Helpful Tips In Interpreting The Bible

Why We Need to Open the Bible for Ourselves

I want you to open up the Bible without me, so you can understand.

You don't need a mediator, you don't need someone to go between you and God. That person is Jesus Christ and He's given us this book and I want you to know it. When I'm dead and gone, I want you to be able to open up the Bible and say, this is what the Bible says and what it means.

Yes, there are hard things in the Bible, but there are so many things in the Bible that are not hard about who God is and salvation, that I want you to be better interpreters. So what I've done tonight, and for those of you who are visiting, I don't have apoplexy or anything, I have a quiz.

And so Steve, maybe would you go in the office and grab some pens? You don't have to hand this in. My goal is not to find out what you don't know. My goal is at the end of tonight and then next week for you to be able to know better.

Now I've picked Genesis chapter 8. Here's the good news. It's open Bible. If you don't have a Bible, you can kind of covertly find one in the back of the pews there. They're black pew Bibles. You want to get yourself a Bible and you don't have to fill it in.

This is for your own good. And then we'll go through Genesis chapter 8. Yeah, thanks, Jack. And you can just start filling those in. What does Genesis chapter 8 teach and what doesn't it teach? And then I'll explain to you why I picked this chapter.

And our goal tonight is to look at Genesis 8, figure out what it says and means. And then as we do that, to give you some principles for Bible interpretation, not just this chapter, but all kinds of chapters.

So Genesis chapter 8, there's your quiz. It's mainly true and false. Remember, for those of you who haven't been in school for a long time, if anything in the sentence is false, that makes the whole sentence false, right?

Just like with grace and works. You add one part of works to 99 billion parts grace, you get works. So there are the quizzes. And for those visitors, again, they're probably thinking, I've never been to a church that has quizzes.

And so go ahead and fill those out. If you want to work with your spouse or your friend or something like that, you can. And I'll give you about five minutes or so. There is a fill in at the end. And you can open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 8.

And there's a reason why I ask some of these questions. And I'll tell you the reason in a minute. God has given us a book and he wants us to know what's in the book. This is not some kind of magical, mysterious thing that's just for the insightful or the intellectual.

He wants the plowman, the policeman, the pulpiteer, everyone to know his word. Can you imagine getting a love letter from your spouse and never reading it? I can't. Sometimes I actually pull out the old love letters file and reread them.

Okay, I won't talk anymore. You guys get busy.

All right, how are you doing? Need a couple more minutes?

All right, let's just give you two more minutes. And if you don't get them, that's all right, because we'll cover each one. Okay, one more minute. There will be no bell curve grading. All right, before I forget, next Sunday night, there will be no Sunday night services.

On three-day weekends, we're going to try to cut back on Sunday nights to give you some opportunities for fellowship. And maybe you can invite some folks over to spend time with other Christians. But no Sunday night service next Sunday night.

I guess if you'd like to have a get-together, you can always get a key and come in here. But there'll be no formal service next Sunday night. Same thing with Thanksgiving, same thing with Christmastime as well.

But it might be a good opportunity for you to have some people over in the afternoon and have some warm fellowship. I was surprised this morning we had tons of visitors. And I hope you show them Christian love by saying hello.

We try to give them cookies and videos and all that stuff. But I hope you're reaching out to them. And it's one thing to get a letter from the pastor, thanks for attending. It's another thing to say, well, why don't you come over for lunch?

Just throw a few extra things in the crock pot or however you cook. And invite some people over for lunch. And I'll tell you, if you ever go to a church and people invite you over to lunch, you'll never forget it.

You'll just think that is the nicest place around. So make sure when you see people on Sunday that you greet them and reach out to them if you would. All right. You may be asking yourself this question.

Why did you do this? Why did you pick these questions, these true and false statements rather, and this fill in the blank? Because three Sundays ago on this very day, I heard a sermon preached. And these were some of the points.

This was the sermon that I heard preached. I didn't make these up. I was gone for three Sundays. And two of those Sundays I preached. The third Sunday we said, well, let's go to a church. And this church is known for up-tempo music and chapter by chapter preaching, very popular.

You would know the name of the church, Shagroup, if I told you. And Kim and I thought that would be good. We grew up in that environment. And there are some excellent churches with this name and some others that I just was shocked at.

So I heard this sermon. I didn't know what to do. When we left the service, it was communion right after the sermon. So I said to Kim and the kids, we can't stay. We need to go. So we left. And I just had to go home and take a nap because I was so depressed after hearing this.

And so then I wrote this letter. Pastor Larry, regrettably, I attended your worship service on August 3rd. I was looking forward to hearing you preach, but you were out of town and one of your elders filled in for you.

I did not get his name, but he said he was recently retired. The Lord graciously saved me in 1989, and the first church I regularly attended was the type of church that their church was. As you know, the Bible teaches all believers to be Bereans and to diligently see if the Bible teachers match up to the Word.

I did not attend the service two Sundays ago to critique the message, but after several minutes, it became clear that the man behind the pulpit was not qualified to preach in any way, shape, or form. He was not prepared, and his lack of being diligent to rightly divide the Word was patently obvious.

As pastor, you need to know and correct the situation because it was a travesty to your pulpit, and more importantly, to the Lord's people and the Lord himself. Actually, I felt sick to my stomach, and so did my wife.

But feelings are often inaccurate litmus tests, but the objective Word and what people say when they represent God can be examined, 1 Thessalonians 5. I have no agenda or bone to pick, but elders must preach God's Word with precision, clarity, and accuracy, or they are sinning.

Thank you for your time. I didn't know what to do after I heard that. I mean, I bet you if I handed these in, and you handed these in, and I will not correct them, and we don't have to do that, that I think probably 90 of you would get an A.

I thought, we need to take a look at this passage, and as we do, go over some steps of how to interpret the Bible. If there are people in pulpits teaching this way, I want you sitting in the pews to say, I'm going to examine everything that man says, and if it lines up with God's Word, amen, so be it, I believe it.

And if it doesn't, I'm going to maybe give him the benefit of the doubt. Even this morning, remember, I said something about Jesus sinful, and I meant sinless, or something, and then corrected myself.

But certainly with all this data, it begs the point, somebody didn't study. So if you have notes, maybe you can even use the back of your quiz. Let me give you some hermeneutical principles as we go through this, and then we'll answer each one of these, and I think it'll be helpful, not just for Genesis 8, but anytime you read the Bible, we'll look at 8 or 9 hermeneutical principles, or rules, so you can understand the Bible better for yourself.

By the way, since some of you are new to the church, if I ever say something that you think is not biblical, please come up afterwards and say, Pastor, you said this, and the Bible says that, how does that work together?

And I'll be glad to talk about it, and or repent. If you think I'm right in everything, then you need to ask Mrs. Evendroth about that. She will remind you that I fall short, I want to study, I want to preach the right things, but I just don't know where I'm wrong.

R .C. Sproul said, people are only 80 right, 20 wrong. I've got one big problem, though. I don't know my 20 wrong, and I don't say that because I think I'm a hotshot. I just have studied, and have been to school, and am still in school, and I want to rightly divide the word.

Rightly divide comes from that terminology where Paul was a tent maker, and so you'd have to cut the animal skins just perfectly, so when you sewed them back together, there would be a tent, and there wouldn't be leaking water, etc.

We want to know what the Bible says, so please come and talk with me. Come and talk to any elders. Rule number one for Bible interpretation, it's also called hermeneutics, the Greek word hermeneuo, and we could get the goddess Hermes, or the god Hermes, from the same root word.

Read the Text in Context Repeatedly

Rule number one, read the text in context repeatedly. Bible interpretation rule one, read the text in context repeatedly. What do I mean by the text? In this case, Genesis 8. In context, what's before, and what's after, and then re-read it, and re-read it.

If you have a question about, oh pastor, what does this verse mean, the first thing I'll tell you is, re-read the passage, read what's before it, read what's after it, and then take a look at it. Let's go to Genesis 8, and just work through the passage to find out what the text really says, put everything in context, and then we'll look at some of these questions.

Rule number one, read the text in context, and read it repeatedly. Now, this passage is all about God's faithfulness. In a society with marital infidelity, and all kinds of financial infidelity, and infidelity in countries, here's a passage that talks about God who never forgets, never fails, and never falters.

Good thing, because look at Genesis chapter 7, verse 19. If we want to know chapter 8, let's just back up into 7 a little bit. Genesis 7, 19, and the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

The water prevailed 15 cubits higher, and the mountains were covered, and all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts, and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind.

Of all that was on the dry land, all and whose nostrils was in the breath of the Spirit of life died. Thus he, God, blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things, to birds of the sky.

They were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah was left together with those that were with him in the ark. And the water prevailed upon the earth 150 days. And now we come to one of those pivotal passages that start with the word B-U-T, but.

We're in sin, Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2, 4, but God. Romans 3, verse 20, we can't be right in God's eyes by the law, verse 21, but now. And here, but God remembered Noah. And you can just see God up in heaven.

I've got a lot of things to do. I'm running the universe, and oh yeah, Noah, yeah. I should have had a V8 kind of moment. Is that what that means? Obviously not. God remembered Noah, and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused the wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.

73 times with God the object, the word remember shows up in the Old Testament, and it doesn't have to do with kind of a, I remember that day on Valentine's Day when we got engaged, and kind of that sweet, warm, fuzzy kind of thing.

That's nice that that happens, but that's not what God is doing. God is not intellectually pulling up his Rolodex saying, oh yeah, N, Noah. That's right, I've got a covenant with Noah. In the Hebrew, when God remembers something, God does something about it.

Hence, God says, I've got a covenant with Noah. I promised him I'm going to be faithful to that promise, and here comes the waters that need to be subsided, and God does something. What does he do? He sends the winds.

Scholar Child said, this is more as an action directed towards someone rather than a psychological experience of the subject. This is not God's mercy, this is God's activity. Well, it could be both in a sense, but God is going to do something.

I'm remembering Noah. God remembers Noah. Listen to these other examples of the word remember being used in the Bible. Judges 16, 28, Samson called to the Lord and said, Oh Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, oh God, that I may once be avenged of the Philistines from my two eyes.

God, remember me. Was he asking God to just say, yeah, I remember you, Samson, capital S-A-M. No, remember me God, give me strength, do something. Hannah, 1 Samuel 1, 11. She made a vow and said, oh Lord of hosts, if thou will indeed look on the affliction of my maidservant and remember me.

God, remember me, open my womb. The thief on the cross, Luke 23, 42. And he was saying, Jesus, what? Remember me when you come in your kingdom. God remembered Noah by having the wind pass over the earth so the waters would subside.

And notice, it doesn't say God remembered Noah's righteousness, God remembered Noah's obedience. Here it means God remembered Noah so he did something about it. If you read in Exodus 2, God remembered Israel down in Egypt.

Verse 2 of Genesis 8. And also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed. Remember the water came from top and the water came from the bottom. And the rain of the sky was restrained.

The water receded steadily from the earth and at the end of 150 days the water decreased. I mean, the author, I don't want to get into too much preaching mode on Genesis 8 because we have other places to go.

But the author is drawing this out and he's just prolonging the agony as it were. What is happening with Noah? You may ask, where did all those floodwaters go? And I'll ask you the question, where did all those floodwaters go?

The water came from the top, the water came from the ground, where did it all go? John Whitcomb thinks it was supernaturally taken care of and that's a good explanation. Verse 4. In the seventh month, on the seventh day of the month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat.

The water decreased steadily until the tenth month. In the tenth month of the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible. Can you imagine what's going through Noah's mind? Then it came about at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of an ark, uh oh, which he made.

And he sent out a raven and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. He sent out a dove from him to see if the water was abated from the face of the land. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him and to the ark for the water was on the surface of all the earth.

Then he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark to himself. I like J. Bernard McGee. He said at that time in his life, Noah became a bird watcher. So he waited yet another seven days and again sent out the dove from the ark.

The dove came back to him towards evening and behold, behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf, so no one knew that the water was abated from the earth. Then he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again.

Now it came about in the 600th and first year, in the first month, in the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.

In the second month, in the 22nd day of the month, the earth was dry. When was the last time God had said anything to Noah? Did God talk to Noah in the ark up to this point? No communication. Before the ark, he got in the ark and now he says to interrupt all that.

Between 365, some scholars say, and 378 days in the ark, no talking from God. And now he says, verse 16, Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you, and all those hundreds of kids.

We'll get to that. We'll get to that. Bring out with you every living animal, the flesh, etc. Verse 18, Noah went out, his sons and wife's sons and his wives with him. And then in a very awesome way, using that word on purpose, verse 19, every beast, every creeping thing, every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.

Now there was that old movie called The Ark, and I think John Houston was the director, and they had to retake that scene as they were trying to film it, where the animals went into the ark two by two.

And I don't remember the story, but it was something like a hundred different times they had to shoot that scene to get the animals to go up two by two. But remember, how did the animals go up? God supernaturally having them go up two by two, perfect line, perfect order, and now the exact same thing is happening as the animals come out.

It's not some fire drill. There's the door. I know what my dog would do, or your dog, if you put a dog in the car even for about a day or two, you open up the doors, the survival of the fittest. And here, they went out by their families from the ark.

Exactly the way God wanted it. Verse 20, then Noah, amazingly, this is the first thing he did, first reference to the altar. He built an altar to Yahweh and took every clean animal, every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Remember, there were some extra animals with that. Verse 21, the Lord smelled the soothing aroma. The Lord said to himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done.

God smelled that literally soothing satisfaction smell, and he was pleased with what Noah has done. And then there's going to be the perpetual cycle, verse 22, while earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

So that's just an overview of the chapter. Rule number one, read the text in context and read it repeatedly, and can't you get some of the answers already from this quiz? You can just get it by reading through.

For instance, there were no windows in the ark. What verse says that there was a window in the ark? 8 .6. There's a window in the ark. The word actually comes from a word that means to pierce, to punch through, and you get light.

You've got to have air vents in the ark, don't you? I hope so. What did one man say? If it wasn't for the storm outside, you couldn't stand the stench on the inside. At least you had some air vents. If you go back also to chapter 6, verse 16, make a window for an ark.

Make a window. There's two different words in the Hebrew, both for window. We need to read the text in context and read it repeatedly. Let me give you another illustration. Why don't you turn to Revelation 3, verse 20, and so many people do not do that simple step, probably the most important step.

They don't read this verse and read it in context and take care of it that way. They just hear a little jingle, and they've been taught that Jesus is a gentleman, and he's standing there knocking at the door of your heart, and you've got to just let Jesus in so he can come and dwell with you.

Read the text in context, what's before and after, and read it repeatedly. Verse 20 says of Revelation 3, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.

What's that passage talking about? I can just hear that kid's song, can't you? Behold, behold, I stand at the door and knock, knock, knock. You know that one? You're like, behold, behold. Pastor, don't sing it anymore.

I know, but that's just the kid's song where if anyone lets me in, then I'll come in to him and dine with him, and I'll be a Christian. God, I'm not going to let you into my life, and I'll finally let you in, and when you are let in, Jesus, now you can be the Lord.

What is the passage talking about, by the way? What's the context? Yes, Bruce? Okay, the whole issue is talking about, number one, churches. It's not an evangelistic thrust. We don't see Paul saying to the Philippian jailer, quoting this verse like he does in Acts 16 .31.

Here is this church, and I think this is such a dead church, such a horrible church, that Jesus is saying, listen, if anyone gets saved in your church, I'm going to be there to dwell with you. But the context is not evangelistic.

I could give you another example. What if you just pull the verse out of the Sermon on the Mount? I know Lewis was preaching through that a while ago on Sunday mornings. You just pull a verse out of the Sermon on the Mount, and, blessed are the peacemakers.

That's fine, blessed are the peacemakers, but what's the context? How does that all fit in? My old friend, Harley Howard, used to say, if you don't know what a verse means in the Bible,.

Keep reading. That's exactly right. Read it in context.

Seek the Author's Intended Meaning, Not Your Own

Okay, we've got a lot. Rule two. Rule one has been read the text in context repeatedly. Rule two, very important, do not let what you want the text to say drive your interpretation. In other words, seek what the author wants to say, not what you want it to say.

Do not let what you want the text say drive your interpretation. Seek to find what the author intended. Now, the author will be both human and the Holy Spirit, but what does the author say? You may get a love letter from someone you're courting or dating, and you might want it to say more than what it says.

You're looking for the words, I love you, because the person's never said, I love you, and you might read into it, but that person might never intend to say, I love you, and we want to find out what does God say.

Here's what Humpty Dumpty said, Lewis Carroll writing, when I use a word, he was scornful when he said this, it means just what I choose it to mean, nothing more and nothing less. It's the same thing with God.

When he chooses a word through his inspired men, it means exactly what he wants it to mean, nothing more, nothing less, and it's our job to figure out what it means, right? Now, when I went to Santa Cruz and listened to that sermon, here's what this man wanted the text to be.

He wanted the text to be this, we all have trials, certainly that's true. We all have horrible trials, and there just seems to be no way out. There's not even a window of escape, and it seems like everywhere you turn, you're in a financial situation or a health issue, and you turn there blocked, you turn there blocked, you turn there a blockade in the road, a road blockade, and you just can't get out.

Is that what the text is talking about? You may say as a pastor, well, Noah's in a trial and he had to rely on the Lord, and God wasn't even talking to him, etc. You might say that, but this passage has nothing to do with being in a trial and knowing how to respond.

What is the main verse, the most important verse of Genesis chapter 8? Does anyone know? 8 .1, that's right, that's at the very center. God remembered Noah. We are not looking for what the passage means to me, what does the passage mean to God?

As Zerudiah said in Northern California, what would this passage mean? What would Genesis 8 mean if you were dead? What would it mean? Not what it means to me, that's why it is horrible. If you have a bunch of friends, and you all get in a circle, and you sing Kumbaya, and then say, let's study Genesis chapter 9.

What does this first mean to you? And then the next one says, well, to me it means this, to me it means that. That's only good one time. You know it's bad when the associate pastor's laughing, right? No.

Sorry. What does it mean to me doesn't matter. Like I said, I usually don't do this on Sunday mornings. If you have a home Bible study, and you go around and say, what does this verse mean to me? I do that at our home Bible study, but I've already studied the verse, and I know what it means, so I'm just trying to figure out if you're understanding the Bible properly, and so then I can help you work through, and track through, what does it mean?

What's the context? But we're not trying to sit around, you know, a bunch of Socratic method of, what does it mean to me? What does God want me to learn from this passage? And even though you might be yearning, and drooling for a certain kind of interpretation, I so want that verse to mean that.

You have to be ready for this. God, I will submit to what your Bible says. I will submit. This morning we didn't get to it, we're going to talk about justification by faith next week. But there was a verse in there, in chapter 3 of Romans, I thought if this verse teaches, that you can get your salvation by works, and that salvation is just, and justification is an ongoing process, like the religion of choice in this, New England teaches.

Please make my heart willing to submit to this teaching. If this teaches that, then I have to believe it. And so I could give you even an example, if you don't have to turn to it, Hebrews chapter 6. If Hebrews 6 says you can lose your salvation, are you willing to believe you can?

You have to just put it all on the line, and say God what you're teaching me, I'm willing to submit to. By the way, it doesn't teach you can use your salvation, but you have to be willing to say, I'm coming at this passage with all this stuff, and I want to know what does God mean when He says this.

It doesn't mean, Genesis 8, how to act in a trial. Let me show you another illustration. Turn to Matthew chapter 18. It would be an illustration of what people want the Bible to say. Certainly when you get together with other Christians, and you pray, you think oh, it's nice that the Lord is here, and even if you have two or three, there's an extra portion of His presence somehow.

But Matthew chapter 18, verses 19 and 20, is not a verse you should put up in front of your church. There's a church I go to every year, and visit here in New England for a conference, and they have Matthew 18, these verses 19 and 20, right up front.

What does that mean? What does God want you to understand, or what do you want it to say? One's kind of warm fuzzy, and the other is a cold slap in the face. Again, I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

For where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. If you pray by yourself, is the Lord in your midst? Is God still omnipresent? What's this verse talking about? Is this if you only get two or three at your prayer meeting, God's just there kind of extra?

No, this is a cold hard reality, that if a church member is a wayward sheep, and the church goes after them in church discipline, God is there in the act of church discipline to round up the sheep as it were.

Let's go back to Genesis chapter 8. There was mud outside the ark. Here's what this man did when he was trying to preach. Then when you finally get out of your trial, God lets you out of a trial, there's just another trial there, and there's mud everywhere.

And so you get out of this box, there's no way out, finally God gives you a way out, and there's still more trials when you get out of that big box. There's mud. There's mud everywhere. And of course you might be thinking, certainly after the rain there's going to be a lot of mud.

But what does the text say? Genesis chapter 8 verse 13. It's not what we want it to say, it's what it says. Towards the end of the verse, then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.

Chareb, it means the root word to be parched, to be dry, to be void of water, to be desolate. It has a derivative that means to have the heat which causes dryness. It was dry. What does the author want us to understand?

How about this one? Matthew chapter 22 verse 39. Let's go there and give you another example. And if I'm stepping on any toes as we go, that's okay, we just want to find out what the Bible teaches. Actually, in my life, when I was in seminary, that was one of the most exciting experiences I ever had.

When I thought I believed something, and I was lock, stock, and barrel in a certain view, and the professors persuaded me, not by their personality, not by their friendliness, not by their domineering personalities, but they persuaded me from the text, and I had to say, God, I used to think I could lose my salvation, but now I understand that if you've achieved salvation for me, and salvation is about your glory, and you demonstrating your righteousness to even the angels, that I can't lose my salvation, I give you win.

That was one of the most amazing days of my life. Matthew chapter 22 verse 39. We want to know what the author says, and if you're not careful, modern day thinking can get jammed into this. Matthew chapter 22 verse 39.

Let's go back up to 36. Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.

The second is, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. How many commands were in that little section? How many? Two. How many commands do you think some people teach are in there?

Three. And what would the third one be, Nate? Yeah, and how do they rationalize that? They rationalize it like this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And if you don't love yourself, how can you love your neighbor?

There's three commandments. Love God, love yourself, and love other people like you love yourself. What you have to be careful of is not to import some kind of new thing, whether it might be evolution or it might be psychology, into the text and somehow read it with eyes or filters of modern society.

Dr. Mehew said in Matthew 22, Jesus speaks of two commands, loving God and loving our neighbor. There is no third command to love ourselves. At times it appears that the basis for self-love comes more from Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs than the Bible.

Certainly we're to take care of our bodies and we're made in the image and likeness of God and we're not to go around and grovel and cut ourselves and hate ourselves, but we're not to love ourselves because we already do.

Hi, my name is Mike Abendroth and I love myself. Who's next? I mean, we all love ourselves, don't we? And Jesus said, like you love yourself with time and energy and effort and money and passion, love other people.

What does the author intend? The author did not intend for us to somehow say, we've got to just learn how to love ourselves better and Freud and Adler and Skinner and all these people are just right. It even gets worse if you listen to some of the people out there today, you'll get kind of a redefining of what things are.

Let me tell you, let me ask you these questions and you tell me if this is true or false. True or false? Sin is any act or thought that robs myself of another human being of his or her self-esteem. Is this statement true or false?

Hell is the loss of pride that naturally follows separation from God, the ultimate and unfailing source of our soul's sense of self-respect. A person is in hell when he has lost his self-esteem. True or false?

To be born again means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image, from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust. Now, that was from the man who's got the largest TV ministry in the world.

And who's that man? Robert Shuler. Is that what the Bible intends us to believe? What sin is? What being born again is? What hell is? No. Or do we have to come at it from this other view, this psychological view?