Confusion Sets In Without Understanding Of Scripture

One of my favorite television shows growing up was the popular series Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack and later, for a series reboot, Dennis Farina. Whichever version you watched, the premise was the same and this show did not just produce entertainment but it helped bring justice and give answers to thousands of cases. Sadly, today, many Biblical concepts and issues that used to be universal truths have become Mysteries.

Unlike with the popular show, there is a roadmap to solving these mysteries called God’s Word, the Holy Bible. This book is the most popular book ever written and while the book does stop with the book of Revelations, scripture tells us that God is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12) so we can read the Bible from cover to cover but that does not mean it’s depths and knowledge and truly known. Unfortunately, too many people have stopped reading this roadmap and trying to understand it making it another Unsolved Mystery to many of our neighbors.

Many believers have stopped going to church service regularly and/or making time by themselves to read scripture and as we see, it truly changes both our outlooks about life but also, society in general. There are too many problems within the Christian community and most, if not all, occur as a result of not understanding scripture. Satan has truly seized at this opportunity and not only confused a few people but a majority of people who call themselves Christian.

There are many different situations that I can point to but I wanted to do show this from an academic point of view. That is, rather than giving my personal point of view by pointing to different examples, I want to show how people truly feel by researching actual data that has been compiled. In doing so, a 2010 research study—while nearly ten years old, the data shows just how much society has changed and probably has worsened in the years since the study—from the Barna Research company was found which shows that most Americans, particularly American Christians, are confused about some of the most important issues including Easter.

In asking the question about the meaning of Easter, participants gave answers such as a holy day, a religious holiday, and a Christian holiday and two out of three respondents believe that Easter has a religious meaning behind it but only a little more than forty percent of Christian adults believe that Easter was about the resurrection of Jesus Christ or that it had to do with the death and return to life of Christ. While the country has changed drastically, it is a shame to see just how much it has changed.

Everything that Satan touches, he perverts and by exposing and exploiting the weaknesses of Christians and their undesire to read has really caused problems for Christians and their understanding of scripture. Time and time again, I have quoted scripture to further explain an issue and many Christians have replied with further confusion. Rather than accepting what scripture says, they add their own opinion and tell me to read a particular verse as to why they feel a certain way.

Yes, two people can read scripture and come to two different conclusions about God has only one meaning behind including 1 Peter 1:3; “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” and perhaps the most popular Bible verse, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

If more Americans would turn to scripture rather than relying on their emotions for an accurate understanding of God’s word, the confusion about God and the most important events of world history would not be as confusing. There is no question that scripture can be difficult to understand especially at first but even for believers who have been in God’s word for years. Scripture was never meant to be fully understood but it’s clear that if we talk with the author and reside in His word, He will reveal all things to us in His timing: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10).

Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

–1 Peter 1:3