All it takes to learn the true meaning of Scripture is to keep it in context and pray as you study. God will do the rest if you are honest and sincere. What we really want to find are the true facts concerning Bible doctrines.

There are a lot of doctrines that do not get their origin from the Bible. Yet they have been taught in our churches as "truth" for a long time. It's o.k. with me if you want to continue to believe them, you have to answer to God, personally, for what you believe, but I want the truth and nothing short of it.

I don't think our pastors are intentionally leading us astray, they just have not yet been enlightened on some of these subjects. There are a few who know the truth on some subjects which go against the orthodox view, but they are afraid to teach it. If they are honest, they will at least not teach those traditional doctrines which are found to be untrue, but remain silent on them. I prefer to tell the truth, to the best of my ability, at all costs. I know that is what Jesus did and that is what He expects of us. I do not know all of it, but what I do know, I will gladly share with others.

This is not a departure from the truth. It is a proclamation of the truth.

The traditional doctrines of what is called the "end-time" is not truth. There are statements in the Bible which talk about the time of the end, but they should be understood for what they are, not for what some man thought they were. If a doctrine is true, it will stand up under comparison to all Scriptures. If any Scripture shows it to be false, it is false or we are not understanding the Scripture that appears to make it false. Context is the important thing.

The parables could be totally fictitions except for the bottom-line truth that was being illustrated. Some of parables were designed to make things clearer and easier to understand by His disciples, and some were to confuse the Scribes and Pharisees. The latter were explained to the disciples afterwards, so that they could understand them.

It is pretty obvious which Scriptures are figurative and which are straight forward and to be taken at face value. The taunts in the Old Testament were like a parable. They did not have to be true in all points. The bottom line was the important thing.

If someone is stuck on one version (such as the KJV) they are either short on understanding, or do not want you to learn the truth for themselves. Remember Martin Luther.

A good concordance, such as Strong's or Young's is also essential, so you can look up words in the original language and understand the meaning better. The amplified Bible helps some in this direction, but a concordance is better. After you get familiar with Greek words, a Greek Interlinear will be helpful. A good one is Berry's Interlinear.