Serious Big Picture Distractions

The last post, Keeping the Big Picture in View, was a reminder to keep God's Grand Plan in mind when observing and experiencing life's more challenging circumstances.
However there are sources other than life's sufferings and injustices that might distract us from keeping God's Big Picture in view.

The first is the misleading English Bible translations that most Christians own.

I have discussed this problem in several posts over the years so I won't take space here. But you can find two of them here and here; or just put "translation" in the search box on the right.

The most common and most misleading translation is the use of "eternal" when "aionian" or "eonian" or "of the age" should have been used.
And I have written about this many times too. You can find two posts here and here; or just put "age" or "aionian" in the search box.

However, the "eternal" mistranslations in English were initiated by very early (4th and 5th century AD) mistranslations between Greek and Latin, but the end result is the same. The difference between life in the coming kingdom and genuine eternal life has been hidden. Certainly believers (only) will have kingdom life, but others need to wait until the second resurrection for their preparation into eternity.

These mistranslations and the prophetic theology derived from them has produced doctrine that is so embedded in the mainstream churches that it is considered heretical to challenge it, even with accurate literal translations and the better theology they produce.

The second is the supply of misleading books and websites authored by Christians who don't know or accept God's Big Picture or build their theology on the mistranslations just mentioned.

We are blessed to have access to so much Bible teaching and discussion on the internet, as well as millions of books in print or in digital format.
However, we need to treat that abundance a bit like our shopping at a supermarket - choosing some to read while leaving others on the shelf.

And even after you dive into your selected site, you might still find some articles that appeal and some that don't.
I have some excellent sites that I learn so much from, yet they contain articles or points of view that conflict with God's Big Picture.

For example, the site For What Saith the Scriptures? authored by Shawn Brasseaux contains some excellent material.
Unfortunately, a few articles contain paragraphs that depart from Scripture.
Here is one of them:

God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; however, that does not mean that everyone will eventually go to heaven.
Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:10:“For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.”
While salvation from sin and hell is being offered to everyone through Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork, the phrase “specially of those that believe” proves that the merits of Christ’s work at Calvary cannot profit each individual until he or she trusts it.

Not only does Shawn fail to appreciate God's Grand Plan, but he actually contradicts it by filtering the verse through his own predetermined position (using terrible grammatical skills) to make his own position sound more Biblical than the Bible's.

You might see the poor grammar more easily with this parallel:
I like ice-cream, especially chocolate.
Shawn's grammar would accuse me of only liking chocolate ice-cream - which I can assure you is incorrect!

1 Timothy 4 : 10 correctly says that God will save all men, and of all the saved, believers have something special about them. Indeed they do. They are the Body of Christ, the Advance Party, through whom Christ administers the coming kingdom age.

So, although I learn much from this site, I am very cautious when reading an article that ignores or contradicts God's Grand Plan.

Now I can understand these commentators echoing traditional mainstream church doctrines based on faulty translations, because that's their starting point. But to actually change the text or contradict the text to uphold their doctrinal position is inexcusable.

So how do I avoid these distractions in my personal Bible Study?

I know the English words to watch out for in Bible translations - hell, eternal, forever and ever, torment, annihilation,  - and I am alert to the theology and points of view that deny or oppose God's Grand Plan of universal reconciliation. And I read Bibles and books and websites with these alert flags automatically in place.

But I wasn't always like this.
For many years, whenever I ran into poor Bible translation or interpretation or commentary (or author opinion) that contradicted what God had clearly declared in other parts of Scripture, I would give up reading that site (or that book).

In the case of books, there were many sitting on my shelves for years that I would never open again - and I would not give them away either as that would have me contributing to the distribution of false information (fake news, we call it these days).

But I have now changed my practice.
I now keep reading most authors for whatever sound teaching and commentary they are providing, but ignore or put a line through those parts that I can't align with Scripture or that contradict God's Grand Plan.

I seem to be following the advice given by Charles C. Ryrie in the Foreword of a book on Eschatology on my shelves:

The author's consideration of the Biblical material is thorough and thought-provoking. His conclusions will not always meet with full agreement even by those who share his approach, but those who read this book cannot help but be instructed and stimulated by his work.

Many years ago, I remember being dumb-struck by an author who seemed to be correct in so many areas and yet seemed horribly incorrect in another. I had spoken openly about my amazement of this author's apparent blind spot, when one young staff member said to me, "Barry, if he was correct in everything, you would worship him."

How profound!
I have since believed that God is not going to reveal all of His truth to any single person or group for that reason.
So I don't expect any author or teacher or preacher to have everything sewn up any longer.

And that surely includes me!
I still have many questions to be answered and points of understanding to be resolved, even though I spend many hours a week trying (especially during Victoria's "endless" lock downs).
I always write my theology in pencil. 😀

So I supermarket shop my way through books, websites and Bible translations - taking what is helpful to understanding and appreciating God's Grand Plan to reconcile all things to Himself and leaving other items on the shelf.

Blessings, Barry