how does one read the bible "spititually" and not "literally"?

Question

sorry, spiritually..

pangel, i am a very spiritual person, the bible is the only book i cannot figure out, due to all the contradictions

Answer 1

spititually?
actually there are many instances where Jesus tells us outright that what he says is an illustration(not a literal explaination).
As for the spiritual part, what one who wants to understand the Bible has to keep in mind is this: If one arrives at an understandiong that seems to contradict another verse or verses in the Bible, then the understanding is incorrect. One needs to keep reading andresearching to find the correct meaning. This is sometimes hard as their many people espousing false ideas regarding the Bible.
It helps to refer to the original words and definitions by cross referenceing using a KJV and a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.

Answer 2

One doesn't. The bible is a history of the jewish tribe (old test) and the collections of history of a prophet (new test). It was written as history, and copied recopied, added to deleted from and changed over the years as christianity became popular. Its last big makeover -- the King James version about 1612 or so ---done during a political time of unrest in England. If you think back to a church history class you might have taken in college, it began in greek and aramaic, translated then back into greek, the gospel according to phillip was deleted, thentranslated into latin, back to greek, and only in recent times Late middle ages, after the invention of the printing press into vernacular languages (common languages, no longer in Latin). until the middle ages, the only people who could read were priests -- the common person could not read. and the people who made copies were sxcribes, not above adding their own little twists and mistakes to a manuscript. So, are you going to take the musings, translations, mistakes and political interpretations literally, or just regard it as what it is -- a conglomeration of changed writings, more than 2000 years old? Use your good sense... And, if you wish to know more, get onto Amazon. com, and find some books that describe how the bible evolved. Choose books written by scholars, not church people for the real info.

Answer 3

Sadly because the Bible was touched by humans and changing the verses from the bible you can't find what truly is Gods teaching to you people. I am not saying the Bible is wrong but has been added and deleted by many Christians for the past 2000 years. Islam is right for you. Islam respects Jesus and we love him just like you do. If you just take time in reading the Quran then you can find spirituality in it.

Answer 4

You have no choice except read it literally because that's the only language you know. Because of more than one meaning of the words presented, unless you understand the intent of the verses in the light of the seven fruits of the God's spirit, you may not interpret the literal words correctly.

For example, when Jesus said " I am the way", one can stick to the literal interpretation that only people who worship Jesus ( a human form) will go to the kingdom of God. On the other hand if you think that Jesus was a manifestation of God's spirit and not a human form only, then the whole meaning of the sentence changes; because then it attaches all incarnations of God at different times in different parts of the world to the word "I" in the sentence " I am the way".

Similarly when you take literal meaning of " Thou shall not kill", all killings appear to be sins. But if you think sin can't be physical because it is evil spirit of satan, then killing in self defence is not sin because the intent there is not evil. So you see the act alone cant be sin, but intent and the spirit with which the act is done.

In the Gospel of John, the first few verses clearly state that the 'word ' is spirit of God and so is to be interpreted in spirit and not only by the literal meaning.

Answer 5

Here is an example.

A high ranking Officer in the King's army, named Naaman had leprosy. A Jewish servant girl in his household told him to go to Elijah the prophet for healing. He did. He took a lot of money and wealth along with him to pay for it.

When he got there, Elijah didn't want the money, but he told Naaman to go down to the Jordan River and immerse himself seven times.

Naahum was insulted. He had cleaner rivers in his own country. Here he had come all this way with all of this loot to pay for his miracle cleansing, just to have this old man send him off to the dirty Jordan to simply dip himself.

Long story short, he ended up doing that anyway. He really had no better plan. Yes, you guessed it , he was healed and very humbled for being so arrogant that he thought he could pay for his healing or earn it himself somehow. After that Naaman loved God.

OK, so that is the literal story, and the following is the spiritual application.

We are Naaman. We want to pay our own way. We want to have a hand in our own salvation. That way, we can say....."Well, I helped God out just a little bit by influencing His opinion of me."

It doesn't work that way.

God says something like ,"Humble yourself, and accept this free gift. You have nothing to do with it. It is yours because I love you. No other reason."

At least, that was MY spiritual application. Others may read that story and see a whole different lesson. That is why we call God a "personal savior."

Anyway, that's the way I see it.

Answer 6

It is a way of defending emotional reactions to difficult issues without actually finding real arguments in favor of those emotions.

By literally reading the bible, one can come to a conclusion that can be argued rationally, if one reads it spiritually, no argument is possible. If I was religious I'd call it blasphemy.

Answer 7

The first step is to make certain that you have asked Jesus to forgive you for your sins, and be the Savior of your soul. When you ask Him, and mean it, you must believe by faith that He enters your heart by his Holy Spirit. Then, you must have an open mind when you begin to read the Word of God; and not have your own personal opinions formed as to what the scriptures mean which you read. Then, you must ask the Holy Spirit to please give you the understanding which you need, as you read the scriptures. And He will open your mind to truths which you never imagined. I have been writing Bible lessons from home for approximately eight years, and I have found that many things in the Word of God, did not mean at all what I thought that they meant. The Holy Spirit will always open your eyes to the truth, as to the real meaning of the scriptures. I try and always remember to ask Him to help me to never misinterpret the scriptures which I read, but to open my eyes to the real truth of God's Word. If you are sincere, you will be surprised at the knowledge and wisdom which He will give unto you. But it must always be done with a willingness to see what God truly wants us to see, and to tell us. Even though it may hurt a little bit sometimes.

Answer 8

as a spiritual person and not a christian
i have read the bible and taken much from it ... because i dont take it literally
i find the teachings of jesus to be quite valuable as are other parables in the bible
if you are spiritual then you can see spiritual lessons in most things but more so religious books even if your faith is quite different

Answer 9

My favorite way to read any such literature is to first pick up the book with intent...a thought I would like to know more about...a question I have in mind....I ponder that intent for a moment & then open the book...I have never been failed by finding what I wanted to know on the page that was opened to me....it usually takes me on a journey through other parts of the same book for more info, which makes it such an interesting undertaking.

Answer 10

Pray and ask The Holy Spirit for understanding before you even open the Bible and He will give you spiritual understanding