I want to talk about some things that I have seen that flex some bad hermenutics or express some flawed logic, that though those who use it may have the best intentions... may actually be stifling themselves and others. This is one passage that came up recently
37 Thus says the Lord,
“If the heavens above can be measured
And the foundations of the earth searched out below,
Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel
For all that they have done,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 31:37The narrow scope of this verse was brought up in the context that NASA was a some strange propaganda entity ( which maybe it is) that was spreading falsehood because by this verse, they had extrapolated that the universe cannot be measured. Since NASA has recorded how much they have measured from here to the sun, from here to the moon, and they have measurements of how much they have measured of the universe... then they are telling a lie because by one reasoning of logic on this passage, the heavens cannot be measured. This is bad logic. How do we account for a passage like this with that logic?
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?- Isaiah 40:12
Did God measure out the heavens and mark them off or is it without measure? There are several ways of looking at something and they either make sense or they don't. Sometimes people take a bad foundation and they build upon it until everything that they have is shaky doctrine.
'As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'" - Jeremiah 33:22
In one of the discussions I had on this logic, I asked "Can sand be measured?" Is not one grain of sand a measurement? A scoop of sand a measurement? If I fill 1 bag of sand, does this mean that the line of David has been cut off because I have made a measurement and therefore defied scripture? Does my scooping a cup of beach dirt some how mean that I am abandoning the bible and its precepts in favor of some sort of scientific elevation and infusing the doctrines of men with the scriptures of God?
ABSOLUTELY NOT. That would be ridiculous.
Think this type of reasoning is new? It's not. There are a lot of people that think that if you don't take a passage by the very stringent literal narrow interpretation then you're presenting something without study or you're ignorant. I see this a bit in the flat earth area. Look at this hard to swallow passage:
52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
Do we take this logic to mean in the absolute literal sense that we're to be cannibals? Are we to take this logic and apply it to eating the corpses of dead pastors? Thats so gross I almost dont even want to write it. This is the same narrow scoped reasoning and bad logic. There are some people that take a large abstract theological concept and they reduce it to a narrow focus and get hung up on it.
Going back for a second to the NASA issue ( It shouldn't even be an issue, but I'm trying to highlight the deeper point here) There are two words Strongs H 5375. nasa which means in the Hebrew to lift and Strongs H 5377. nasha which mean in Hebrew to deceive. The root word for both of these is the same and has the same spelling. Some people in the flat earth persuasion are taking this as a point to buttress the idea that the earth is flat and NASA is lying to us, even though this has no bearing on anything as NASA is an acronym and its meaning of lift is more than likely coincidental. Why is this seemingly nothing thing dangerous? Because when you start making the claim that similar things are the same things, even though they are different things you start eroding at credibility and truth. Its a little drop of deception that gets sown in and grows to a big deep rooted lie. In my conversation I brought up the words wind and wind. In reading that sentence you see that the two words look the same, are spelled the same... but I feel the wind on my face when I am outside, and I turn the dial to wind my watch. They have different meanings and different words. I'll give a few more examples before I get to the greater point.
Here in America, we had a president named George Bush. He had gray hair. He was an old white guy that wore suits. He had a wife. He ordered combat in Iraq. I am speaking about one of these men:
Did God measure out the heavens and mark them off or is it without measure? There are several ways of looking at something and they either make sense or they don't. Sometimes people take a bad foundation and they build upon it until everything that they have is shaky doctrine.
'As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'" - Jeremiah 33:22
In one of the discussions I had on this logic, I asked "Can sand be measured?" Is not one grain of sand a measurement? A scoop of sand a measurement? If I fill 1 bag of sand, does this mean that the line of David has been cut off because I have made a measurement and therefore defied scripture? Does my scooping a cup of beach dirt some how mean that I am abandoning the bible and its precepts in favor of some sort of scientific elevation and infusing the doctrines of men with the scriptures of God?
ABSOLUTELY NOT. That would be ridiculous.
Think this type of reasoning is new? It's not. There are a lot of people that think that if you don't take a passage by the very stringent literal narrow interpretation then you're presenting something without study or you're ignorant. I see this a bit in the flat earth area. Look at this hard to swallow passage:
Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. - John 6
Right now we still have people that read a passage like this, and would argue these types of logic. "Jesus can't have come from heaven, because he's got a father named Joseph and a mother named Mary. Scripture states it right there. If you believe something other than this, they you need to study it more the way that I have and stop making science your god or something" Bad logic would state that when he says He is bread that came down from heaven, he's literally a loaf that fell out of the sky. It continues, and gets even more complicated
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
Right now we still have people that read a passage like this, and would argue these types of logic. "Jesus can't have come from heaven, because he's got a father named Joseph and a mother named Mary. Scripture states it right there. If you believe something other than this, they you need to study it more the way that I have and stop making science your god or something" Bad logic would state that when he says He is bread that came down from heaven, he's literally a loaf that fell out of the sky. It continues, and gets even more complicated
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
Do we take this logic to mean in the absolute literal sense that we're to be cannibals? Are we to take this logic and apply it to eating the corpses of dead pastors? Thats so gross I almost dont even want to write it. This is the same narrow scoped reasoning and bad logic. There are some people that take a large abstract theological concept and they reduce it to a narrow focus and get hung up on it.
Going back for a second to the NASA issue ( It shouldn't even be an issue, but I'm trying to highlight the deeper point here) There are two words Strongs H 5375. nasa which means in the Hebrew to lift and Strongs H 5377. nasha which mean in Hebrew to deceive. The root word for both of these is the same and has the same spelling. Some people in the flat earth persuasion are taking this as a point to buttress the idea that the earth is flat and NASA is lying to us, even though this has no bearing on anything as NASA is an acronym and its meaning of lift is more than likely coincidental. Why is this seemingly nothing thing dangerous? Because when you start making the claim that similar things are the same things, even though they are different things you start eroding at credibility and truth. Its a little drop of deception that gets sown in and grows to a big deep rooted lie. In my conversation I brought up the words wind and wind. In reading that sentence you see that the two words look the same, are spelled the same... but I feel the wind on my face when I am outside, and I turn the dial to wind my watch. They have different meanings and different words. I'll give a few more examples before I get to the greater point.
Here in America, we had a president named George Bush. He had gray hair. He was an old white guy that wore suits. He had a wife. He ordered combat in Iraq. I am speaking about one of these men:
From the facts presented, do you deduce that these are the same man even though they are similar? Even those they come from the same root? Do you assume they are the same man because they held the same job and title? If you hold to this notion then what you start to do is bastardize history and make things inconsistent with history in the long run. Both of these men are George Bush but they're not the same. Why is this important?
People think that Horace the ancient Egyptian false god is Christ based on false similarities. They're making movies like Zeitgeist ( which is garbage by the way) asserting false claims about who the Messiah is based on some things being similar (even though most of the similarities are false) There are studies refuting these things. People say that the flood of Noah is just the story of Gilgamesh. People say that Samson was just Hercules. I have seen people get swept away in these types of things which are bad logic, deceptions and twisting of truths that seem true on the surface. Some people have left the faith because of little pockets of deception that sprung out of true sounding lies. Lets get back bad logic and narrow interpretations.Here is a comment that presented some very good reasoning to a narrow view of a passage
The warning is that people will wield the Scriptures in a way that leads to bad things. Bad logic. Bad reasoning. Blaming a LaCrae video for having a triangle in it meaning that he's crossed over to the illuminati....even though there are other geometric shapes in the video ( Who knows, its show biz, maybe he did... but some parallelograms aren't enough for that kind of leap).
" And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many."- Matt 24.
The context above is in relation to people actually claiming to be Christ in his return I believe, and many false prophets will arise teaching things that are not of Christ.... but, people are going to end up fallowing many of these falsehoods because they've swallowed little bits of bad logic and tiny deceptions that have caused them to start to look at these false teachers as teachers they think are teaching truth. There are people out there watching men with crazy eyes who excuse HITLER, literally ADOLPH HITLER, based on their misconceptions. Those types of bad reasoning lay the ground work for a FALSE Christ to step in, reaffirm the bad logic and twisted scriptures and false doctrine so that people who THOUGHT they were in a secure place are deceived into delivering other believers into tribulation, hate and death.
I have heard people say that we need to study out the occult in order to combat the works of Satan and guard against it/ This is really bad and dangerous logic. Isaiah says this:
For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
13 “It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
Are the Rothschilds and the Rockafellers and all the banks and the Koch brothers and all those people behind the banks pulling strings to plot against you and throw you in a FEMA camp??? Probably, man... who knows. What I do know is that the Words says that those who are destined for captivity will go to captivity and that that those destined for the swords will go to the sword. It also says that who among you by worrying can really do anything? What are you gonna do, horde gold in your back yard? How are you gonna hoof it in the tribulation with that? Where you gonna exchange it when the banks are after you? How does any of this weird stuff and trying to save your life by losing it really help preach Christ in the end?
At the bottom line, we lose the focus on patterning ourselves after the Messiah when we get stuck in these foolish controversies. When he says this in John 10
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
We need to be more focused on the Voice of the Master than anything else. Focus more on the God of the Word and not the worship of the actual words, and you should see harmony in both the Spirit and Truth.
People think that Horace the ancient Egyptian false god is Christ based on false similarities. They're making movies like Zeitgeist ( which is garbage by the way) asserting false claims about who the Messiah is based on some things being similar (even though most of the similarities are false) There are studies refuting these things. People say that the flood of Noah is just the story of Gilgamesh. People say that Samson was just Hercules. I have seen people get swept away in these types of things which are bad logic, deceptions and twisting of truths that seem true on the surface. Some people have left the faith because of little pockets of deception that sprung out of true sounding lies. Lets get back bad logic and narrow interpretations.Here is a comment that presented some very good reasoning to a narrow view of a passage
"Psalm 103:11-12 says, "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."
Based upon flat earth logic, earth has a dome. Thus the heavens are limited, which applying that to this verse means God's love for us is limited. In flat earth logic, there is an edge to earth. That means if I went east, I'd hit west and that would be the western edge. Same if I went the other way. Applying that logic to this verse, it would say that God's removal of our transgressions are limited.
However, both of us would agree this isn't the case. God's love is infinite, and the removal of our sins is infinite. This is described by imagery of how the earth works. There is infinite space above us, and there is no edge to the earth. If I go east, I will always go east, even if I come back to my original spot. If I lifted up in a rocket, I'd hit infinite space. These ideas are poetically put into this passage to describe how great and grand God's love for us is."
Do you see how a conflict of scriptures is bound to arise when there are more than one way to consider a passage, and the one that is held to is held with bad logic? We're all in trouble if God has limited love.
There are some who read the above passage as proof that the earth is flat and sitting on some sort of pillars. Does their logic consider such things like, say Carlsbad caverns?
Are these not pillars under the earth? Are they not in caves? Does this mean that the earth is flat? No. Does it mean it's round? Not in of itself, but if you use that verse as logic to refute another point of view without accounting for other variables, one could find themselves in the danger of looking through the scriptures with tunnel vision and only looking to confirm what they believe instead of what probably is. This is called confirmation bias.
What about the logic in this, if we take this passage literally
If we apply the same literal narrow scope, we're to believe that when a couple says their vows they turn into something like this:
We'd also probably have to take it that he never sees his mom and dad again. This is bad logic. We know that they don't merge into one flesh. This is a symbolic meaning for a deep concept. This may seem silly, it may seem juvenile, it may even seen like a cartoon characterization of a point of view, but what if I told you that this was the type of logic that was used to tempt Christ in the wilderness?
6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command His angels concerning You’;
and
‘On their hands they will bear You up,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
Two scriptures, two passages of the Bible that are true and they are correct, but used with bad logic and twisted in such a way as to offer temptation to the Savior. How many when offered these verses like this would be able to discern that they're being misapplied? Some people might even accuse you of being anti-bible for not accepting the bad logic that is presented. What was the response of the Savior?
Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Here is another point that I see in a lot of circles in the misapplication of standards of logic and reason. There are many that hold to these narrow views on certain passages to support an idea, but then go on to seemingly disregard such warnings as:
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.- Rev 22
Every word of God is tested;
He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
6 Do not add to His words
Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.- Proverbs 30
Some hold to the idea that very narrow interpretations of specific scriptures are to be followed, then ignore these passage and insist that apocryphal books such as Enoch and Jasher be considered scripture. When you consider something scripture that isn't scripture you get all kinds of- not only off base doctrines, you get entire religions. This type of bad logic gave us the Mormon religion. Islam and the Quran. When you take a set of verses out of context or base them on a very narrow and limited logic, then build upon those ideas, and you introduce other writings at some point you are not only in danger of drifting away from the truth, but you're in danger of leading others after your own folly. Just because it is mentioned in scripture does not make something well, Biblical. Herod is mentioned in scripture, that doesn't mean that I should make a doctrine killing anyone under the age of 2.
It all snowballs together. Most recognize Peters warnings for the reading of Paul when he says
"Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."- 1 Peter 3
Psalms 75:3
“The earth and all who dwell in it melt; It is I who have firmly set its pillars.
There are some who read the above passage as proof that the earth is flat and sitting on some sort of pillars. Does their logic consider such things like, say Carlsbad caverns?
Are these not pillars under the earth? Are they not in caves? Does this mean that the earth is flat? No. Does it mean it's round? Not in of itself, but if you use that verse as logic to refute another point of view without accounting for other variables, one could find themselves in the danger of looking through the scriptures with tunnel vision and only looking to confirm what they believe instead of what probably is. This is called confirmation bias.
What about the logic in this, if we take this passage literally
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh- Gen. 2:23-24
We'd also probably have to take it that he never sees his mom and dad again. This is bad logic. We know that they don't merge into one flesh. This is a symbolic meaning for a deep concept. This may seem silly, it may seem juvenile, it may even seen like a cartoon characterization of a point of view, but what if I told you that this was the type of logic that was used to tempt Christ in the wilderness?
6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command His angels concerning You’;
and
‘On their hands they will bear You up,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
Two scriptures, two passages of the Bible that are true and they are correct, but used with bad logic and twisted in such a way as to offer temptation to the Savior. How many when offered these verses like this would be able to discern that they're being misapplied? Some people might even accuse you of being anti-bible for not accepting the bad logic that is presented. What was the response of the Savior?
Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Here is another point that I see in a lot of circles in the misapplication of standards of logic and reason. There are many that hold to these narrow views on certain passages to support an idea, but then go on to seemingly disregard such warnings as:
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.- Rev 22
Every word of God is tested;
He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
6 Do not add to His words
Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.- Proverbs 30
Some hold to the idea that very narrow interpretations of specific scriptures are to be followed, then ignore these passage and insist that apocryphal books such as Enoch and Jasher be considered scripture. When you consider something scripture that isn't scripture you get all kinds of- not only off base doctrines, you get entire religions. This type of bad logic gave us the Mormon religion. Islam and the Quran. When you take a set of verses out of context or base them on a very narrow and limited logic, then build upon those ideas, and you introduce other writings at some point you are not only in danger of drifting away from the truth, but you're in danger of leading others after your own folly. Just because it is mentioned in scripture does not make something well, Biblical. Herod is mentioned in scripture, that doesn't mean that I should make a doctrine killing anyone under the age of 2.
It all snowballs together. Most recognize Peters warnings for the reading of Paul when he says
The warning is that people will wield the Scriptures in a way that leads to bad things. Bad logic. Bad reasoning. Blaming a LaCrae video for having a triangle in it meaning that he's crossed over to the illuminati....even though there are other geometric shapes in the video ( Who knows, its show biz, maybe he did... but some parallelograms aren't enough for that kind of leap).
" And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many."- Matt 24.
The context above is in relation to people actually claiming to be Christ in his return I believe, and many false prophets will arise teaching things that are not of Christ.... but, people are going to end up fallowing many of these falsehoods because they've swallowed little bits of bad logic and tiny deceptions that have caused them to start to look at these false teachers as teachers they think are teaching truth. There are people out there watching men with crazy eyes who excuse HITLER, literally ADOLPH HITLER, based on their misconceptions. Those types of bad reasoning lay the ground work for a FALSE Christ to step in, reaffirm the bad logic and twisted scriptures and false doctrine so that people who THOUGHT they were in a secure place are deceived into delivering other believers into tribulation, hate and death.
I have heard people say that we need to study out the occult in order to combat the works of Satan and guard against it/ This is really bad and dangerous logic. Isaiah says this:
For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
13 “It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
Are the Rothschilds and the Rockafellers and all the banks and the Koch brothers and all those people behind the banks pulling strings to plot against you and throw you in a FEMA camp??? Probably, man... who knows. What I do know is that the Words says that those who are destined for captivity will go to captivity and that that those destined for the swords will go to the sword. It also says that who among you by worrying can really do anything? What are you gonna do, horde gold in your back yard? How are you gonna hoof it in the tribulation with that? Where you gonna exchange it when the banks are after you? How does any of this weird stuff and trying to save your life by losing it really help preach Christ in the end?
At the bottom line, we lose the focus on patterning ourselves after the Messiah when we get stuck in these foolish controversies. When he says this in John 10
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
We need to be more focused on the Voice of the Master than anything else. Focus more on the God of the Word and not the worship of the actual words, and you should see harmony in both the Spirit and Truth.
