Dan Eakin/Baptist Minister
It is interesting how millions of people can all read the same Bible and yet come up with so many different interpretations and doctrines.
For example, there are entire denominations of people who believe one has to be baptized to be saved, and entire denominations of people who do not believe one has to be baptized to be saved, although they may believe baptism is very important.
The first base their belief primarily on two verses, Mark 16:16: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” and Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
The second base their belief primarily on John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotton son that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” and Ephesians 2:8,9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any many should boast.” They say there are dozens of verses in the New Testament that offer salvation through believing and through faith without any reference of a requirement for baptism for salvation.
Also, when it comes to the study of eschatology (the study of the end times), there are a lot of different views about what will happen and when, etc.
There are entire denominations of Bible-believing people who believe the world, including Christians, must first go through a tribulation period as was prophesied both by Daniel and by Jesus before Jesus comes again.
Then there are entire denominations of Bible-believing people who believe that the next great event for believers will be what is often called the Rapture, and that Jesus will come and take believers out of the world before the Great Tribulation begins.
The first base their belief largely on the fact that Jesus seems to have discussed the tribulation before discussing his second coming in Matthew 24. The second base their belief on the fact that the writers of the New Testament seemed to believe that Jesus could come again at any moment, and that throughout Bible history, God always removed believers before sending judgment (such as removing Lot and his family before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah).
Then there are entire denominations of people who believe that, after seven years or so of tribulation, Christ and believers will come and reign on the earth for a thousand years, based partly on Rev. 20:1-4. That passage states twice, “And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” This period is often called the millennium.
Those people may also believe that this must take place in order for certain Old Testament prophesies to be fulfilled. Some Old Testament prophets had foretold of a time when people would “beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks and study war no more,” (Isaiah 2:4) and “the beasts of the wild shall be led by a child” as described in Isaiah 11:6.
One major reason why there are so many different interpretations of the same verses, especially in the study of the last days, is whether or not certain passages are to be taken literally.
There are a lot of “a’s” and a lot of “ists” among us today. Words beginning with the letter “a” often mean “no.” For example, athiest means “no God.” An “amillennllialist” believes there will be no thousand year reign of Christ and believers on the earth. Those who believe there will be are often called pre-millenialists.”
The pre-millennialists are also often described as being fundamentalists. One dictionary describes a fundamentalist as “one who believes the Bible is the word of God in its entirety and that it is to be interpreted literally.”
One man said, “I am a pan millennialist. I believe it will all pan out the way God wants it to.”