The Nuts & Bolts of the Bible Message

When we begin seeking an understanding of life and our purpose in all we see and don't see, we have two approaches to determining the truth. We can ignore all the work of Man throughout history and do our individual search, or we can draw on the work Man has done throughout history and build on that foundation. If we choose the former, we must begin building foundational concepts by checking and cross checking and grow in understanding at a rather slow pace. This approach is similar to an individual born and living on an island learning math concepts on his own. Obviously, he will not get very far. The latter approach offers the best approach for our reaching the highest level of understanding possible. This approach is similar to Einstein learning all the math concepts he can from the work of previous men and/or women, and then progressing from there to add new concepts, but it has one major trap.

When we choose to follow the latter approach relative to spiritual growth, we need to take steps to not fall into the major trap associated with it. Growing in understanding of the spiritual reality is somewhat different from learning math concepts. Math concepts can usually be readily checked during the learning process, and this is usually the way they are taught. Math students do not usually have a personal preference relative to any particular math concept. Therefore, they just find what works for any particular problem or set of problems and then use what was learned when those problems are encountered in the future. There usually is not an emotional component attached to whether or not any particular math concept is correct, and any errors are merely errors. When we seek understanding of the spiritual reality, though, our feelings play a big part in the growth process because whether or not a concept is true tends to become important to us in an emotional way, and this opens up another type of error--producing the trap.

Not only do we have preferences as to the correctness of a particular concept, but this is also true for each individual who may have presented a concept as true. Therefore, we can find ourselves accepting concepts we like that others present and rejecting concepts we do not like in the same way. Obviously, this can become a serious hinderance to any attempt we make to grow spiritually. If we now consider how our trust of our parents may lead us to accept false concepts they have accepted, we begin to see the size of this trap--especially when we carry this idea to peer groups, individuals with whom we want to develop a relationship, and etc. This trap can only occur because of the self-serving nature. The self-serving nature views life relative to how life situations affect it. To grow in spiritual understanding it is necessary to develop another view of all life situations.

Obviously, with everyone viewing life through their self-serving nature, unity is possible only to the extent that those in any group are seeking a purpose that the overall purpose of the group satisfies in some way. Groups formed in this way, though, have limits to the size of any unity. Eventually, their purpose may not be of value to the group when the overall purpose obtains a certain level. Additionally, members of the group can begin to desire different purposes, and the group will begin to fall apart. The self-serving nature tends to move from one purpose to another because lasting satisfaction is foreign to it. We see this operate in society all the time. Someone "falls" in love because of their view of how another individual or group of individuals can satisfy their desires and then, overtime, begin to see all the flaws in their selected relationship relative to their self-serving purposes. They then "fall" out of love and move to another relationship to start over again.

Imagine that you were the Creator of Mankind and you had a purpose that required all individuals you created to be in complete unity. What would be the factors needed to accomplish this unity? How would you go about it while insuring that all the necessary factors are addressed? What would you do when individuals go wrong--essentially growing through their self-serving nature?

After considering the few questions above and looking at the world today, would you consider your plan successful? If no or not yet, is there any possibility of success?

Let's assume the Bible reveals GOD's Plan and tells us how to implement it within ourselves while helping others to do the same. Let's see if we can use the Bible to answer the questions above. In doing this, our understanding of the self-serving nature and the resulting pitfalls should warn us to view the Bible message with little if any emotional attachments whether an old or new concept. Some ideas on ways to accomplish this are outlined in the Acrobat reader files "The Search of Truth". Obviously, the Bible Message is also likely to give ways to overcome the self-serving nature and grow spiritually as unpolluted as possible.

Let's look at the Nuts & Bolts of the Bible Message beginning with Genesis by first looking at the purpose of ritual and tradition.