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Originally Posted by HeadStrongBoy

galveston:


That seems like a fair question. And I presume you're implying that the Bible, which is full of prophecy, should therefore be quite straightforward to understand. Maybe so according to your way of thinking. But just a casual reading of many books like Isaiah, or Jeremiah will quickly tell you that God's meaning is anything but simple and straightforward.

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Yep. Ezekiel? Don't get me started! Were I not a devoted Bible believer, I'd be asking what kind of drugs he was on and why he wasn't sharing.

Sure, much prophecy has symbolism. It is not too difficult to separate symbols from literal. Some literal statements have meaning other than what is immediately obvious too. That is where the Holy Spirit comes in. He gives insight into the meaning, and also directs our thoughts to other passages that illuminate the subject under discussion.
As far as Ezekiel is concerned, I suppose you are referring to his vision of the wheels, etc. How do you know he wasn't describing exactly what he was seeing? Even if he couldn't identify what he was looking at, that doesn't mean it was merely symbolic. What if God allowed him to see a scene that would be perfectly normal in the setting of Heaven? The point of that vision was to impress on Ezekiel that he was dealing with a God who is powerful and majestic. I think it is probable that Ezekiel got to see God on His throne, or at least as much as is possible for the human mind to tolerate, but that is just my opinion on this.

Anyway, that vision was not part of the message that Ezekiel was to deliver.

galveston:

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Anyway, that vision was not part of the message that Ezekiel was to deliver.

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Deliver to whom ? To the Jews of that day ? Perhaps, perhaps not.

But it (the vision) is included in our Bibles today. Therefore it is definitely God's purpose that it be delivered to us.

No disagreement from me on this.

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Originally Posted by HeadStrongBoy

classyT:


When I say "compare scripture with scripture" I'm paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 2:13. In case you didn't know.

And further, the purpose of comparing is not to determine how reliable a particular passage is by seeing how many others agree with it. Because if we believe that God Himself wrote every word, then the reliability of every word is certainly not in question.

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Oh NO! I agree Headstrong the reliability of every word is NOT in question, but man's interpretation certainly is. Some of the things that you think and say and believe do NOT line up with all scripture that is properly put into context. At least that is my opinion.

classyT:

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some of the things that you think and say and believe do NOT line up with all scripture

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Of course I agree that I can be corrected by scripture. If I can be shown how that scripture relates to a doctrine I hold. There are many parts of scripture that I'm not at all familiar with. For example The Song of Solomon, many Psalms, large portions of all the major prophets, much of Leviticus, Numbers, etc.

But one group of doctrines that I have become very certain of are related to God's plan of salvation and His plan of judgment. If we could discuss the specifics of those doctrines in particular..