Contradicting Outcomes of Interpreting the Best-Selling Book of All Time

At six billion copies sold worldwide, the Bible remains the best-selling book of all time; taking only the second place is the Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong at 900 million copies sold. However, the Bible is also the most misunderstood book. Diverse religions claiming to preach based on the Bible are now scattered almost everywhere, each having a different name, a different set of doctrines, beliefs and practices, which is an obvious anomaly.

Apparently, interpreting the Holy Scriptures produces contradicting outcomes in different people. One may interpret a biblical verse this way; the other, that way. Notwithstanding the fact that there is an interpretation that stands to logic, the apparent inconsistency may be better understood through parallel circumstances. Take for example the effects of sunlight on earth.

Without sunlight, life on earth as we know it will not be possible. It is a key component in photosynthesis, a chemical process vital to maintaining life. The sun itself has direct influence on the possibility of life. All over the planet, the sun dictates the climates as well as the changes they undergo. We have winter, spring, summer and fall; we have continents of ice and rocks; we have desserts, rainforests, oceans and seas; all because of the relative position of the earth to the sun. If the sun is a bit too close to earth, our planet will be scorched. Water in liquid form cannot exist, and therefore life, which is dependent on water, can neither exist.

Even how beneficial the sun to earth is, however, it can also bring hazardous effects. Without the atmosphere blocking 98.7 percent of the ultraviolet radiation coming from the sun, sunlight will damage nearly all biological life. Even with the current protection provided by the ozone layer, too much exposure to UV radiation can still cause skin cancer. On the contrary, too less exposure to sunlight will lead to vitamin D deficiency, which leads to many kinds of sicknesses such as osteoporosis, prostate cancer and breast cancer. Our skin benefits from sunlight by helping it produce vitamin D, which is crucial in calcium absorption for developing bones.

In the medical world, there are also positive and negative effects. It doesn’t always follow that if a medicine can cure, anyone who takes in that medicine will automatically be cured. There are kinds of medicine which are very useful to many people, but deadly to others. Take penicillin for example.

In history, penicillin is accounted for saving many lives. It is effective as an antibiotic. Nevertheless, there are people who experience difficulty in breathing and suffer cardiac arrest when given penicillin. These people may have extreme allergic reactions to this medication. To other people, adverse effects of penicillin include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, hypersensitivity, fever, seizures and many others. So one cannot immediately conclude that if the effect of a certain drug is good to some people, it is the same to all.

These positive and negative effects of medication to human health and of sunlight to life on earth are parallels to the contradicting outcomes of using and interpreting the Scriptures. No matter how good the Scriptures is, it would produce negative effects to a person or group of people without understanding. Take for example the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) of Manalo.

Iglesia ni Cristo or INC, a politically-influential organization based in the Philippines, has a unique interpretation of Romans 16:16. The verse says –

Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

When they read this verse, INC ministers would immediately ask, “What is the name used to greet?” They would then conclude that: “The name “Iglesia ni Cristo” is the official name, because it is the name that was commanded to greet all with.” This explanation was published in Iglesia ni Cristo’s official magazine Pasugo, September 1976 issue, on page 26.

Upon closer look at the verse, however, you will see that there is no name mentioned in Romans 16:16. The commandment was to salute one another. With what? A name? The verse says, “Salute one another WITH AN HOLY KISS.” There is no name mentioned in the verse; much less an official name. What the churches used to salute one another was the holy kiss, not a name.

Another doctrine of the Iglesia ni Cristo of Manalo that has negative consequences considering its moral and spiritual impact to society is their interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:9-10. The verses say –

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

The verses clearly state that women should adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, and not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array. This is according to Apostle Paul. Its clarity notwithstanding, ministers of Iglesia ni Cristo say that this was in time past when people were still conservative. Since we are now modern, they say that we have to adapt to the modern ways. They even profess that they now allow what they once prohibited—the wearing of jewelries—because “the level of Christianity must progress.” The document below is the outline of this INC doctrine.

WHY WAS THE USE OF JEWELRY PROHIBITED IN THE IGLESIA NI CRISTO BEFORE – this is the topic discussed in the outline. So using jewelry was really prohibited in the Iglesia ni Cristo of Manalo before. But time came when they removed the prohibition. Why? Why was the prohibition on using jewelries removed in the Iglesia ni Cristo later on? According to them, as outlined in the document, “When one is already of full age, he may eat strong meat; that is why the prohibition is being removed.” They further teach that the prohibition must be removed for them to be perfect. This doctrine, as illogical as it sounds, cannot be considered positive. Contradicting Apostle Paul’s commandment in the process, their going unto perfection is backwards.

Besides, if indeed those who are already of full age who may eat strong meat are the ones who are not prohibited to use jewelry, then why do they not according to their doctrine prohibit their newly-baptized brethren in using jewelry? Are the newly-baptized of full age in faith? Shouldn’t it be that while the member is still new, he or she should be prohibited to wear jewelry? and when she gets older in the church, only then will she be able to wear? But that’s not the case in the Iglesia ni Cristo of Manalo. Their doctrines—inconsistent with each other, retrogressive and contrary to biblical—are apparent negative outcomes of misinterpreting the Scriptures.

The case of Toufik Benedictus “Benny” Hinn, founder and leader of the Benny Hinn Ministries, is another example of the negative outcome of misusing the Scriptures. Hinn, a televangelist and considered by some as a Bible teacher, claims that he has been anointed by God with healing power, and that he has healed people with AIDS, cancer, blindness and extreme physical injuries. He attracts people through his so-called “Miracle Crusades” which showcases revival meetings and faith healing held in large stadiums throughout the world, where about 50-60 thousand people are in attendance. Parts of the program are being aired in his daily talk show This Is Your Day, broadcasted on several television stations, including The God Channel, Revelation TV, Daystar Television Network, Vision TV, Grace TV, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and INSP Networks. Some of his “miraculous healing” sessions, which look more like hysteria and mass hypnosis, can be viewed on YouTube.

On December 27, 2002, Dateline NBC, an investigative news program, aired its expose on what happens behind the camera during Benny Hinn’s miracle crusades. For two years beginning in 2000, they followed Hinn in different cities. And in each crusade they have attended they have observed that the main act of the show points to that moment when Hinn would tell the audience “that God was speaking to him, revealing a multitude of miracles then taking place throughout the arena.” Hinn would even specifically name those who are allegedly being healed by God.

Before some of the audience were allowed onstage to announce their healing, Dateline discovered through their hidden cameras the “screeners”, some of whom are doctors, who choose from the audience good candidates for revealing their healing; while on the other side of the stadium is the wheelchair section, where people hoping to be cured by Hinn are being kept away from the stage. These people go home still stuck on their wheelchairs, sick and desperate.

According to Nathan Daniel, a documentary producer interviewed by Dateline, he had worked closely with Benny Hinn Ministries Miracle Follow-up Department. As part of his research work, Daniel had set criteria for verification of a miracle healing: 1) Proof of the illness or disease prior to healing; 2) Evidence that there was a miraculous change; and 3) Documentation that the healing had continued. Out of the hundreds of cases BHM said they had documented and verified, Daniel found out that “there was never one complete record that would suit the criteria for a documented miracle healing.”

With millions of followers donating millions of dollars to the Benny Hinn Ministries tax free and without public accounting, Hinn has nothing to worry about financially. CBC Television show The fifth estate, which also attempted to expose Benny Hinn Ministries’ mishandling of funds, estimates that Benny Hinn acquires $200 million yearly. Just like the case of the Iglesia ni Cristo Executive Minister, Eraño Manalo, whom Say Magazine called “The Billionaire Preacher” in its June 6, 1989 issue, Benny Hinn has obviously misinterpreted the Bible as a source of income.

Despite having these negative consequences of interpreting the Bible, positive effects can still be observed. One group in particular that strictly abides by the Holy Scriptures is the Members Church of God International, a religious organization with headquarters in the Philippines.

Members Church of God International is an active Christian church in public and spiritual service. Its Presiding Minister, Bro. Eliseo Soriano, a Bible scholar acclaimed as “The Only Sensible Preacher of Our Time” relentlessly holds Bible Expositions worldwide where he answers all kinds of spiritual queries, even giving advices and scriptural opinion on medical concerns, matters of politics and governance, economy and the sciences. After each Bible exposition, not one truth seeker goes home without his most crucial questions answered straight from the Bible.

Effectively using technology as means to spread the gospel, Bro. Eli Soriano’s program The Old Path (Ang Dating Daan) airs 24/7 on the Internet, television and cable stations, where the question and answer portion of his Bible Expositions is being shown. His program can also be heard on several local radio stations. His Truth Blog (esoriano.wordpress.com), which discusses the most vital issues of faith, was recently awarded People’s Choice and The Most Popular Website of the Year in the Philippines. He also answers spiritual queries through the most popular video-sharing website, YouTube (youtube.com/broelisoriano), where inquirers can post their questions through video.

In terms of public service, Members Church of God International has established at least 12 orphanages throughout the country, accommodating even non-members. The church recently opened two colleges where everything is provided for free to deserving students from all over the country, from tuition fee, miscellaneous fees, to uniforms, dormitory and medical check-ups.

MCGI, through its Co-Worker (Kamanggagawa) Foundation, also maintains two Transient Homes as temporary shelters for people who may not have a place to sleep at night. Aside from cozy beds, it provides free dinner and breakfast. MCGI also maintains regular medical missions, feeding programs, and even free bus ride.

What’s even more striking about this church is that it holds Thanksgiving to the God of Israel weekly, where some 50-70 thousand members and visitors gather in one of the biggest convention centers in Asia, the ADD Convention Center in Apalit, Pampanga, north of Manila. Inside the convention center, one can’t help but notice beside the two large monitors placed above the stage, where brethren in international chapters are shown giving thanks to God, two equally large billboards were placed containing a strict warning that says: WE DO NOT ACCEPT FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM NON-MEMBERS. According to them, this is in accordance to III John 7, which says -

Because that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.

In terms of uniqueness, this church is the only registered church in the Philippines that pays tax to the government. It is in adherence to Romans 13:7 -

Therefore give to all their dues; to the one due tax, the tax; tribute to whom tribute is due, fear to whom fear is due, and honor to whom honor is due. (MKJV)

With a preacher whose biblical knowledge is available for testing; goodwill to fellowmen without asking donations in return; organizational uniqueness backed-up by no less than the best-selling book of all time itself; such an effect in morality and spirituality stands to reason and cannot be considered negative. Apparently, the leader of this church, the Members Church of God International, pays attention to what the Scriptures really teach.

Holy Kiss, a Meeting of Righteousness and Peace

When the lips of two people in love meet, sudden hard-to-describe sensations rush through their bodies. Thoughts and feelings are then mutually expressed—without the aid of words—in that simple moment of intimacy. As the late musical critic Henry Finck would inquire: Is not a kiss the very autograph of love?

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Perhaps.

But what if the lips to kiss are spiritual? What if the love to express is holy?

Holy Kiss is a commandment Apostle Paul wrote in his epistles to the first century Christian Church. This commandment—to greet one another with a holy kiss—was mentioned several times in the Bible: in Romans 16:16, I Corinthians 16:20, II Corinthians 13:12 and I Thessalonians 5:26. Apostle Peter likewise wrote in his epistle to the Israelites a similar commandment: to greet one another with a kiss of love, written in I Peter 5:14. Whether “holy kiss” or “kiss of love,” surely, a commandment from God has a definite meaning.

Various explanations arose regarding the holy kiss after the death of the Apostles, along with the emergence of different religious groups. Cyprian, Roman Catholic Bishop of Carthage in the 3rd century, wrote in one of his epistles the following concerning the holy kiss:

“Cyprian to Sergius and Rogatianus, and the rest of the confessors in the Lord, everlasting health. I salute you, dearest and most blessed brethren, myself also desiring to enjoy the sight of you, if the state in which I am placed would permit me to come to you… What more pleasant and sublime than now to kiss your lips, which with a glorious voice have confessed the Lord…”

This interpretation of the holy kiss as a physical act was not of Cyprian alone. Among influential figures in the Catholic Church, Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo in the 4th century, shared the same literal definition, inasmuch as he was under the same religion. In the book “The Fathers of the Church A New Translation (1959),” Augustine said in one of his sermons:

“…when the Sacrifice is finished, we say the Lord’s Prayer which you have received and recited. After this, the ‘Peace be with you’ is said, and the Christians embrace one another with the holy kiss. This is a sign of peace; as the lips indicate, let peace be made in your conscience, that is, when your lips draw near to those of your brother, do not let your heart withdraw from his.”

In both letters of catholic bishops Cyprian and Augustine, it is evident that they believed they were practicing the holy kiss through those physical acts of kissing and embracing. Although the latter explained that “this [the embracing] is a sign of peace,” his interpretation of the act itself was still merely physical. Even today, this Catholic belief is still being practiced, with a few variations in some countries, like the shaking of hands or cheek-to-cheek instead of embracing or lips-to-lips.

In arts and literature, the holy kiss has also been depicted as a physical act. In Alonzo Rodriguez’ “Farewell of Saints Peter and Paul,” painted in the 16th century, the apostles are shown kissing each other lips-to-lips, supposedly portraying the practice of the holy kiss before their imminent torment and martyrdom. Nowhere in the Bible can be found, however, that the apostles kissed one another lips-to-lips or cheek-to-cheek in practicing the holy kiss.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

On the contrary, the former apostle who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, Judas Iscariot, kissed the Lord on the cheek to identify Him that He may be arrested. It was an act of ungodliness; a deadly kiss of betrayal. On the other hand, the sinful woman who later became a disciple of Christ, Mary Magdalene, kissed the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. It was an act of repentance and humility; but was it the equivalent of the commandment Apostles Paul and Peter taught to the first century Christian Church? What truly is the meaning of the holy kiss according to Bible?

In the worldwide Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path) Bible Exposition held in early 2008 in the Philippines, the same question about the holy kiss was asked. The Bible Exposition was hosted by the highly-acclaimed “The Only Sensible Preacher of Our Time,” Bro. Eli Soriano, Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God, International. The inquirer was a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) or INC, a religious sect based in the Philippines. The sixty-one-year old evangelist said that the holy kiss is definitely not beso-beso (cheek-to-cheek) or embracing or the shaking of hands as other preachers would put it. Doing it literally would be impossible due to physical constraints.

“The holy kiss can be sent through a letter,” Bro. Eli said, who was then answering from the United States of America through live video streaming. He explained that by this means the first century Christians in Judea and Galatia greeted those in Rome with a holy kiss, and vice versa. Rome is 1,448 miles from Judea; thereby making it impossible for a handshake or cheek-to-cheek to have transpired. Only a spiritual interpretation of the commandment would make sense. Sending the holy kiss through epistles is unrestricted by spiritual dimensions.

To further aid the guest inquirer in understanding this Christian doctrine, a video clip was played showing INC ministers in their television program Ang Tamang Daan (The Right Path). Ang Tamang Daan is a television program launched in 2001, designed to counter Soriano’s 25-year running television program The Old Path, which was awarded the Most Informative Religious Program of the Year by Gawad Amerika Awards in 2006. Video clips of various religious leaders are commonly being played during The Old Path Bible Expositions to give the inquirers the opportunity to hear what their own ministers and preachers say regarding their faith, so that they may be able to compare them with Bro. Eli’s teachings.

In the video shown, after reading Wycliffe Bible Commentary, the INC ministers took for their own Wycliffe’s belief that “a kiss on the cheek” or “a warm handshake” is the equivalent of the Christian commandment. This belief is no different from those of Cyprian and Augustine, the catholic bishops. On page 1275 of the commentary, Wycliffe says, “Whatever in modern culture is symbolic of the deep affection Christians ought to feel toward each other – a kiss on the cheek, a warm handshake, a grasping of both hands – is the equivalent of the apostolic command.”

The INC ministers, to prove their borrowed explanation, emphasized that such is the definition of people who investigated the Holy Scriptures, thus thereof their stand on the subject matter is based. This proves that the Iglesia Ni Cristo, which was founded by the late Felix Y. Manalo, has no explanation of its own regarding the holy kiss, that is why its ministers had to pick up explanations from the Protestant.

John Wycliffe, author of the Wycliffe Bible Commentary, is founder of the Lollard movement, which is a forerunner to the Protestant Reformation. In the official magazine of INC, the Pasugo, published in August of 1961, it says on page 39:

TRANSLATION:

“At the end of this publication, we now ought to reject the catholic priests and the protestant pastors, for they are ministers of satan. We also ought to reject the Catholic Church and the different protestant churches, for they are not of God, but of satan or the devil.”

From the same people whom they accuse of being of satan or the devil, the ministers of the Iglesia Ni Cristo borrowed explanation for their holy kiss just to compensate for their lack of Biblical understanding.

Soriano, on the other hand, explained that a kiss cannot be done without meeting. He then cited scientific research to back-up his explanation. In medical science, the meeting of the lips of a husband and wife entails a long list of health benefits. According to Sound Medicine of Indiana University in 2004, a person may lose two calories a minute and double his or her metabolic rate during a passionate kiss. It also quells anxiety and, like meditation, produces a lot of physiological changes, said Psychologist Joy Davidson, Ph.D.

Kissing also produces an increased level of oxytocin in the body, stated researcher Jeanie Lerche Davis in MedicineNet.com. Oxytocin is a calming hormone that is also produced during massage. It relieves tension, stress, and the negative energy taken by the body within the day. Studies have revealed that couples who kiss first thing in the morning are healthier, meet lesser car accidents, sleep well, and are happier overall.

In the article “Affairs of the Lips: Why We Kiss,” posted in Scientific American Mind in 2008, Chip Walter, author in residence at Carnegie Mellon University, reported that researchers are revealing hidden complexities behind the simple act of kissing. He mentioned some key concepts involved in this intimate human expression. The following are extracts:

(1) A kiss triggers a cascade of neural messages and chemicals that transmit tactile sensations, sexual excitement, feelings of closeness, motivation and even euphoria.

(2) Kisses can convey important information about the status and future of a relationship. At the extreme, a bad first kiss can abruptly curtail a couple’s future.

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While medical science tells us that there are “hidden complexities behind the simple act of kissing”; that physical kiss triggers “feelings of closeness”; and that it can “convey important information about the status and future of a relationship”; parallels to these may also be present in the holy kiss. A certain degree of intimacy may also be necessary; and there may also be information being conveyed through the process. However, Bro. Eli makes it a point to have a biblical basis in answering all questions of faith that people ask him, rather than to speculate.

“A kiss is not only of lips, but of feelings, understanding and mutual interest.” This was Bro. Eli’s answer to this long-standing issue of faith. He expounded further by citing Psalms 85:10, which says, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Bro. Eli explained that it is this meeting—the meeting of peace and righteousness—that the Apostles Paul and Peter call the holy kiss in their epistles. This is the holy kiss that the first century Christians greeted each other with, and not the literal kiss or cheek-to-cheek or embracing or the shaking of hands.

Among Christians, when one’s truth meets the truth in another, and the righteousness of one meets the righteousness of the other, balance is maintained in the brotherhood, Bro. Eli said. By meeting one another’s righteousness, though a Christian may commit mistakes towards a fellow Christian, forgiveness is readily given and received, so that both may continue in serving God. This is the essence of the holy kiss; and this explains why Apostles Paul and Peter were able to greet their fellow Christians with a holy kiss through their epistles, regardless of distance.

The Key to Unlocking Spiritual Literacy

To acquire scientific literacy, most people would study in colleges and universities to earn their degree. That is how they learn science. Acquiring spiritual literacy, however, is a different case. To unlock the spiritual, one would need a key that is not found in universities.

When we speak of “key,” a few things come into mind: lock and door. A key, literally speaking, is a small metal tool cut into a special shape to fit into a lock and move its bolt. It is used to open doors or drawers, or things that one needs to have an access to. Normally, a person does not lock anything unless there’s something important in it privy to a few trusted people.

There are many aspects in life, aside from the physical, in which a key can be useful. In literary writing, a reader may need a key in understanding the author’s thoughts and feelings whenever they are expressed with certain depth and complexity. Take, for example, the sonnets of William Shakespeare. A person unlearned of Shakespearean language may not find sense in his sonnets. To poets, however, deciphering their meaning may be quite easy.

Here is one of Shakespeare’s sonnets that has earned numerous commentaries:

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Considered by many to be beautifully constructed, what does this poem mean? To someone who has not the key to understanding the language of Shakespeare, or to breaking the code into which his thoughts are hidden, to him the meaning of this poem is locked. Even with experts, their analyses differ from one another. Some say Shakespeare speaks here of absolute love; others of marriage service; still others say Shakespeare had not made the best choice of words.

Whatever the case may be, it remains a fact that Shakespeare is the author of this poem, and he has a definite message in it. Anyone can make his own analysis and commentary, but it cannot change the intended meaning of the author. However, Shakespeare was not just a poet; he was also a human being. No matter how great a poet he was, his poems were still subject to human error. In his own words: “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” This suggests that even if his definition of love is proven to be wrong, he will not accept it; believing that a man can only truly love if he loves with a love that conforms to his definition.

If a man needs a key to understanding words which are subject to error, how much more a key is needed to understanding words that are spiritual? God, as Author of the Bible, has a definite meaning to His words. He has a definite message. And because His words are not subject to error, unlocking the message behind them requires no human analysis.

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With approximately six billion copies sold worldwide, the Bible remains the best-selling book of all time—yet only a few people truly understand it. Numerous critics and scholars have devoted their time studying its pages, but most of them get lost in the meaning of the verses even more. Without the key, they could not unlock the Truth in the scriptures, hence they remain spiritually illiterate.

Proof that not everyone who reads the Bible understands it, religions proliferated. If leaders of religious groups understood the Truth in God’s words, why do their gods differ? The god of the Roman Catholic Church, according to Catholic Encyclopedia, is embodied in the Godhead, which consists of three Persons that “are co-eternal and co-equal. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God.” This is the Catholic doctrine of Trinity—absent in the Holy Scriptures.

The Scriptures says, in John 14:28 –

“Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.”

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said that His Father is greater than Him. He did not say that they are co-equal.

On the other hand, the god of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ), a religious sect founded in the Philippines by the late Felix Y. Manalo, is entirely different. The begotten son of their god, unlike that of the catholic, is a mere man, not a God. In their official magazine, Pasugo, published on January 1964, on page 13, it says:

...

TRANSLATION:

MAN is also the state of being of our Lord Jesus Christ in His coming on the day of judgment. His state of being does not change. He never became a God! A MAN he was born, a MAN he grew up and preached, a MAN he resurrected, a MAN he went up to heaven, a MAN he sits at the right hand of God in heaven, and a MAN he shall come again.

Between the Roman Catholic Church and the Iglesia Ni Cristo, several things are possible: Either one of them is correct, the other is wrong; or both of them are wrong. It cannot be that both of them are correct. Equivalently, it would mean that either one of them has the key, or neither; it cannot be that both of them have the key. And since the doctrine of Trinity of the Roman Catholic Church contradicts that of the Bible, that gives us the chance to consider other choices. Unfortunately, the christ of the Iglesia Ni Cristo is a mere man, and is biblically not qualified to be the begotten Son of God. In I John 5:20, it says -

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

This leaves our choices lessened by two.

Failure to understand the true message of the Scriptures prompted many to invent their own keys. Some invented codes allegedly found inside or outside the Bible: one is The Bible Code; another is Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.

In the Bible Code, they say that there is a letter-by-letter sequence in some biblical texts in the original Hebrew language. They use methods such as the Equidistant Letter Sequences (ESL) to decipher biographical information about famous rabbis that are allegedly encrypted or encoded in the Hebrew text. Here is an example of how their Bible Code works:

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Looks like a crossword puzzle, isn’t it? You can actually do this even with Harry Potter books. Some already tried it with Moby Dick. It worked.

The Da Vinci Code, on the other hand, is a masterfully written stupidity. Fibonacci sequence and a few pieces of history put together into an incredibly ugly collage does not make Dan Brown any better than a crackpot. It is evident that he made a lot of research to write such a complex lie and anti-biblical fiction. Yes, fiction it is, and it qualifies as the new Book of Mormons—such a waste of time to read.

If one holds the key, he can open what is closed. Anything that is closed is not closed to him who has the key. It will only be closed to him if he rejects the key. This is what Bro. Eliseo Soriano, Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God International, said in their weekly Thanksgiving Day held 11 October 2008 at the Ang Dating Daan (ADD) Convention Center in Pampanga, Philippines. The topic he discussed: The Key of the Open Book, but Closed to Him who Rejects the Key According to the Bible.

Bro. Eli, host of the 25-year running religious television program Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), explained that the Bible is both an open and a closed book. To him who has the key, it is open; to him who hasn’t, it is closed. And the key of the Bible is the seeing eyes given by God.

The Bible is a portrait of a beautiful thing that others did not see, because their eyes are different. In the Church of God, we have eyes given by God; seven eyes that see all the goodness of God in us. In the Bible, what we have seen is the righteousness of God, His love, longsuffering, forgiveness, mercy, grace and all His goodness. The Bible was opened to us because God willed to give us the key.

To unlock the Bible, one needs the key. It is not by man’s own efforts or college degree that he would understand the Bible and attain spiritual literacy, but by God’s will. Unless God, the Author of the Bible, open a man’s eye and give him the key to the Truth written in His Book, to him the Bible will remain closed and locked.

The proof that one has the key, he sees in the Bible what all others do not.