II Timothy 2:15

Dusty idea is that we have to study to gain knowledge of God's Word.

In my lifetime I've noticed a trend. It's possible that it's been there longer than that but I wouldn't know. I hear people saying that they feel like the scriptures in the Bible mean this or that. Like the Holy Spirit is moving through them in some physical way to help them understand or even give new meaning to the Word of God. It's like these people are saying the Word of God is too hard to understand. I need divine help in reading and understanding the Bible.

There is a chain of authority in life. We understand it in our earthly lives. In a business setting there are several types of positions. First there are the owners. The owners wouldn't be characterized as laborers, they own the business and if you want to receive the pay or rewards you have to follow the rules and work hard. The owners are in a class all by themselves by shear virtue of being the owners, creators of the business the workers are engaged in. Then next in the chain of authority are the workers. This includes everybody else from managers to laborers. Then the unemployed. The unemployed aren't working for the company, so there is no reward or payment coming to them.

We should also understand in our spiritual lives there is a chain of authority found in the Old and New Testament. Genesis 1:1, in the beginning God created... There you have the owner, all authority naturally goes to the owner of anything. We're the managers (Christians, Overseers, Elders), and laborers (Christians). People that aren't working for God are unemployed, no reward.

In finding our spiritual authorities we find God giving his Son Jesus all authority in heaven and earth Matthew 28:18, Phil 2:9-11, 1 Peter 3:22. So the authority was passed over to Christ. Christ gave authority to the apostles John 17: 6, 18, Matthew 28:18-20. They were inspired through the Holy Spirit. What they wrote was authorized by God. No authority has ever been given to anyone else as a chain of authority, Matthew 19:28, 1 Corinthians 4:9.

So the gold standard remains the Bible. Written by the apostles and inspired men. No matter what vision or revelation someone is claiming to have. No matter if you have a pastor that tells you God was speaking to him or the Holy Spirit is speaking to him in a certain way, outside the Bible. The Bible is the final authority. The apostles aren't here anymore. That's why the apostle Paul wrote in  2 Timothy 2:15 to STUDY to show thyself approve a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. If the Holy Spirit is going to come and give you what the Bible says miraculously why did all the authors of the Bible waste their time? There is no miraculous revealing to people of what the scriptures say. We have to study to gain that knowledge. We can pray for wisdom, but if we never crack open a Bible we'll never have the knowledge.

1. Know who wrote the Epistle/Book/Letter.
2. Know who it was written to.
3. Know why it was written to them.
4. Put scriptures and doctrine in its proper context.
5. Read all scripture in the proper context of all these things. This point CANNOT be over stressed.

Someone might say, "Do you really mean that God would allow me to be taught by a false teacher?" Yes, God will allow you to be taught by a false teacher. Cherry picking verses from the Bible to prove a point is a major flaw in Bible interpretation.  An open mind and a closed Bible at the same time can be a dangerous thing. Revelation 2:2, Jesus was writing through John to the church at Ephesus. They had tried teachers in their midst and found him to be a liars. Did God allow the church at Ephesus to have false teachers come and teach a false doctrine? Yes, He did and expected them to check what these teachers said with what had been taught by the apostles, the golden standard.

THE Mistake

There's a big event coming up.

What did you think of when you read that?

Well, if you're a big sports fan you might have thought of any number of things that might be coming up. The Super-Bowl, World Series, World Cup Soccer, maybe a big concert event like Bonnaroo. Maybe you're getting married soon, or have a child on the way.

The big event that no one will miss is the Judgment Day.

Dusty idea is that the judgement day is the greatest event of your existence and what takes place there is everlasting. (2 Peter 3:7-12) (Matt. 25:31-46)(I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

If you ask people what event they are looking forward to within the next year you'll get a lot of answers. If you think for one minute we're not an event driven society, look around you. We also strive for what we term Higher Education so we can attend an event called graduation. Do we have the wrong focus on what event is the most important? How would you decide what the most important focus should be on?

Something that is going to last forever should probably take center stage over something that isn't.

While I understand we need some focus on education, I would still maintain that it shouldn't be our main focus. If education gets in the way of serving God or doing his will, the education focus just needs to suffer.

Sports is something of a temporary nature even for the avid watcher. You name the sport it doesn't matter. When you leave this life or the end comes, sports is over. Music is the same way, no matter how much music you listen to or concerts you attend when time ends, its over.

Marriage is temporary and is only for this world Luke 20:35 says that the people that obtain heaven "neither marry, nor are given in marriage." Marriage ends at the end of this world or at death. There are a lot of things we could talk about being temporary and are just here while the earth stands. I don't have the time or the space to list them all. I list these so you can get the tone of what I'm trying to say.

Not having the end of time as the main event you are preparing for is THE eternal mistake. If you've ever wondered what the mistake is you just can't afford to make, this is it.

Colossians 3:2, "Set your minds on things that are above, and not on things that are on earth." (ESV)

How Fossils Form

Science News January 28, 2006

New science for dating fossils. Dusty idea is over 200 years old, that fossils don't have to be millions of years old. The link above goes to a report quoting the article from Science News magazine. Direct quote from Science News, "That information may lead to more-accurate interpretations of the fossil record and reveal new views of ancient creatures and their environments." Article written by Do-While Jones, link goes to a page on his website.

Becoming sensitive to sin

Dusty idea today is we should seek sensitivity to sin.  Dusty ideas took a break while I was gathering information for a Bible class I was trying to teach during the winter quarter. I'll try to get back on track with a post from time to time now.


Have we allowed this culture and society to soften our responses to the sins we encounter? The prevailing problem I see around me in today's society and culture is the lack of a "sin allergy". People just don't have that allergic reaction to sin that was once prevalent in the American Society. It's hard for me to express how important I think this topic is right now. Immorality is rampant. We are bombarded with immorality, nudity, premarital sex, adultery, casual sex, lewd dancing, drinking alcohol in excess, and people in general just going pleasure mad. There is also vile language, lack of respect for elders, and parents. All this from a box we brought into our house and most of us pay money to watch, TV. 


The movie industry has sought to desensitize us to sin. I have encountered people on occasion that will tell me that this movie or that movie is OK to go see because it's rated PG, or PG13. Let me say that these movies aren't rated by God or the Bible. This is a man made rating, from the people that are trying to desensitize you to the likes of harlotry and homosexuality. I've been told that just merely knowing  what you're going to be going to see and deciding that it isn't going to affect you is sufficient to combat this kind of desensitizing. This doesn't fit well with something I call the "Two Ways".

"Two Ways"

There are two directions to look at with any situation. There's the way God's wants us to take then there's something else. You pick the something else. If it's not going toward God it's the wrong way. The longer we look down the wrong path and the longer you look in that direction the more its going to become the "norm". Example of this would be as follows. Someone has made us mad in some way. Instead of deciding to handle this God's way we decide to sit and stew and think about how we didn't like that. We keep thinking about this and looking at it from the revenge perspective. Soon the longer we look at it from the revenge point of view, the more that seems the normal thing. Same way with watching evil being played out, vile language and the like. The more we put ourselves in the same area, on purpose, with this type of behavior the more it will desensitize us to sin.


If you are trying to be like God you need to love what he loves and hate what he hates. If God hates it you don't need to be around it.