What are some of the bad things that can be learned if you study the bible with NO study guides?

There are a couple of religions that discourage bible study without using study guides that their religion publishes. These churches have to have a reason and I'm curious just what could be learned that their church doesn't approve of.

What are some of the bad things that can be learned if you study the bible with NO study guides?
In a nutshell: these sects are concerned that members will adopt interpretations of scripture that do not coincide with their "official" interpretation. Using the sect's study guide while reading assures that the bible researcher will be persuaded to adopt the "official" interpretation and not attempt to form his or her own (possibly schismatic or even erroneous) interpretation.





Actually, there *is* some rationality in this way of thinking. After all, all Christians know that only 1 interpretation of the bible *could* be absolutely, wholly correct, and if we knew that interpretation, we would know what fault lies in all the contrary interpretations.





The problem with this manner of thinking is that a sect which insists on a study guide is, essentially, claiming that *only* its interpretation is correct, and all other interpretations are false to the point that you should not even entertain them. In other words, it eradicates any "wiggle room" for contrary interpretations that, quite frankly, normally have no bearing on someone's salvation.





For example, there are the genealogies of Jesus given in Matthew and Luke. Now, first and foremost, we are ordered not to concern ourselves too much with such things. Nevertheless, a *friendly* discussion should be possible between Christians of opposing views. Some claim that Luke actually has Mary's genealogy. Others (such as myself) insist on a much more reasonable (grin) case of Levirate marriage. However, Christians will actually *split* over such issues, when in fact the relationship between these two genealogies has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone's salvation. In other words, as Christians, even if we are wholly unmovable in our positions in this matter, we should be entirely willing to "agree to disagree". A sect taking a stand on this issue in an "official" study guide would not permit any deviation - i.e. no one with a contrary view would be tolerated by the publishers of the guide, even though a contrary view has absolutely *nothing* to do with the person's salvation.





Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/bibles/
Reply:That once saved always saved. They don't read the parts of the bible that talk of enduring to the end. The parts were Jesus talks about being his and not just lip service. About those that stand before Him and say didn't we do many miracles in your name, and His reply was I never knew you.





Yes Jesus promise is perfect but ours isn't as Jesus told the adulteress go and sin no more.





I'm not say that once were baptized we will never fall short again, but we have to do as Paul and die daily ( ask forgiveness).
Reply:You may find things they don't want you to know, but that may very well be true.





Without knowing your denomination, it is hard to say specifically what they fear you learning.





But consider - the Bible is understandable all by itself, you do not need someone to tell you what it says - and I would be wary of any faith that tries to tell you otherwise.





Study guides have often become a control to make sure you get the particular church doctrine rather than a whole picture.
Reply:Anytime you read man's comments in S.S. literature, or other published material, you should be sensitive to how it lines up with scripture. That's just a good rule all the time, whatever the church, etc. If you just study the Bible, with no study guides, I would think you're getting the purest form of teaching and there would be nothing really bad from this. Study with prayer, so the Holy Spirit will open the meaning up to you. You may not understand everything (which is normal) but you will understand what the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to you. I'm wondering what denomination won't let you read outside literature? Most main-line denominations encourage it with some exceptions.
Reply:You won't understand and get it all wrong like many atheist do.
Reply:I read the KJV and I dont use a study guide. I ponder what I read, I dont leave it up to someone else to tell me what it means.
Reply:Perhaps the guides are meant to curtail any questioning of the Bible's blatant absurdities?
Reply:What can be learned is a different twist to the bible in that religions eyes.
Reply:Nothing bad can be learned, but some may not understand what they are reading. I prefer not to use guides, but find it interesting to do sometimes.
Reply:-that men can have wild sex with any woman they want.


-that women is a being that deserves no respect or consideration.


-that the god for strange reasons behaves more like the devil.


....


.....


....never to eat organic apples ?
Reply:You'll learn there are a lot of contradictions and instructions to do things that are no longer acceptable in a civil society.
Reply:Serena, I think the major reason churches publish study guides is to help people to get a balanced view of what the Bible is teaching. I've heard it said that if you pick and choose which verses you want you can "prove" anything you want - meaning you can use the Bible and manipulate people with it by selectively using only the verses you know will "prove" your ideas.





Any cult group that comes up using the Christian faith is doing that - selectively using verses that will teach distorted views. Many cults give too much power to the leader and those groups pull out all the verses that say to obey the authorities, without reading all the ones that say how a leader is responsible to lead people in a godly way and that the leader is to be a servant to the people.
Reply:They want to control their congregation. If your church is doing that, I suggest you find another one. My church has no "rule" against that.
Reply:Without b/study guides, there is the tendency to jump to the wrong conclusion or even deviate from the actual intent of that particular passage. Once wrong teaching is frimly lodged in the person's mind, it will be hard to dislodge it, and might take a long time before the person is finally set free from the lies and deception which the enemy has sowed into his/her mind.
Reply:You can't learn anything BAD. Jehovah's Witnesses encourage you to use study guides because it's pretty hard for anyone to just pick up a bible %26amp; learn things. You your Bible, your moms Bible, whatever Bible. You can see for yourself that it all agrees
Reply:I have never heard of this and I am curious as to what Christian religion says that.


I couldnt handle someone esle having all my answers and what's wrong with some critical thinking of my own.


If religion is doing this...sounds like they feel the need to always have an answer...an answer that fits how they want it to fit.


To say that "someone might not interpret it correctly" is not for them to say.


Who gets to be the judge of what and how things are interpreted, "correctly"?!!


I dont want anyone telling me how and/or what I should believe or not.
Reply:Hello Serena,





Guides or concordant for the bible, not to mention history books are very important. Many ideas, laws and philosophies of life need to be understood in the context of the ancient world but by our modern standards or they do not make proper sense to us.





This would take pages to explain but I'll give one example to illustrate. Remember when a few of Christ's apostles asked Him why the heck he was wasting his time talking to children and Christ rebuked them and went on to say that you need the eyes of a child along with their simple outlook to get to heaven etc?





Now this seems rather mean for the apostles to say this to our ears in this day and age. You should never reject a child's interest or affection. However, first century Palestine was quite a different kettle of fish with regards to Children. Out of four children born into a family, 1 child would not survive the first year. A second child would not survive past 5 - 8 years of age, a third would not make 20 and the fourth went on to adulthood on average in the population due to disease, defects, accidents etc. Therefore putting much work and education as well as investing much time was considered a waste of effort until the child reached his teens or adulthood .


Now we can see where the apostles were coming from with a clearer understanding.





Cheers,





Michael Kelly
Reply:I think these churches are afraid of how one might interpret the Bible. Because, obviously, there are and have been some scary interpretations of the Bible which have brought up many mistakes (such as the Crusades and the wars and battles between early Protestants and Catholics, as well as people today disgracing the name of Christ and putting others down).





However, if one is truly learning from the Holy Spirit, God only utters Truth.





Personally, I do not read with commentaries and what not very often. I prefer to talk with fellow Christians about what they think about the topic, and I discuss it with them on what they think God is teaching them.
Reply:U would see that the bible is self contradictory on major points and that you actually need to think for yourself, that blindly following it is not even possible without some kind of strange orwellian doublethink.


So we need priests, pastors, study guides etc. to keep all the christian sects from disintergrating through the application of common sense
Reply:One that always got me is that it is OK to stone people to death for just about anything that offends you, They tend to skirt all the incest that is in the bible too. It is a book heavily riddled with sex and violence!


BB


)O(
Reply:There is nothing bad in the Bible. The Bible comes alive to us when we accept Christ into our lives and His Holy Spirit gives us discernment. I can remember when I was young but had been saved and my dad was in his late 30's and had not accepted Christ at that time. There were things he would try to understand from scripture that simply baffled him. It was odd because I knew clearly what they meant. Later he was saved and these truths became real in his life.





So I guess to answer your question, the only danger is misquoting, misunderstanding and sharing things with unbelievers that are incorrect in interpretation.
Reply:They just don't want you to read the racy stuff in Song of Solomon.
Reply:The Bible stands alone as truth. Teachers should be able to teach without the study guides, if they believe that the Bible is 100% true as I believe.
Reply:Truth.
Reply:The Bible is the absolute Truth. There are NO bad verses in the Bible, just verses taken out of context.





If you disagree, post one bad verse and you'll see it's taken out of context.
Reply:Three words: Westboro Baptist Church.





Everything that they do and believe has support in the Bible somewhere--probably more support than for the sweetest, kindest Christians.





Your question raises another: why should the word of God need a study guide? More questions proliferate. If the Bible is self-contained, as others have said, then why are there so many different interpretations of what it means? Why does hermeneutics even exist? Some denominations claim that they have the One True Interpretation. How does one know which of the many "authorities" has the correct interpretation? Why would a perfect book even need an interpreter?





"No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means."[1]