context, figures of speech and studying Biblical history in order to understand the way Scriptures speak, to clear out the alleged contradictions and to find out why God has given such "unreasonable" tasks in the Old Testament.

The command of 1 Peter 3:15-16 tells Christians to be always ready to give the answers of the questions people ask them.  This requires answering them in the context of Scripture.  What's disappointing to think is that many Christians today are probably too busy checking out Illuminati conspiracy theories than doing exegesis.  I've been guilty of that one before and right now, I'm more focused on studying exegesis and false doctrine because the Bible comes first.  While studying church history is indeed useful but it's useless without learning to take Scriptures into context.  When Satan took the Scriptures out of context, Jesus took them into context and it's always has been taking Scriptures into context to rebuke false doctrine and those who uphold it.