Paul said: give thyself to reading of the scriptures

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Hidden In Him

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You've read most of the posts here. Can you imagine the distorted and confused mess that would come out of some of the mouths here if you, instead, had to audibly listen to them struggling to read aloud? Some people can't even write a legible sentence, let alone read aloud competently.
Give me a good reader up front who actually understands punctuation, and can see the commas in a sentence.

In NT times, when someone read the scriptures publicly, they followed it with a teaching from the text they had just read. Thus when they stood up before the congregation, they did not just give a reading. So I believe in many cases it's even worse than that many can't "read." Most don't have much of anything to teach either because they've long since relegated that responsibility to the pastor. It's a shame how far we've strayed from original New Testament Christianity.
 

Willie T

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In NT times, when someone read the scriptures publicly, they followed it with a teaching from the text they had just read. Thus when they stood up before the congregation, they did not just give a reading. So I believe in many cases it's even worse than that many can't "read." Most don't have much of anything to teach either because they've long since relegated that responsibility to the pastor. It's a shame how far we've strayed from original New Testament Christianity.
That's a reasonable point. It reminds me of something I say often:
If you cannot read a Scripture, take it into yourself, and repeat it later to someone in your own (completely different) words, then it is possible that you never really understood the Scripture in the first place.
 
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LC627

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And that is...? it is presumptuous to think that everyone understands every word of scripture and bearing in mind what the scriptures say can have all sorts of meanings, so I am asking what is yours?

"All Scripture is God-breathed"
- The Word of God is written by the Spirit and Holy Spirit inspired.

"Useful for teaching"
- God's Word teaches us sound doctrine and what is required of us and how God desires we live.

"Rebuking"
- At times we do have to rebuke another believer for sin in their life, do church discipline, and the Word rebukes us privately in our studies. The Word of God is alive and active, it judges our thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

"Correcting and training in righteousness"
- Scripture is the perfect rule of faith, practice, and godly living.
 

marksman

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"All Scripture is God-breathed"
- The Word of God is written by the Spirit and Holy Spirit inspired.

"Useful for teaching"
- God's Word teaches us sound doctrine and what is required of us and how God desires we live.

"Rebuking"
- At times we do have to rebuke another believer for sin in their life, do church discipline, and the Word rebukes us privately in our studies. The Word of God is alive and active, it judges our thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

"Correcting and training in righteousness"
- Scripture is the perfect rule of faith, practice, and godly living.

You have not told us anything new.
 

marksman

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That's a reasonable point. It reminds me of something I say often:
If you cannot read a Scripture, take it into yourself, and repeat it later to someone in your own (completely different) words, then it is possible that you never really understood the Scripture in the first place.

it is amazing how much the church ignores reality.

When I was studying for my university degree they taught us that you only remember 20% of what you hear.

You remember 90% of what you teach others.

Many churches love the 20% bit and ignore the 90% bit.

More would be accomplished and done if the teaching was restricted to 20 minutes as that is all you remember which was another thing they taught us, and then those in attendance broke up into groups and taught each other the meaning of what they had heard.

The times I have been told what a wonderful sermon we had today and when I ask what it was about they don't know.
 

Willie T

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Can we take some time — each of us — and tell here, just what "useful for teaching" actually means to us individually, when it comes to knowing that was said about the Scriptures?
 

LC627

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it is amazing how much the church ignores reality.

When I was studying for my university degree they taught us that you only remember 20% of what you hear.

You remember 90% of what you teach others.

Many churches love the 20% bit and ignore the 90% bit.

More would be accomplished and done if the teaching was restricted to 20 minutes as that is all you remember which was another thing they taught us, and then those in attendance broke up into groups and taught each other the meaning of what they had heard.

The times I have been told what a wonderful sermon we had today and when I ask what it was about they don't know.

Not everyone learns the same so that probably wouldn't work in a lot of places. One can't fully expect a pastor to dive into great detail in 20 minuets and touch base with everything he wants to. Many love the idea of short sermons because their heart isn't fully invested. We never get closer to God by limited and cutting short God.
 
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farouk

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Not everyone learns the same so that probably wouldn't work in a lot of places. One can't fully expect a pastor to dive into great detail in 20 minuets and touch base with everything he wants to. Many love the idea of short sermons because their heart isn't fully invested. We never get closer to God by limited and cutting short God.
It goes to show the value of consecutive teaching from the Scriptures.
 

marksman

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Not everyone learns the same so that probably wouldn't work in a lot of places. One can't fully expect a pastor to dive into great detail in 20 minuets and touch base with everything he wants to. Many love the idea of short sermons because their heart isn't fully invested. We never get closer to God by limited and cutting short God.

I am sure you are convinced that you are right but what I said is based on empirical research, so I prefer its findings rather than some guestimate by someone who is not a university professor and hasn't spent years studying the subject.

The more detail you have the shorter the sermon as you forget what is said beyond 20 minutes. Short and sweet is more effective than long and confusing.
 
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marksman

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Not everyone learns the same so that probably wouldn't work in a lot of places. One can't fully expect a pastor to dive into great detail in 20 minuets and touch base with everything he wants to. Many love the idea of short sermons because their heart isn't fully invested. We never get closer to God by limited and cutting short God.
We limit God if we ramble on forever and a day and no one understands what it is all about.
 
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