Of Snacking & Feasting - eating from the Bible
Of Snacking and Feasting 
Introduction
The search for God has been as extensive as history is long. Adam's expulsion from Eden guaranteed man and God would be separated. This was only rectified 2000 years ago upon a cruel Golgotha by God Himself.
Jesus does not withhold Himself, nor is He diluted by any contemporary political correctness when He assaults the Pharisees pride and sensibilities in John's gospel:
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (5:39-40)
God (Jesus) is not found in the study of scripture, the skill of hermeneutics or the falsely hallowed halls that bastion study; neither is He received by a Masters in learning, from the libraries of knowledge or by privations inflicted upon the body ... It is the heart that perceives God not the reason - Blaise Pascal.
This series continues to explain the far-reaching shadow cast by the Tree of Knowledge over those Christians (especially the scholars and those informed by scholars) who naively believe they choose fruit from the Tree of Life.
1) Finding Knowledge
...you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Prov 2:5-6)
The place to gain knowledge and understanding is from God's mouth not man's mind. He gives knowledge that is right, just and fair. God always points to good paths (Jeremiah 6:16); this is a heart-felt and heart-known wisdom. God's knowledge is pleasant to the soul. It is counsel to the spirit and a protective peace to the mind. Read Proverbs 2:9-22 as the Bible explains the personal value of God-ordained knowledge.
Satan has educated the world to ignore the Tree of Life...
The benefits of a God deposited knowledge as explained in Proverbs 2:9-22 are not available from the Tree of Knowledge. (How could they be?) BUT remember that satan is the great deceiver so the Tree of Knowledge will claim to offer understanding, wisdom and knowledge that is pleasant to the soul (and so much more) but will not deliver.
As satan did in Eden he still does today; promising a good knowledge that is life enhancing but is more bad than good and only leads to death. (Death was almost the first fruit to fall from the Tree of Knowledge.) Satan has educated the world to ignore the Tree of Life and most Christians at best snack from it.
2) Snacking and Feasting
Two points must be understood:
1. The Tree of Knowledge does teach good as well as evil. So satan has taught some good things about the Bible (such as its history) BUT
2. Adam was emphatically instructed by God to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Yet the pursuit of theology aside from Divine input, the scouring of ancient minds and the debate with modern intelligentsia all have all become exactly what Adam was forbidden to do. The theological academies have become MasterChefs with an a-la-carte menu from The Tree of Knowledge and from the Tree of Life only entrees of sweet fruit are offered.
The thief on the Cross only had a thimble-full of knowledge but he had an ocean-full of faith.
This point can't be made too strongly - it is still disobedience to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. God has not changed nor has He changed His rule. It is also worth noting that the Tree of Knowledge is not in heaven, only the Tree of Life.
We have all snacked at the Tree of Life while feasting from the Tree of Knowledge which will only lead to death.
So let's return to the axiom I first mentioned in Shooting a Holy-Cow ... you need the context of scripture to correctly interpret the content of scripture.
God's word cannot be chained, bound or restrained (2 Tim 2:9). Man's scaffolds upon scripture fall with the unseen movements of the Holy Spirit. The Tree of Knowledge can no more contain the Bible than the tomb could restrain Jesus.
Any information from the Tree of Knowledge invites compromise, because there are always two sides to its offerings BUT scripture no more invites compromise than fire invites water.
Christians are daily taught they need more knowledge (not faith, satan has exchanged knowledge for faith within Christendom) to understand the things of faith. Knowledge will inform the mind but faith will illumine the heart.
The apostle Paul plainly taught ... for we live by faith and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)
The thief on the Cross only had a thimble-full of knowledge but he had an ocean-full of faith.
Christ is not screaming for His disciples to gain more knowledge but live by faith and seek His Holy Spirit of Truth; only then both faith and true knowledge will belong to them.
2000 years ago Jesus replaced law with love ~ today His Holy Spirit is replacing theology with truth.
Conclusion
The Word is more available than it ever has been. Between 1815 and 1975 it is estimated that 2.5 billion Bibles were printed. From 1975 until today Bible sales have multiplied exponentially with an estimated 6 billion now in print. Annual Bible sales can reach $650 million. The Bible remains and always will be the best-selling book in history. It is available through every media and surrounds the world constantly on the air-waves, yet even today there is a famine of the Word.
As a result of the voracious gluttony at the Tree of Knowledge God's word is restrained and in famine again.
"Wisdom, knowledge and understanding needs to be sought from the Lord as it only comes from the Lord." ~ Prov 2:1-6
"Christianity ... is the revelation of God, not the research of man." ~ James Stewart
NEXT MONTH - The Famine of the Word again and the Golden Calf of the Bible.
read Shooting a Holy-Cow