I believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God and contain all things necessary for life and the salvation of mankind. The Word is the primary resource and final authority governing theological and doctrinal matters for the Church. However, as both Israel’s and Church history demonstrates and what I have personally experienced over my lifetime and while working as a pastor, is that there is much division on how the Holy Scriptures are understood and applied. Even the Scriptures warn against misuse of the Scriptures. Even Jesus told both the Jewish religious leaders and the apostles they misunderstood the Scriptures. And Satan knew and intentionally misused the Scriptures and tried to use them to defeat and kill Jesus with.

Many professed “bible-believing” Christians often quote and apply Scripture out of context, cherry-pick the verses they like or which supposedly prove their point, while disregarding other verses that challenge their view. Because of learned denominational biases and prejudices, they reject things other Christians believe even through there is support in the Bible for believing them, and so divisions are cemented.

Although sad, I believe there are divisions in the Church for good reason also, but the Word of God needs to be rightly handled and applied more so for the purpose and with the intent to unite and edify vs. divide and constrain, allowing Christians to be open to what the Spirit of Truth would teach us beyond our previous misunderstanding and limited acceptance of God’s Word in our minds and hearts.

This can only be accomplished through prayer, repentance, and a humble willingness to learn from God. As it is written in the prophets, “they will all be taught by God.”