Let me attempt to demonstrate something Let's say that I have a small box with , along with two other

people, to guess ve the following three clues to each of

for you with the following illustration. something hidden inside of it. I ask you what is inside this box. But first, I gi you:

It comes from a plant. It is a key ingredient in a refreshing drink. Many people love to have this drink with their meals. Now, you might say that the obvious answer is "tea leaves." Truly, that does ind eed fit all of the clues ... especially if you are a tea lover, which includes m ost people that I know. You are thus convinced that the box must contain tea lea ves. One of the other two people, however, says that the box contains a lemon. W ell, let's see -- lemonade is a refreshing drink made from something that does c ome from a plant. But, what about the last clue? Do "many people" love to drink lemonade with their meals? Well, I suppose that depends on what is meant by the phrase "many people." That might mean 100 to me. But, it might mean 1000 to you. There is no definite number that defines "many." Therefore, it cannot be denied that there may be "many" people who like lemonade with their meals. So, the box could contain a lemon. The third person steps up and says that his guess for th e contents of the box is barley. So, how did he come up with that? Well, he must be thinking about beer. But, you think, "That can't be right." Why? Because bee r is not a refreshing drink to you, and you would never consume beer with your m eals. Nevertheless, beer easily fits all the clues, even though it would not agr ee with your interpretation of the clues. Then I declare, "The game is over," an d start to walk away. "Wait," you cry. "What's in the box?" To that I reply, "Wh at is in the box is not important. I have decided not to specify the contents. W hat you should remember, however, is this -- it's important to drink plenty of l iquids; it's good for your health." Later when someone asks you what you learned from the game, you inform them that you learned drinking liquids is important t o one's health. And then you declare to them that the box contained tea leaves, and thus we must all drink tea with our meals. Hopefully, you would not really bind upon others such assumptions. But, can you not see that this is the exact approach you are taking with the Bible? You take passages in the New Testament writings that do not make clear, specific statemen ts about God's plan of salvation, and so you look for other clues. You find clue s that fit your way of thinking, and that then becomes the meaning of the passag e in your own mind, and everyone else must accept your meaning or they will sure ly be committing sin. And yet, can you not realize that it is just as easy for s omeone else to come up with a different meaning about the same passage based on some other clues that they have found? Instead of trying to understand passages that are vague and not clear in their meaning, you should forget about those pas sages, and instead just look at the ones that clearly specify what we are to do. They are the ones that are important. The Bible is not a book of secret codes with hidden clues that must be discovere d in order to find our way to heaven. A person does not have to be a Bible schol ar, or even be instructed by a Bible scholar, to find out how to please our Crea tor. Remember: Those who profess to be wise, may actually be fools. The Bible is easy to understand when you stop trying to make every verse into a command. The New Testament documents are a collection of stories and letters that were writt en by several men to the people of their own particular time. They had no idea y ou and I would be reading what they wrote 2000 years later. But, God knew. And s o He guided their thoughts and their pens, and He made certain that everything w e would need to know would be put down in writing for us to read. These writings give us everything that we must know about salvation. And it's all stuffed righ t in there between Paul cutting off his hair because he had taken a vow and the very detailed description of his ship's crew battling the storm, and their subse quent shipwreck on the island of Malta. It is squeezed in there between Paul's g

reetings to his many Christian friends at the end of his letter to the Romans an d all the seals, trumpets and bowls that we read about in the book of Revelation . Seriously, Darrell, do you really believe that the entirety of the New Testame nt writings (every word of them) must be understood by us today, and that every single passage gives us some sort of instruction regarding salvation? We are given plenty of information that tells us what we should and should not d o. For instance, we know for certain that murderers, liars and thieves are not o n the list of those going to heaven. We know the importance of baptism for those seeking salvation, and we know that we should be helping the poor and the needy . You see, we have commands and instructions that we must obey. But not every si ngle word in those inspired writings of the New Testament was written to us. Can 't you understand that if God had wanted to write a "rule book" for us to obey, He could have done so just as easily as He gave Moses the Ten Commandments and t he multitude of other laws that were given for the Israelites to follow? Now, su rely you know that the Scriptures tell us that we are no longer under law?! That means there is NO rule book. But God has given us some clearly defined commands . And He doesn't expect you, or any other person, to have to search for clues an d piece together a puzzle to uncover additional commands or some hidden pathway that leads to our salvation. I would challenge you, Mr. Broking, to do just what I did. I challenge everyone who believes the way that you do. Forget about everything you have been taught r egarding our God's expectations of you. Then read the Scriptures and find out wh at they say for yourself. Do not search for "proof" of things you already believ e. Search for things to believe, and then formulate your beliefs only on the wor ds that you find in the New Testament writings, not the words you must insert in order to get the meaning that you want. If you will do this, you will realize t hat you have been obeying "commands" that have not really been given to us by ou r Creator. You will discover that "laws" have been created by ordinary men. Thes e men had good intentions, but they were fallible men. They got some things wron g! They made assumptions and taught them as commands. And their teaching has con tinued down through many generations. You came by it honestly. But now is your c hance to correct those errors. When you discover the Truth contained in the Bibl e, and realize that God's plan of salvation is simple, and has been communicated to us in clear and very defined terms, it will make you feel wonderful. And you will want to share that knowledge with others. The Truth will most certainly se t you free! Jesus Christ took a very dim view of those legalistic patternists of His own day who sought to promote a rigid regulation of others according to the perceptions and practices of their party. Some of His harshest words were spoken to these s ectarians who were steeped in their own self-righteousness. Indeed, He declared their worship of God was in vain. They didn't have a clue!! Paul was equally har d on those who sought to impose law upon those free in Christ. He declared them to be accursed, fallen from grace and severed from Christ. Indeed, he stated tha t he wished those who were troubling the church from the "circumcision party" wo uld just go all the way and castrate themselves!! An unpleasant thought -- tough language -- but, these people were destroying souls. You don't coddle such perv erters of Truth; you deal with them as they deserve. These perverters of Truth a nd murderers of saints (spiritually speaking) still exist today, and they need t o be exposed for who and what they are.