STUDYING THE SCRIPTURES
By Elder Lee Hanks
A minister should study the scriptures with great care and in a prayerful spirit and beware of far-fetched ideas that would alienate the Lord’s people. He should preach that which he knows by experience and let doubtful questions and expressions alone.
He should beware of hobbies, for they are hurtful. He should love the cause of Christ better than any hobby. “Secret things belong to God, but revealed things to us and our children.”
We should not preach so-called revelations to us that God’s word will not sustain. Everything revealed to us must harmonize with the scriptures. Often there is a strife about words to no profit when there is not real difference in sentiment. We should be careful to use sound speech that cannot be condemned. . . .
In order to have that unity, we must labor to see how near together we are and remove every hurtful thing that alienates us. If it is using some little prefixes and suffixes to the doctrine that the Bible is silent on, why not leave off those expressions for the sake of peace and use scriptural expressions.
When we oppose each other, we are opposing ourselves. New theories and practices that are offensive and hurtful to our cause should be left off, my dear brethren. [Elder Lee Hanks, The Gospel Messenger, 1912. Copied from Gospel Appeal.] Submitted by Elder Mark Green