However, not everyone, including me, is privileged enough to be conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and to have access to ancient manuscripts. We have to study what those that do have to say, and decide who we think is right.
But what we don't have to do, and shouldn't do, is take anyone's word on it as authoritative. God did not pass that power to man. We have to make up our own minds based on the best knowledge that we have.
And after all, the main thing is to accept Christ as Savior. Everything else, while important, is strictly secondary.
What about Jesus telling Peter that Peter would be the rock he would use to build His Church.
Does that not mean that Peter and his inheritors would be the arbitrators of religious faith and meaning?
Nice post, btw.
There is something I don't understand in your comment. You said a person should not take anyone's word as authoritative, and yet you imply that you take your own word as authoritative. Why is your word authoritative for yourself?
And, chesley, we are told to STUDY to show ourselves approved. Too often we take one verse, and that out of context, and build our beliefs around it. We need the whole counsel of God, not just a few verses stuck here and there to spin into our agenda.