THE BEST TOOL FOR BIBLE STUDY

By George Card

Many Bible students want to have the best tools for studying the scriptures; so they go and buy all kinds of Bible aids like: almanacs, concordances, dictionaries, etc.  These tools are good to have, but the best tool is called the question mark (?).  This little punctuation symbol is able to make you wiser than a whole library.  This tool is used by scientists, reporters, and writers.  There are many ways to use the question mark, but there are seven basic questions, and they are (what, who, when, where, why, which, how). Let us see their use in Bible study.

WHAT.  What happen? What is he saying? What can we learn?

WHO.  Who wrote this? Who is this for? Who is he talking about?

WHEN.  When did it happen? When was this to be done? When did he wrote this?

WHERE.  Where did it happen? Where is this place? Where were they going?

WHY.  Why did it happen? Why was it recorded? Why should we care?

WHICH. Which one did it? Which action was taken? Which way?

HOW.  How did it happen? How was it done? How can we use it?

Questioning what you believe and why you believe something is one of the best ways to uncover the truth. There is no sin in questioning God or the Bible, the sin is in not believing a reasonable answer. If you are going to be a serious Bible student then you must learn how to ask proper questions. You must develop an inquisitive mind for that is the best protection against false doctrine.  Whenever somebody says "The Bible says so and so", your immediate response should be "does it?".  False prophets and false teachers do not allow anybody, especially their members to question their pronouncements.  They will ostracize or attempt to intimidate any inquisitive person, by saying "You are not spiritual or learned enough to understand this particular doctrine".  However the Bible tells us to prove ALL things.

The Bereans were considered more noble by Paul, because they studied his teachings and went to the Bible to see if the teachings of Paul lined up with the Bible. A true Bible student has to be a Berean who goes to the Bible to investigate any teaching or doctrine. A real Bible student will not accept suppositions or lack of information as a foundation for any doctrine. Being an inquisitive Bible student will not turn a true believer into a rabid atheist or into a “whatever” agnostic. You might not find all the answers you seek, but you should get some answers. A religion or faith that is unable to answer some honest questions is not a religion worth having.