My personal opinion as to what is wrong? We don't discuss the Bible enough! We post a series of verses out of context, to support our ideology/theology. This is eisegesis. It is reading into the Scripture what we personally want it to say.
Instead we need to do exegesis. We need to read the Word with open hearts, and see what God is saying - not what we want it to say. That only happens when we spend time in a passage, look at the surrounding verses, learn about the culture, and once we have done all that, go back to the Word of God, prayerfully and see what God is saying, even if it doesn't line up with a favourite idea was have.
There would not be the fighting, if we were actually concentrating on the Bible, and what Jesus is saying to us. How can we apply the verses to our lives? How can we become better disciples, and how can we use those verses to MAKE disciples, which was Christ's final command!?
In Greek, we go through long passages. Last night I was reading Col. 1:1-23. I had studied all the words, the verb tenses, the noun cases, the grammar, but it was still piecemeal in my heart. I got my UBS Greek out, and just read it. Of course, I have to read slowly, and that is something I do not do often enough with my English Bible. As I slowly read the words, God showed me his amazing power, his majesty and glory. It lasted into the night and it is still with me today.
That is letting the word transform you! And it doesn't have to be Greek. English is fine - but really read it, and talk to God about what he is saying. I'm going to post the verses I was reading. I hope everyone will see the image of Christ, like I saw it when reading these verses.
If we all studied the Bible like this, together, we wouldn't have to fight and disagree. As for contending against false doctrine, I agree there are some non-negotiables. Like the Deity of Christ! As for the minor theologies, like soteriolgy and eschatology, and ecclesiology etc, etc, we don't need to fight about them, if we are truly having a discussion about the verses, and not our pet ideologies.
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Preeminence of Christ
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
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