Understanding The Bible. 1. The Purpose of the Bible. 2 Understanding The Bible 1. The Purpose of the Bible 2. The Land of the Bible 3. The Story of the Bible – Old Testament 4. The Story of the Bible – New Testament 5. The Message of the Bible 6. The Authority of the Bible 7. The Interpretation of the Bible • Intro & The Enlightenment of the Holy Spirit • The Christian's Disciplined Study     • The Teaching of the Church ☛ The Natural Sense • The Original Sense • The General Sense (part 1) • The General Sense (part 2) 8. The Use of the Bible

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5b

“For the whole purpose of revelation is clarity not confusion, a readily intelligible message, not a set of dark and mysterious riddles.” John Stott

Baptism - administered only to adult believers or children as well Baptism - administered only to adult believers or children as well? Immersed or poured/sprinkled? Independent or autonomous churches or “connectional” (conferences)? Episcopal (bishops) or presbyterian (elders) or pastoral oversight? Miracles - to be expected in the contemporary church regularly, occasionally or never? The “millennium” - intended to be understood literally as a future earthly event or symbolically as a present spiritual reality?

“words are to be taken in their literal meaning” “the plain, ordinary meaning of the words used is to be adopted in construing a document.” Sir Charles Odgers' standard book on the interpretation of legal deeds and documents

Cleave unto those that fear the Lord, Cleave unto those that fear the Lord, ... with those who know that meditation is a work of gladness and who chew the cud of the word of the Lord. But why that which divides the hoof? Because the righteous man both walks in this world and at the same time looks for the holy world to come. Epistle of Barnabas

Let us know, then, that the true meaning of Scripture is the natural and obvious meaning; and let us embrace and abide by it resolutely. Let us not only neglect as doubtful, but boldly set aside as deadly corruptions, those pretended expositions which lead us away from the natural meaning. John Calvin

And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14