by Bert Meinders

Created on: December 19, 2010

Late in 1972, about a year and a half before I became a Christian, a man whom I still respected for his wisdom long after I stopped dating his daughter advised me to (1) be brutally honest with myself and (2) always seek the truth. He was the leader of a small house church which had split from its parent church over important issues. No, I don't remember (if I ever knew) what those issues were, but the advice has taken root.

I can't honestly say that I've been successful in the former, although I find it much easier to be honest with myself two or three decades after I stopped trying to drink myself to death, but I have always striven to find the truth, regardless of whether I would like it when I found it.

Of course, as an admittedly deeply flawed Christian, I have regarded the Bible as my primary reference and guide. And this has led me to the first obstacle to searching for truth there. The World has left its mark on the Bible, and the Devil has confused the minds of people by corrupting our perception of this best-known of books.

Paul stated in one of his letters that he had become "all things to all men" in order to increase the penetration of Christianity in the Empire, and ever since the Bible coalesced into its present content in the fourth century it has been used as "all things by all men". This has led to war and persecution and other great sin because rulers and other power-seekers have read the Bible selectively and imposed their desires as orthodoxy. The Bible was kept imprisoned in Latin for centuries to deter people who sought the truth. Churches have used political and military force to enforce their doctrines and suppress any rival views. Religion, which should be the conscience of society, has instead been hijacked by those who use it to keep themselves in wealth and power. 

The most common and potentially the most destructive and divisive error is to assume that the Bible is, in itself and in its entirity, the truth. It is often said that the Holy Bible is the inspired word of God when it is much more accurate to say that it is inspired by the word of God. Many men contributed to the text of the Bible, and many more influenced them. Other men (women may have influenced them, but have not been acknowledged) compiled it in its present form, translated it and provided footnotes and introductions. It has been rendered into many languages, and it has been paraphrased in such works

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