Look into My Telescope

Human language is reliable as long as you don’t plan on going very far. Misunderstandings occur for a variety of reasons and sometimes communication seems hopeless. For instance, the following announcements appeared in a church bulletin: 1. Don’t let worry kill you; let the church help. 2. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community. The same basic problems of misunderstanding and confusion can exist in the interpretation of the Bible as well.

For centuries religious leaders taught that the earth was the center of the universe despite the fact that the Bible makes no such claim. In 1616 AD Galileo discovered that the sun, not the earth, is the center of the solar system. Knowing that this discovery contradicted existing Roman Catholic Church doctrine, Galileo invited the religious leaders to come look into his telescope to see his evidence. These “blind guides” (Matthew 23:16) refused to even take a look.

During the dark ages, from about 500 AD to about 1500 AD, the public was not permitted to have access to the Bible. Only the clergy could look upon the Word of God. They then dispensed only tiny morsels to the masses, often twisting the meaning for their own financial or political gain. By the time the reformation began, virtually all Biblical truth had been lost or distorted. After the reformers got Bibles back into the hands of the common man, people began to try to reconstruct the proper church doctrines which had been lost. This was very difficult because they had been saturated in heresies for centuries. Different groups had varying degrees of success, correcting some areas of doctrine while failing to correct others. Some false doctrines were changed into new, different false doctrines. The net result is that today we have hundreds of denominations and sects each claiming success at restoring doctrinal purity.

Why do Christians disagree over the Bible and why is there no consensus on important doctrinal issues? I believe there is one major answer to this perplexing problem. Most Christians have not seen and many Christians refuse to see the uniqueness of Paul’s apostleship and the distinctiveness of his message. Paul’s place in God’s program, as steward over the household of God on earth (I Cor. 3: 10) for the last nineteen centuries, is a great key that unlocks the doctrinal truths of the Bible (Ephesians 3:1-11). I invite you to look into my telescope and see the evidence for yourself. When the Word of God is rightly divided Nehemiah 8:8 will become a living reality in your life---“So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”