I Invented the Wheel

When I was in school taking Math classes the teacher during testing always wanted us to “show our work” he didn’t want to just see an answer… because even if we got the wrong answer he wanted to see where our thinking went awry so he could make the proper correction.

I see the same thing in Bible study. How do we reach the conclusions that we do in regards to God’s Holy Word?

Did we actually study and reach those conclusions on our own or did we, like happens sometimes in Math class, just cheat (so to speak) and copy the conclusions of others?

Here are some examples of conclusions reached by some that may be correct or may not be correct that we need to re-examine.

God will not violate the free will of people.

The Church is not only capable of completing its mission but no other organization is authorized to duplicate that mission.

The work of the individual and the work of the church are separate and distinct.

The Church exists in a universal sense and a local sense and the Church Universal has no mission or human hierarchy.

Once we’re saved we’re always saved and cannot lose our salvation.

One of the first questions we should ask ourselves is how do these conclusions fit with what we know about God. Another question would be do we have command, example or necessary inference for any of them? And was there some kind of motivation for reaching these or other conclusions?

Many years ago I reached some conclusion on my own and one of my friends commented…. “congratulations… you just invented the wheel”

In retrospect I’m proud of that because I did invent the wheel and it makes little difference that someone did it before me because my brain is better for it.

I encourage you as Bible students to not just learn or teach the conclusions of others. Investigate those conclusions and look at opposing views. Work those problems out on your own and “show your work”… you will be better for it and so will those you teach.