The Christian Bible and a scientific, evidence-based approach

If one reads the entire Christian Bible, one regularly encounters what can be called "the rule of science". This rule is what one encounters without pause in natural sciences like physics and chemistry. It requires that beliefs are based on evidence and logic.

Here are some Christian-biblical instances of the rule of science:

(I) God promises explicitly over-abundant blessing in return for collectively bringing "all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in [God's] house", adding the commandment to "test" God in this (Malachi 3:10). [1]

(II) The prophet Jeremiah concludes a long, evidence-based reasoning in his letter to the Israelites captive in Babylon, where worship of idols was common: "Therefore, [in] no way is [it] manifest that [they] are gods: therefore, do not fear them" (Letter of Jeremiah 65 / Baruch 6:68).

(III) Paul describes that there is a huge range of evidence of God's wrath on "every impiety and injustice of people who suppress the truth in injustice" (Romans 1:18). The types of evidence of God's wrath are described in Romans 1:21-31.

(IV) The Lord Jesus states that "If someone loves Me, My Word he will keep, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and an abode beside him We will make" (John 14:23). 

(V) According to one reading of the text of Mark 16:17, Christ Jesus promises that a range of types of signs will follow those who are faithful to the commandment to go out into the entire world and preach the Gospel in all creation.[2] Those types of signs, which are all miraculous, are described in Mark 16:17b-18. 

(VI) Paul describes the evidence of the pre-Christian existence ("the works of the flesh"), and the evidence of the divine spirit, the Holy Spirit, dwelling in Christians ("the fruit of the Spirit"), in Galatians 5:19-23. 

(VII) Christ Jesus describes, according to John 13:34-35, one foremost type of evidence that will identify who are disciples (i.e. devoted students) of Jesus: if they love one another as Christ loves (i.e. self-sacrificingly). 

Notes
[1] If more people followed this commandment, there could hardly be any material need among God's people, just as it was with the Church in the first years (Acts 4:34).
[2] There is a lot of evidence that this verse has been mistranslated and then misapplied: foremost, the incidents of people using the act of handling poisonous snakes as a test of being a believing Christian. Further analysis is provided here.

Early warnings of grave misunderstandings of Christianity

Among the riskiest hypotheses about the message of the Christian Bible are surely those hypotheses, "teachings", or "doctrines" that describe how God judges Christians. If anyone proposes a theory that Christians can act immorally without consequences from God's hand, when consequences do exist, the potential destructiveness seems almost limitless: great injury to the person duped into acting immorally, to those persons he or she acts immorally against, and to the person who led the fraud. 
      This form of misunderstanding of Christianity - moral libertarianism, antinomianism, or lawlessness - appears to have arisen so fast that several or even all of the apostles and books of the New Testament strive to point out the misunderstanding and correct it. To begin with, the Lord, Christ Jesus, warned beforehand of it in the Sermon on the Mount:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:15-23, AKJV)

After the Lord we might listen first to the apostle St. John:

"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:7-8, AKJV) 

Then Paul:

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor cowardly, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10,)

And Peter:

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear...." (1 Peter 1:13-17, AKJV)

AKJV: Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

The Christian Bible's Guide to reading the Christian Bible

Update:  Please see my Translator's Preface to The Christ Family Bible.

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The Christian Bible does articulate principles that, very likely, are essential for avoiding misreadings (and mistranslations) of the Bible:

(1) Jesus Christ is the only "guide" (kathēgētēs) to Christian teaching, which is then taught and supervised by teachers (Matthew 23:8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11).

(2) The Holy Spirit, promised and sent by Christ to faithful disciples, guides Christians to all truth (John 14:15-17; John 16:13). 

(3) Wisdom is given freely to Christians who pray for it (James 1:5).

(4) Divinely authored Scripture as a whole is entirely orderly, never contradicting itself (1 Corinthians 14:32-33).

(5) A wicked force ("the god of this aeon") works to prevent people from perceiving God's wonderful message of good things (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

(6) Experience confirms the correct reading, or in the words of Jesus, "Wisdom is justified [shown to be righteous] by her works" (Matthew 11:19) and "all her children" (Luke 7:35).

(7) The Christian Bible can be misread, "twisted", to the extent of the "self destruction" of the misreaders (2 Peter 3:16).

Two guides to Christian rejoicing

How can a Christian "always rejoice", as God's Word in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 commands him or her? It can hardly be rejoicing in the general conditions for life in the world, which are described by God's Word as continually worsening during a long period, marked by increasing lawlessness and lovelessness (e.g. Matthew 24:12). 

Two guides toward Christian rejoicing are given here:

"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." (John 15:9-11, KJV)

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4-7, KJV)

KJV: Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

The most important misreadings of the Bible?

Are misreadings of these 12 verses of the Christian Bible the most consequential for misunderstandings of Christianity?

1. Isaiah 1:18 
2. Matthew 5:28, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, 1 Timothy 2:11-14 (the missing-wife verses)
3. John 3:16
4. Galatians 2:16
5. Ephesians 2:8-9
6. Philippians 3:9

Yet in all the above cases, clarification of the intended sense is made in the very same text—just as one would expect from an intelligent author when a potential exists for misinterpretation because of polysemic (multiple-sense) words or phrases.

1. Isaiah 1:19-20
2. Matthew 5:29-30, 7:24-27, 1 Corinthians 14:34b-35, 1 Timothy 2:15
3. John 3:20-21
4. Galatians 2:14-15, 5:19-21, 6:2
5. Ephesians 2:10-11, 5:3-7
6. Philippians 3:10-14

Altogether it is astounding, tragic, and yet predictable, however. Both in the (foreshadowing) Old Testament and in the New Testament, misunderstandings of God's Word that are either foreseen, or intended, or both, are described repeatedly: for example in Isaiah 6:9-13, Matthew 13:10-15, Mark 4:10-12, Luke 8:10, John 6:22-68, Acts 28:24-28, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, and 2 Peter 3:16. 

The most important misunderstandings of Christianity?

Update: I wish to question the lack of distinction in this text between the authority of Jesus's words and the authority of other words in the Bible.

______________

Could these be the most important misunderstandings of Christianity?

1. God does not judge all people (including Christians) justly, by rewarding their good and bad deeds with perfect justice.* (Versus Scripture)
2. God does not chastize (punish) Christians, with for example sickness or death, in order to prevent their eternal condemnation. (Versus Scripture)
3. Christians’ sins cannot stop them from receiving eternal life. (Versus Scripture)
4. Obedience to Christ—keeping Jesus’s commandments and teachings—is not necessary for Christians. (Versus Scripture)
5. A Christian can sin intentionally and then receive forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice (or the merits of the church). (Versus Scripture)
6. Infants and young children should not be baptized into Christ. (Versus Scripture)
7. A Christian is anyone who believes that Jesus died for his or her sins. (Versus Scripture)
8. Theological statements cannot be evaluated on the basis of evidence from actual experience. (Versus Scripture)

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* The Christian Bible makes clear that God is merciful and forgiving, most especially towards sins committed prior to knowledge of God's grace through Christ's sacrificial torture and death (Romans 3:25). Even after repentance and Christian conversion there is mercy and forgiveness from God toward a Christian person, but the Bible makes clear that there are limits (see 1 John 5:16-17 for example).

Qualifying church leaders more carefully than physicians

Update: I wish to question whether Christ authorises any human leaders for the churches. See for example Matthew 23.

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Are there ways to qualify and licence church leaders that are even more dependable than how societies qualify and licence physicians (medical doctors)? There are strong reasons to look for them: church leaders have even more responsibility, and power to do good or harm, toward people in their influence, than do physicians.

(1) Problem-based learning (PBL), used widely and successfully to prove whether a person can be relied upon as a physician, appears worthy of consideration also for church leaders. Can a person apply theological understanding to solve a comprehensive set of problems? A key here is that the New Testament lays out an evidence-based theology: a range of outcomes are witnessable through objective facts.

Other best practices from medicine potentially applied to church leadership are: 

(2) Regularly recurring licence reviews that focus on the facts of a practitioner’s work (e.g. patient outcomes).

(3) Training in the basic sciences that enable a practitioner to detect errors and generally understand the process of reasoning and verification. Imagine a physician who does not understand mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. He or she would be at the mercy of whatever “truths” the medical profession teaches. 

(4) There may be even surer verification (qualification and licencing) methods for church leadership than for physicians. For example, when St. Paul, writing with St. Timothy, faced doubts about their authenticity as Christ-ministers, he presented a long set of criteria, in 2 Corinthians 1:3—6:10, all of which are fairly easily observed within a short period of time (again, here is evidence-based theology). A similar list of criteria for bishops, elders and deacons is found in St. Paul's letters, 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9. 

Is this surprising? It seems entirely predictable of God, who is perfect, and perfectly loving, that He would provide straightforward, highly practicable methods for identifying both trustable church leaders and untrustable ones (identified explicitly in texts such as Romans 16:17-19, 1 Timothy 6:3-5, 2 Peter 2, and 2 John 9-11).