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3.  We must interpret the Bible historically.  Every passage of the
               Bible was written within a historical context.  Time was created by
               God during the first days of creation, when he spun the earth.  Since
               then, man has existed within the realm of time.  Since God used men
               to write His Word, they lived within a certain time in history, and their
               writings bore witness of what was happening around them.  Almost
               half of the Bible is a history book.  It tracks the history of mankind
               from day one to the establishment of Israel.  It reveals the coming of
               the Messiah at the right time.  And the book concludes with what will
               happen as time comes to a conclusion.  So as we look at Scripture, we need to take into account when
               the passage was written and what was happening historically at that time.

               A Word of Caution:  Quite often, the actions of various individuals within the history of the Bible are
               used to build a case for various doctrinal beliefs.  For example, we can look back at a historical event in
               the Bible that occurred in Genesis 14.  Abram had just saved his nephew, Lot, from the kings of the
               North.  After the battle, a unique person walked up to him named Melchizedek, King of Salem, and
               blessed Abram.  Abram’s response was that he gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils of the war. That
               was a historical event.

               The person reading this passage of Scripture could take this historical event and from it, make this
               statement:  Every believer should give 10% of his income to Church as the basis of New Testament giving.
               His basis is that since Abram gave a tenth of the booty of the war, believers today are obligated to give
               10% of their income to the church.  This is a total misinterpretation of this text!

               Here is the problem with that line of historical interpretation:  In Genesis 17, Abraham journeyed to
               Gerar.  Knowing that Sarah was extremely beautiful, he asked her to tell others that she was his sister,
               rather than his wife, because he was afraid the people in the land would kill him to take Sarah from him.
               Abimelech, the king of Gerar took Sarah from him to become his wife, and then found out that Abraham
               had lied to him.  He rebuked him for his dishonesty and sent the two away.  Both Abraham and Sarah
               lied.

               From this historical event, using the same philosophy as the previous interpreter, we could create this
               doctrinal belief for today:  There are some situations we find ourselves in that warrants lying and in
               these cases, it is not wrong to lie.  This is nothing more than situational ethics and is not Biblically
               correct.  Again, we have made an error by creating a doctrine based on a historical event.

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               This practice is common among believers today.  Quite often we will hear that the 1  century church did
               sometime this particular way, so we should do that in our church.  The 1  century church selected seven
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               deacons, so our church should have only seven deacons.  To have more or less is unbiblical! They say, “If
               it was good enough for Paul, it must be good enough for us.”

               Think about it.  In Acts 1:26, the apostles drew lots (rolled the dice) to find out the Lord’s will on who
               would replace Judas (either Joseph or Matthias).  Should we roll the dice when trying to find God’s will
               today?  Heads we go this way and tails we go that way?  No, we cannot find God will by flipping a coin or
               rolling dice.




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