The TruthQuest at NewBibleTruths.com is an ongoing search for the Biblical knowledge that comes from a chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse study of the scriptures. The TruthQuest is chronologically organized side-by-side, book-by-book, chapter-by-chapter, and verse-by-verse with the Holy Bible. Following the discussion of each chapter is a list of deductions and implications that can be drawn from the text as a result of my analysis, and following each deduction is a reference to the verse(s) corresponding to the discussion from which it was drawn. Taken as a whole, they contain my thought processes and conclusions for every verse of the Bible and are meant only to aid you in uncovering the truth for yourself. You must take care not to blindly accept my conclusions as truth without drawing your own conclusions, lest you be guilty of the very thing we’re trying to avoid—accepting someone else’s word as truth instead of relying on our own interpretation as revealed to us by God! Instead, begin in Genesis 1:1 and read in your own Bible the text which corresponds with the discussions on this site. Next, read the corresponding discussions on this site and decide for yourself whether God has revealed His truth through me. If you think not, then draw your own conclusions, and lest you forget, record them just as I have done here.
I began this TruthQuest as a personal quest for knowledge—the knowledge of truth, which is absolute and eternal in nature. But what is truth? It is the ultimate reality that exists beyond what we, as humans, can see with our own eyes, prove through scientific investigation, or explain with logical reasoning. It is the way things really are, in our own physical universe and beyond, regardless of the many opinions that exist about them.
Among other things that I have been taught over the years, I have accepted the truth that there exists one and only one God and that He created the physical universe and all things in it. I have also accepted that the Bible is a historical and actual record of God’s interaction with mankind and that it is His divine word and the source of truth. It is through the interpretation of His word that we gain our knowledge of ultimate reality.
Unfortunately, there are many interpretations of the contents of the Bible that lead to different conclusions about ultimate reality; thus, there are many different sects of Christianity, all of which claim to represent truth. However, there can only be one truth; either God exists, or He doesn’t. Either Jesus was who He claimed to be (the son of God and awaited Messiah), or He wasn’t. Baptism is either a necessary step for salvation, or it isn’t. Among the many interpretations of truth, both on the subjects I just mentioned and the myriad of others that exist and are addressed by the Bible, there can be only one truth.
I began this quest because I have become mature enough in character to question the “truths” that have been instilled in me since childhood. I accepted them as ultimate reality without question, as children will do. But I have reached a time in my life when I realize that what I have accepted as truth all these years is merely the opinion of others who taught me, with the best of intentions, what they considered to be truth. There is only one way to learn if the “truths” I was taught are actually representative of ultimate reality—I must interpret the truths contained in the Bible for myself rather than accepting what I have been told by men. It is a task I must do for myself, by myself, to achieve inner peace through the knowledge that comes from truth. The journey will be long and tedious, but it is one that I must make. I will not be at peace until this task is done. I must pray and trust that God will reveal His truth to me as He intended me to receive it through scripture. I have faith that if I desire the knowledge that comes from God, which is truth, then He will bestow it upon me.
If, after analyzing and interpreting the Bible for myself, I arrive at the same conclusions I started with, then not only will I know that what I have been taught since childhood is, in fact, representative of truth, but I will have strengthened my faith by gaining a better understanding of ultimate reality. If, however, I arrive at different conclusions than I started with, then I will have a new understanding of ultimate reality and will take joy in the fact that, through the many conflicting interpretations of the Bible that I have been exposed to over the years, God has revealed His truth to me. In either case, I will find peace from the knowledge that what I accept as truth came from my own interpretation of God’s word, led only by His Spirit, instead of simply accepting as truth what I have been told by others.
So, armed with an open mind, I begin my search for truth in the Holy Scriptures.
The Disciple
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