Lack of Knowledge

The Bible is like any work of literature. In order to understand it, one must first be aware of customs, history, symbols, the importance of numbers, figures of speech - all those things that Literature teachers attempted to teach their students in school.

Yet, this is largely ignored by seminaries and pastors. Instead, most get a type of moral teaching, while true understanding of God's word goes untouched and mostly unnoticed by most church goers.

God himself in the book of Timothy encourages all of his followers to study His word, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Those who do are often looked down upon the supposed teachers because often what is found, is somewhat different from what is being taught.

Tradition is fine. Truth is better. Even God said his people were destroyed due to lack of knowledge.

Knowledge is the one thing every believer should go after.

Dragons - really that evil?

Are dragons really the evil creatures depicted in the Bible, or was that simply a medieval phobia?

I suspect, given the literature of the day, that dragons were loathsome creatures to the superstitious people, just like werewolves and witches.

Today, there is more and more proof, from correctly translating the Hebrew words in Genesis, that God created dragons and that they lived in the Garden of Eden.

How could these beautiful creatures be considered evil if God created them and had them live in the most perfect place on the planet?

Esther - Vashti's refusal

The Bible, like any other book, must be read in context to when it was written. Like in Literature classes in college, those who truly wish to understand the significance of certain verses, there is need to understand the custom behind it. Let's start in the book of Esther. In the movie 'One Night with the King' those around the Persian Ruler made him think his wife was having a feast to protest the war. The Bible says she had a feast for the women. (1:9) Truth was women had their feasts separately from the men. It was an ancient custom and one could say Persia was 'behind the times'. So when the King sent for Vashti, he was violating the tradition of the day and she was justified in her refusal, regardless of his reaction. Reference: Bible Manners and Customs. Page 203.