First Peter Principle

Me

 

My name is Ron Barbas; I am an adopted child of the King, Creator and Sovereign Ruler of all that exists (aside from God creating Himself; He is self-sustaining, He was not created and He had no beginning). Writing about Jesus, in Colossians 1:16, the apostle Paul said “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”; I am special enough that Jesus died in place of me, so I need to know something about Him, and it had better be true. Otherwise, I would be guilty of treason and duplicity when speaking/writing about Him.

 

Younger me

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I was a complete knucklehead when I was in my teens and early twenties. One example of my idiocy is that I watched the Dukes of Hazzard on TV and because they jumped over things with their 1969 Dodge Charger, I jumped some railroad tracks with my 1973 Dodge Challenger – without knowing if anyone was on the other side. I was driving at about 50 mph and the car went airborne. I destroyed the front end of my car and put a hole in the gas tank when it landed and bounced off the road. I had to pay for the damage I caused, while the Dukes had CBS to provide a new car for them every time they wrecked. It didn’t take much in the way of brains for anyone, drawing the breath of life, to be smarter than me. People who only had brain-stem activity (the part of the brain that automates breathing) were probably smarter than me. But being an idiot didn't relieve me of my requirements to love God and learn about Him.

 

Older me

 

Now, with decades of life behind me, I understand the purpose of life much better. We are here to love, honor, cherish and obey God, not to have as much fun as possible and see how many stupid things we can live through. (In Mark 12:30 Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.“) There are bible scriptures to support what I say on this site, and the most important thing to understand of it all is that the bible MUST be read within the context of what was written. When I say “love, honor, cherish and obey God”, it is not a dictate forced upon us by some invisible force; it is, however, a directive with consequences. We may, or may not, believe this, but we are all betting our very existence that what we believe now will suffice us for the afterlife.

 

My dad suggested that I take a class in Greek while I was in college like he did; he studied Hebrew and Greek in bible college and seminary. I took a course in Greek and it changed the way I study the bible. (Nope, I don’t speak Greek, won’t claim to or pretend to; I’m just much more comfortable studying the bible with Greek and Hebrew text now, than I was before taking that class.)

 

We do not have the freedom to make the bible say what we want it to say. It is really simple to take something out of context and lose the proper meaning. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer said that the best translator for the bible is the bible itself.

 

If your understanding of something is counter to what Jesus taught or how the apostles behaved in the book of Acts (a.k.a. the Acts of the Apostles); if it was not practiced by Christian leaders in the New Testament or is counter to the Apostles Creed, I would suggest re-studying what you believe. It may just be the way you feel and not have any true scriptural basis in fact.

 

Context is King

 

Case in point; I COULD say that Samson’s dad was an angel and try to prove it from the bible text – if I were to read the text wrong.

 

Samson’s dad was named Manoah; in Judges chapter 13, Manoah was speaking with the angel who announced that Samson would be born, and Manoah had just invited the angel to stay and eat with them. Judges 13:16 states “And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.)” This text is from the New King James version of the bible. If I were to say that Manoah was an angel but he did not know it, I could make a boneheaded argument that it clearly says, “Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.” and build an argument from that. 

 

In reality, that is a very poor way to read the text, and this meaning is clearly not what the text presents – but it is possible to come away with a wrong understanding if I don’t know how to read correctly.

 

There truly are millions of people who believe in this type of mis-representing the text.

 

My reason for composing this website is to counter that type of ignorance. When I write something, I find it necessary to validate it with truth, not speculation.

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These studies are confined by brevity. Each topic can easily be its own book, or series of books; trying to cover them briefly puts a tight constraint on how much can be said. But each topic also needs to be addressed, so I try and discuss them within 6–10 pages to keep the reader from being overwhelmed by trying to get to the end. Like most people who like to read, I also like to feel like I’m getting to the end of the document; therefore, brevity is key.

 

 

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