The Bible tells us to study to show ourselves approved unto God. That is a very good reason to study. There are lots of reasons related to that biblical verse that should motivate and encourage Christians to study more.
One of the main reasons we are to study is to get to the truth. Jesus told us that we would know the truth so getting to it is not going to be complicated. Often, the truth is not what we imagine it to be.
This is one reason why we have encouraged Christians to go beyond reading denominational works. Those are good for understanding the denomination one is a member but they they often do not communicate the full truth.
Denominational material will help a believer know how to live for Christ, but usually, it provides little information for any industry a believer wants to be a part of. However, knowing the Bible and one’s denominational theology helps protect believers from the lies that come when one studies for those industries.
Proper private study allows Christians to grow and learn as well as be prepared to defend one’s faith. This is why we encourage people to get into studying history. History provides a lot of truth if you know where to look.
For example, the book called After the Flood by Bill Cooper, although written and published in 1995 is an excellent source to learn about how the sons of Noah and their descendants relate to the nations of the world.
On page 12, Mr. Cooper has vindicated around 99% of the names found in the table of nations in Genesis. He also states that no other ancient document has reached that level of corroboration.
Studying helps provide the evidence that both believers and unbelievers need, not only to build their faith but help unbelievers make an important life decision about salvation. Knowing that the Bible is true and recorded fact is important and that is just one tidbit this book does for believers.
Believers today do not have to spend 25 years researching the past to find this information. Someone has already done it for them. Believers today can build their knowledge and faith on the work of others giving them more time for other important family and Christian duties.
Do not worry about those professors who demand that resources not be older than 5 years. That is a trick to omit important information not found in many modern books or research papers.
Recent scholarship does not include many facts that are found in works 25, 50, 100 or even 1000 years old. We have put this to the test many times as information found in Dr. Rehwenkle’s book, The Flood, is not found in any Noah’s flood book we have read over the past 30 years.
Likewise for Dr. Hapgood. His book The Path of the Poles contains information that shows that humans and prehistoric animals lived side by side. But you won’t find that information in recent scholarship.
You cannot stop your research at just 5 or 10 years. Too much information is lost that would change the conclusions of many modern authors. This is another important reason to study. You will see this omission and learn much about the author who is omitting it.
Then, studying history and other topics helps prepare you to fend off the faulty logic unbelievers have about the bible. You won’t be confused by their merging error with truth meant to harm your faith.
You can spot the error quickly and ignore it without fear. Too many students have gone to secular universities only to be caught in this trap. In the end, the majority of them gave up their faith. That is not something you want to happen to you.
Unfortunately, many Christian authors do not have the information other Christians need or they try to marry the salvation message in almost every chapter to the content they are writing about. This is not good.
When an author does that, he is not doing great scholarship and is only preaching to the choir. This method of Christian writing weakens the believer. One example here was the book by Erwin Lutzer, Hitler’s Cross.
The description goes like this- The Revealing Story of How the Cross of Christ Was Used As a Symbol of the Nazi Agenda. Unfortunately, Dr Lutzer never revealed the story of how the cross of Christ was used as a Nazi symbol. He spent too much time hurrying through each chapter to print a gospel message.
To use, that is lazy writing and research which harms Christians who needed the valuable information to help them overcome any challenges of why the Nazis used the cross and if they really did or not.
Real studying means delving into a topic and getting all the truth out of the available materials no matter where they lie, then reproducing it in a manner that helps Christians, not keepo them at square one. Christian study is meant to help the researcher as well as other Christians.
This is the difference between Mr. Cooper and Dr. Lutzer. The former did not end each chapter with a long salvation message. He focused his time on the topic at hand and Christians benefited from his efforts.
The latter did not do great research and his readers finished the book with more questions than the ones that were answered. Next, solid Christian study helps refine a believer’s faith so they know what is and is not important.
Getting rid of erroneous information or updating it to correct data is vastly important if a believer wants to make their mark for Christ. This can only be done when the believer strives to find the truth, not the best explanation.
One example here would be chronology. Many unbelieving bible scholars and archaeologists claim that the biblical writers copied. This claim is based on the idea that the Gilgamesh Epic and other ancient accounts were written before the OT canon was finalized.
However, when the Christian takes time to study, they find that even though those epics were written earlier, they are not the original. The reason they are not original is because Noah, his family, and Babel took place prior to the writings of those ancient tablets. The biblical record is the original even though the canon was not set for approximately a couple thousand years after the flood.
Proper Christian study helps the Christian to overcome these potential problems and see the solution before their faith is damaged. It will also help the Christian to learn that the Israelites never had a reputation for copying from other nations’ secular works in spite of being captives.
Chavalez & Younger’s book Mesopotamia & the Bible has shown that the Old Babylonians had that reputation and they were supposed to be forocious copiers, rewriting any work that came into their grasp.
Plus, good study will reveal that it makes no sense for the biblical writers to copy for that claim doe snot explain how 100+ nations have the same story and have it take place at the same time in history.
To do good study, one has to be open to the Spirit of Truth and let him lead you to the truth. Finally, if we are going to build other Christians’ faiths, then Christians need to let God lead from square one so that in turn they can lead others to a deeper Christian faith that will withstand the attacks from evil.
We can’t rest at the gospel message but do as the bible says to go from milk to real spiritual food so that we can grow strong as believers. We have talked about this topic before and in more detail. We have 5 articles and you can read them at the following links:
When you type in the word history, you will get far more than 5 articles on this topic. The key is, no matter which topic you prefer to study, you need to really examine it and not stop at superficial results.
The truth is not found with unbelievers and their works. You will get a lot of facts from unbeliever’s research but you need the help of God to avoid the erroneous manner those authors interpret and apply facts and biblical content.
As you study, you will learn that most secular authors do what experienced con men do. They sprinkle enough truth in with their false ideologies and interpretations to trap unwary believers and unbelievers.
They make claims about the bible that is never supported by the actual evidence. If you want to protect your faith and the faith of your loved ones, study with God leading you. That is the way to get to the truth and avoid losing one’s faith.
The Bible is never wrong.
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