Hey LGW
What a great post!
Have I ever told you how much I admire your knowledge of scripture?
Here is how I'VE learned:
When I became born again many years ago, I had never read the bible -- I was Catholic. Since I then came to have spiritual needs I did not have before and the CC could not supply them,,,,I changed denomination.
I began to read the bible and to study it with the second denomination...a very basic and good church. (Nazarene). As I studied the bible I did not want to be brainwashed and wanted to understand everything on my own,,,so I checked everything carefully, as the Bareans did.
You can take a verse from the bible and understand it in different way....even scholars do. So I do agree with you that we are responsible to God for our own understanding and the fact that we live what we believe.
I'm not sure this is enough however. I've heard some declare Faith Alone. This is a lie and cannot be true, yet some believe it fervently. I DO believe that they pick and choose which verse to believe because if the entire N.T. is read, it becomes apparent that Jesus wants us to DO something and not just "believe". In quotation marks because BELIEVE actually means also to OBEY.
Maybe we should just be adhering to Jesus' teachings only? Is this the Jesus Only movement, which I know nothing about?
I've always like what you say about God "winking" at us and I agree with this because God is a very big and Almighty God and sometimes we reduce HIM to OUR understanding.
Anyway, thanks for such a great reply!