For too long the Bible has been used wrongly. You probably know the drill. A religious leader stands in front of a congregation and preaches from verses in the Bible. The overall hope is that the congregation will believe the message, repent, and then struggle to live the way Jesus or God desires. Sometimes the verses in question are used to get someone “saved” once they accept the message. But this sort of Biblical perspective is completely counter-productive to what the scriptures were meant to do. In fact, the methods discussed above have wrestled the true power of the scriptures right out of the hands of the people. When used in this manner, the Bible, with all its awesome revelations and deep spiritual insights, has become a tool to promote religion. The only problem is that religion usually creates confused, mindless, or arrogant congregation members. [Read more…] about Putting Scripture Into Proper Perspective: Part One