Help Me Understand the Bible by Clarence WhetstoneWe approach the Bible with American eyes and therefore completely miss or misunderstand so much of it. It is an old Middle Eastern book. To really understand it, we must try to understand their culture, theology, language, and thinking. A good translation is just the first step in understanding the Bible. Figures of speech that are second-nature to native speakers-but often bizarre to others-are especially difficult. When these are further clouded by differences in customs, grasping the original meaning can be very difficult. What most of us fail to realize is that we do not think the same way the writers of the Bible thought. The logic we find so easy and familiar did not yet exist when most of the Bible was written. Without considering those differences, we try to impose on Hebrew word-pictures our Greek logic patterns. Sometimes it works, and at other times the results are disastrous. No wonder we have loud conflict and seething separation within the church today, in direct violation of Jesus' prayer for unity within his body. This book is the result of years of answering questions from students and friends. It can be understood by anyone who can read a newspaper. The Bible is the record of God's intervention in human affairs, and where he draws a lost and hurting world to himself. Despite the critics' shrill cries, the Bible can be understoodI was raised in a pastor’s family where God was in the air. The record of God’s activities, the Bible, was revered, studied, and memorized.I was expected to become a pastor like my father. Serving three little country churches while in college was fulfilling. But one year in theological seminary became so confusing that I left the ministerial training track.While teaching English, or retraining for Speech/Language Therapy, the Bible was always my source of strength. I wrote my Sunday School lessons and was blessed to have many opportunities to substitute preach.The questions of seminary and my Sunday School class forced me to work through what I believed and why.It took ten years of thinking to solve those problems. But I now have a reasoned out position that tells me the Bible is the record of God’s reaching into our world to touch many lives.https://www.amazon.com/Help-Understand-Bible-Clarence-Whetstone/dp/1490827196/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1646413513&sr=1-1 www.cewbooks.com.Social media accounts: Clarence E Whetstone Books. Blessings.http://www.bluefunkbroadcasting.com/root/twia/63022par.mp3