One key component that I had to deal with in my life was the basic question of: Do I believe this because I was taught it when I was growing up, or do I believe it because I have made a decision it is true for me.
I had to study to answer that question for myself. One thing that helped me along that path was a Lexicon and several dictionaries for Greek and Hebrew. The Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament had words that had different meaning just as we have words that have different meanings. For instant the saying give up your life could mean to die saving someone else or could mean set aside the things you would normally do to serve or take care of another person that is not capable of taking care of themselves. The lexicon had the word of the text and the dictionary gave me the meaning of that word. Thus I found for myself the correct word in the commandment thou shall not kill. The word translated to read kill in English was the word for murder in Hebrew.
I believe you can read the English translation and get the vital message, but when you study, it starts to give a belief that is not dependent on what someone taught you. People are imperfect so they get ideas that are incorrect from what they read without a through study.
I am not saying I have studied enough to think of myself as a bible scholar, I have not and am not. But I believe what I believe based on study. If you ask me a question today I will answer based on what I have come to believe. But with study if you ask me the same question five years from now, I may have a different slant on it based on what I have learned in the mean time. We grow as we are able. If we pray before we study, it will be revealed to us what we need to understand in that moment. What that is, is not based on my desire, but on God's will. I have to be open to that.
