If Anyone Adds to Them
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
(Revelation 22:18-19) ESV
We (all of us) are warned about tampering with the Bible. Are we (that’s me and the Holy spirit) worried because our interpretation of the Bible is substantially different to anything that’s gone before it? No.
Why not?
- Firstly, we’re not changing the Bible in any way.
- Secondly, we’re using a process of deductive reasoning, or deduction, and allowing the meaning of the text to make itself known. In theology this is called exegesis.
This is very different to a common practice in science which is called inductive reasoning, or induction. Induction is a way of taking an idea and designing experiments that produce results that support it. It’s how you take a premise that you desire to be true and use it to induce an interpretation of evidence so that it appears to support your premise. Newton and Einstein were both masters of induction. In theology it’s called eisegesis.
Here’s what Wikipedia has to say on the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning:
Deductive reasoning, also deductive logic, logical deduction or, informally, “top-down” logic, is the process of reasoning from one or more statements (premises) to reach a logically certain conclusion. It differs from inductive reasoning or abductive reasoning.
– Deductive Reasoning, definition (Wikipedia)
If Anyone Adds to Them – Navigation
| Section | Title | Scripture |
| 1 | Introduction | Revelation 22:18-19 |
| 2 | God Can’t Lie | Titus 1:2 |
| 3 | Science Falsely So Called | 1 Timothy 6:20-21 |
| 3.1 | Popular Science is a Paradigm | Daniel 1:3-4 |
| 3.2 | Isolating the Error in Popular Science | 1 Timothy 3-7 |
| 3.3 | Evidence | Acts 11:23 |
| 4 | Popular Science and the Strong Delusion | 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 |
| Salvation | Romans 10:9-10 |
Salvation
- Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
- believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
- confess your sin.
Read through the Bible in a year
| Reading plan | December 28 | |
| Linear | Revelation 15-16 | |
| Chronological | Revelation 1-5 |
Matty's Paradigm 