Approach: Reading several passages to learn what it means to be hardhearted. Are Believers hardhearted?

Hermeneutic objective: Carefully observing what it means to be hardhearted from seeing it in play.

Theological objective: There is a progressive degree of hardheartedness:

1. Making strong or rigid.

2. Stubborn, stiff-necked and obstinate.

3. More than a mere stiffening of one's soul and character - an implication that there is the outgrowth of a new feature, which obscures while it hardens, of an outer coating of mental obduracy or permanent bluntness.

Hardheartedness describes a person who has thoughts / rationalizations that cause him to not have faith in God. Without faith, that person will not place a trust in God's word and engender a trust to obey it.

For Believers, it describes a person who makes excuses for not reading the Bible. As Jesus confronts His disciples, "having eyes, do you not see and having ears, do you not hear, and do you not remember?" You have to know what sin is.

For Believers, it describes a person who rationalizes their sinful behavior and does not fear to disobey God's word. You have to know if you are being deceived by your sinful desires.