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Expert: Mr. McClellan - 8/1/2005


Question
Hi Mr. M,
 Have you ever studied anything about the Full Preterist interpretation of the O&N T? I won't belabor you with trivia concerning same, because I've found that either people are sold on it, or look at it as Satan's spawn.
 But if you have perused it, whatcha think, 21st Century Paradigm shift? Or to the junkpile wi'it!

Answer
Hello again, Bob.
I read your comments and just wanted to say that one of the things I have learned is that no one needs to be a scholar of Biblical languages in order to accurately understand the Bible. If that were the case, then people would have no choice but to try to determine which "expert" was telling the truth. And, since as you have noticed, there is often wide and serious disagreements among the "experts," it seems impossible for the average person to be sure. After all, if the "experts" can't agree how could the rest of us ever hope to know what the truth is. And, if we can't know the truth, how can God be justified in punishing anyone? If we can't know the truth, then what is the meaning of sin? How can you be justly held accountable for disobeying what you can't know? Additionally, if you can't know the truth and you can't do the truth, what is the meaning of forgiveness? What sense does it make for God to forgive you for not doing what you can't know or do?
If you can't know or do the truth, wasn't it silly of God to have the Bible written? Didn't he know that people would not be able to undestand him? If God is perfectly just and is going to punish people for disobeying him even though they cannot actually know the truth but can only guess at it, then justice and tyranny must be the same thing! How absurd is that? If the truth cannot be known, then everyone is perfectly justified in believing whatever they think best. They are right to be their own Gods, treating the true God as if he were their own personal puppet through which they tell themselves what is right and what is wrong, deceiving themselves into believing that they understand the truth even if they disagree with everyone else who thinks that they also know the truth. Why, if God is all wise, knowing, powerful, and loving, didn't he just say at the beginning, "Believe what you want because you would not be able to understand me anyway"?
The answer is that the truth is obvious to anyone that really has a serious thurst for it. It is revealed for all to see in the way things have been made so that no one can possible have any legitimate excuse for not knowing. The Bible just contains the truth in a written format so that people will have even less excuse for saying that they cannot know it. It does not mean that people have to accept what it says if they are determined to not recognize the truth anyway. It's just another reason that God can justly punish those that refuse to see it or who carelessly misinterpret it to justify believing whatever they really want to think is true.
The only reason anyone needs the Bible is so that they can know of Jesus. Jesus did something that only a few could have known about had it not been recorded. It had to do with demonstrating that, contrary to people's mistaken ideas, the truth can be known and lived and that God is perfectly just, he is not a tyrant, and he does love everyone and is willing to forgive them on certain conditions set forth in the New Testament.
Am I getting to you?
Sincerely,
Mr. McClellan

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Mr. McClellan

Expertise

I can answer questions concerning Christian doctrine as well as other kinds of questions relating to religion. One important thing, among many, that needs clearing up is the meaning of religion. Religion is any system of belief that tries to explain how people should think and behave so that life is the best it can be. The definition found in the dictionary is seriously in error being based on popular but wrong ideas. Email me at and.the.truth.is@GMX.com for a free PDF 5 page introduction to my just completed book, "And The Truth Is?" It's uniquely different and interactive, designed to show you that you can actually know the way, the truth, and the life Jesus spoke of and what he expected people to do to participate in it as well as what to expect if they did.

Experience

My education puts me second to none in this area and I have had over forty years experience in the area of teaching Christian theology, doctrine, apologetics, hermeneutics, history, and philosophy. Publications: Among the things that I have written is a summary of the entire Bible that is intended to help people put it all together and quickly understand exactly what the writers of the Bible intended for everyone to understand. By reading it and then reading the Bible, the correct understanding should become quite clear and a sincere student will recognize that they have received an invaluable aid to knowing how to correctly interpret the Bible so that they can know, with certainty, that they are understanding it correctly. At the same time, they will be able to recognize the vast number of false doctirnes that are being called Christian doctrines but are only the teachings of men and have no more authority than any oridinary man can give them.

Organizations
I belong to no officially recognized organizations. I'm simply a person with a deep and lifelong desire to know the truth, a desire so strong that I have, for more than 50 years, poured myself and a lot of money into finding it and making sure of it. I believe that life is too short and valuable to waste it believing a lot of stuff that isn't true. Everyone can't be right and be in disagreement at the same time and the claims made by the writers of the Bible are simply too serious to guess about.

Publications
It's quite obvious that the Bible is not easy to comprehend thus all the divided opinions about what it teaches. I am finalizing a short treatise on the Bible that I believe will help a lot of people who seriously want to get a clear understanding of what the Bible actually has to say to everyone, a treatise that should take the mystery out of it and show that it really makes sense. People deserve help in recognizing the truth about what the Bible says because there is so much false teaching about it that is actually leading people away from God instead of to God. It should be ready to send out by the end of this year, 2011 or before. Now, you can purchase a PDF copy of my book "And The Truth Is?" on CD. It's very unique and it's interactive. If you're tired of living with a best guess and want to learn for certain what the truth is, this, the result of over 50 years of research and serious study, is what you're looking for.

Education/Credentials
I have two degrees in education, including religious belief systems. I also have many years of experience and many thousands of hours of study and research on which I've based my new book, "The Bible Actually Makes Sense."

Awards and Honors
All of my awards and honors are in the form of compliments from people who've read or listened to my attempts to help them understand what the Bible is about and how to comply with what it actually says. So many have said, in one way or another, that I helped them more than anyone they had ever met. It's comforting to know that my efforts to be of value to others is appreciated.

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