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Well, at first I threw everything out.....hard to read the bible...but figured I would go the opposite of what WI taught. One extreme to another, I've learned is never the answer for me. I've been to churches, probably bought every known bible in the world to "search" for truth. I was terribly confused. I listened to this preacher and that one. Anything that was "spiritual" I investigated. Still confused. And what happened was a found a very simple approach finally....that is the practical application of principles from the word. Kindness, forgiveness, not thinking evil, helping someone else, Not thinking about me all the time, (the universe doesn't revolve around me in other words), Gratitude, tolerance are among the many things that I found I needed to apply in my life. Humbleness instead of being egotistical that I know everything is another good one. So, I set out and started just to examine my own life and apply principles I found in the word....my life started getting better and better...not that the outside life changed so much, but the inside of me started changing for the better. And I still put practical application high on my list to be aware of every single day in my life....I ask myself how am I doing today? Now recently, some of the teachings I learned years ago have come back into my life. With a new perspective and new "eyes" I am again relearning some of the things I once knew but threw out. It looks totally different to me now. The bible said "Knowledge Puffeth up".....I was all puffed up believe me. So, for me there has to be a balance.....doctrine and practical application. What good is it if I can't put it into my living on a daily basis. But what a process....tough, rewarding, sometimes frustrating, but I am so glad to be where I am today....very thankful to God for what He has done in my life. I know the journey will continue and my eyes will be opened wider....and they will finally be totally opened at the Return.

Interesting perspective, Steve. I'd agree with Pat that what the two eyes see isn't contradictory by definition - they don't lead to logical opposite conclusions. Or if they did we'd have pretty strange vision. :) They're just two views of the same thing, and all things being equal (or close to it) in the physicals they're not actually that different. But in a very real way they are, in fact different views of the same thing, in that we don't find (or seem to have yet) repetitions of the same thing at the same time in our physical world. Any instance of anything is it's own instance, and when it comes to individual consciousness, be it the brain, soul or whatever we refer to it as I find that really thrilling as a basic understanding of existence as it is. Moreso that within ourselves we have many separate, individual instances of our own consciouness going on at once, and being blended into a single state of perception. Life is a beautiful awesome thing, and thanks to this thread for that reminder. It's a cool angle on this though, got me thinking how the result of blending the two views into a single perception is done through the nerves and into the brain where the two become one, more or less. Yet, our own processing of that will include many other things at any given moment - we may see something and do the "double take" or "rub our eyes" and take a second look at something. We may think "am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" That's an incredible process right there and without that ability to question and process our own memories and all of our sensory perceptors at a given moment - we'd have trouble maintaining any understanding of anything On the topic(s) - I don't know that I believe "God" can contradict , for the kinds of reasons that geisha notes. If God is God and by definition maintains and retains the kind of sovereign supremacy we read about in the O. T. then God makes the rules, to put it bluntly. If in a given scenario God were to say, change the rules, that's within His purview to do so. From my human perspective I might see logically opposing outcomes - I think I have to accept that 1. I may not have all the information I need to blend it all into one composite view that "makes sense", 2. I may not have enough information to actually construct and understand what "makes sense" with the blended view that I do have, and 3. It may not be within my own purview to understand or judge what God would do or not do. The example of our eyes and vision is illuminating I think in that vision is a learned thing - it comes together over time from our infancy on and our bodies learn to "see" in a single vision. As you state Steve, we are learning as we go, and we can expect progress, one would assume. In fits and starts and smooth transitions at other times but we do learn. The Bible? Big topic there too - I like the mention of the Book of Enoch as a way to consider what is "the Word of God". I tend towards the canon we have today but consider that God, in times past and present, is constantly revealing Himself to us and through us and that "the truth" is all around us all the time. I'm a Bible guy and won't pretend to understand the variances I see and others I no doubt don't but am trying to approach it in the manner described here.

I don't know, Steve. I don't think what our eyes see contradicts each other, I think they compliment each other. They see two different perspectives of the same "truth" and blend them into something more "solid" and with more depth. Our ears do the same. They take similar but different aural information and blend it to establish what the sound is and where it is. We get the word "stereo" from the Greek word stereos, meaning stablish or solid. Our English word stereo can apply to our eyes (stereoscope)or our ears. Like our eyes and ears, when our minds receive two different perspectives of the same truth it establishes that truth. But if our eyes, ears, or minds receive truly different or contradictory information concerning one reality or truth then there's conflict.