The Nugget:
Joh 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
The Questions:
We are talking about God. Why did God make it so complicated to know Him? You have to jump from one Gospel to another, which was written many years apart by different authors. Why wasn’t everything written in the first Gospel? You also need to use Bibles from different versions. I don’t think this is the correct way to explain God.
My Answer:
PixelMistakePicasso You ask:
“Why did God make it so complicated to know Him? You have to jump from one Gospel to another, which was written many years apart by different authors. Why wasn’t everything written in the first Gospel? You also need to use Bibles from different versions. I don’t think this is the correct way to explain God.”
Thank you for asking such good questions this time!
My answer:
Let me explain the answer to this question again for you.
The Gospel of John was written with the explicit purpose to make the way of salvation plain to everyone who will read it:
John 20:30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
Consider very carefully: if you refuse to read and reread the Gospel of John until you know its text so well that you can literally think it through chapter by chapter, and if you refuse to believe what the Gospel of John teaches, you will never “have life through his name” until you do.
I suggest by my long experience that if you begin by reading the Gospel of John, you can read it through once a week by reading three chapters a day, since it has 21 chapters. Do this for a month or two, and you will reach the level of knowing the text that I have described.
I further suggest that you read the Bible, starting with John and then the rest of the New Testament first, then the rest of the Bible, by reading the Bible long enough each day (for a total of at least 20 minutes) and often enough each week (for a total of at least four days a week) on a continuing basis to benefit from the results such reading will bring. Remember, I have done this myself since August of 1953, and it changed my life for the better as a result. I continue to this day to read and study the Bible.
As for using different English versions and English translations when explaining what the Bible teaches, I have seen you do the same, if my memory is correct. I use several different translations and versions quite often because some translations or versions are clearer on some points than others.
As I have explained to you and all before, the Bible is not written topically. To learn all that the Bible teaches about any given subject or Bible doctrine or point of Bible prophecy, it is necessary to read all that the Bible has to say about that particular subject or theme.
To find out where else a subject is spoken of in the Bible, you could start with using a Bible concordance. This would be a good start, but often a subject is expressed in different words than the words you may have chosen to look up in a resource like Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible.
You could use a resource like Nave’s Topical Bible or the Thompson Chain Reference Bible. These excellent resources will get you further, but you still would likely miss important information because even these extensive resources are limited in the number of topics they have chosen to cover.
Therefore, to find the rest of what the Bible says about the subject of your interest it is necessary to consult as complete a source of Bible cross references as you can find to use. The most complete cross reference Bible study resources include The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible (which is no longer in print), and The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury.
Set your prejudices against the text of the Bible aside and read it sympathetically, seeking to understand its message on its terms, not yours. Let the Holy Spirit enlighten your mind and heart as you read the New Testament to let Him enable you to understand it. I followed this procedure that I now recommend to you. It changed my life. It will change yours if you are open to its truth.
If you have further questions, I would consider it a privilege to help you with the answers.