Studying the bible
Studying Gods word is not always as easy as just reading it. First of all you need to compare scripture with scripture to find the meaning of something. Second of all you always need to keep the verses in their context to find the meaning. Taking a single verse out of context can lead to many many scriptural errors. IT also helps to know the original language meant short of that comparing different versions with each other can help better gain a understanding of what a passage means. You also need to keep in mind that it is written from a different culture and time then yours. You can look some things up to find out what things talked about means such as a holy kiss or pouring coals of fire on someone heads. But many contemporary cultures still do many of the same things that they did back then. Cultures of the middle east and in Africa can help you understand many things. For example pouring coals on someone heads refers to how they kept fires going back then. They carried things on their heads just like they do in Africa and hot coals in clay jars were one of them. Always interpret the rest of the new testament keeping the gospels in mind not the other way around. Studying the old testament first before you get into the new testament also helps.
You will find things that seem like a paradox but if you dig deeper you will find that they are really not. For example free will vs. predestination. Yes we have free will and we can choose to change our minds. But God knows what is going to happen. The whole planets history is to 'Him like a old movie we have seen time and time again is to us. So No matter what He still knows what we are going to do.
Also keep in mind that God always has a good reason for doing what He did. For example the tower of Babel baffled me for many years. Why would God if He was so powerful feel threatened by a structure? The fact is that they were already starting what is happening today. They were making a world government. IT was too soon. Christ had not come yet to die for our sins. They were too smart for their own good. Imagine a primitive culture with all of its vices, child sacrifice, rape, domination of the weak etc and them having a modern day knowledge of science and technology like we do today. They would rushed the end of the world head long into destruction before things were ready such as Christ coming back and the taming of us into more civilized people. The key to knowing why God did this is in the statement
Genesis 11
The Tower of Babel …5The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.7"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech."…
The same thing goes for those that God allowed to die. These were not nice people that God just let perish. They were killing their own children. They were doing things that we find horrible to imagine by today's standards.
So trust that God was doing what was necessary. Compare scripture with scripture. Find the meaning of a verse with its context. Know the history and culture. Know the meaning of words in the original language or at least compare different versions of the bible with each other. And always ask for wisdom in what you do not understand.
