[A.W. Bowman]

A Supplemental Offering.

We all have many acquired points of view (biases) that we "filter" our lives through. From our daily existence, to how we view our neighbors, to our view of God and the study of His word. Most of the time we are unaware of them and their influence over us. But, our "filters" can hinder both our studies and our spiritual growth!

Attached you will find a pdf outline of the major filters that impede our growth to greater spiritual maturity.

Many years ago I ran across an article that contained the following statement:

"If your view of God has not changed in the past seven years, you're brain dead." I can't cite the author, and don't remember the article, way too far in the past. /sigh/

At first, I dismissed this comment, out of hand. I spent the majority of my time over years working on what do I need to know what God requires of me and what goodies I can expect from Him. One day, while going through my study's, it hit me, "My personal view of God colors how I understand scripture! Further, my view fluctuates on a daily basis!" Sometime I viewed God as the hard, righteous judge, and other times I viewed God as a gracious, loving parent, among many other such views. What I discovered was that I did not have a consistent, coherent view of who and what God really is and what He actually means to me, personally! Then the questions: Do I actually love God? How do I know that I love Him and demonstrate that love to Him - or, do I demonstrate what I think is love, according to my own human based standards, and not His holy standard of love? Ouch!

With some research I found several articles that addressed these issues.

I complied them into a single missive, which I have attached to this post. If I am going to mature in my view of God, and gain a better understanding of His word, then I must clean up what I bring (of myself) to my studies. My foundational view of God will change. This task requires a continual deep self-evaluation, a very messy undertaking, I assure you. I am sharing my insights here for any who are will to undertake such a self-test, evaluation, and the put forth the effort required to mitigate, the best one can, those non-biblical points of view that stand between us and understanding and implementing God's word in our lives. It is also an imperative in understanding and implementing (obeying) the commandments of Jesus in a manner acceptable to Him.

Context is everything.