What is your interpretation of the Bible?

Question

It now seems to me that almost all Christian denominations differ in one only one major aspect; their interpretation of the Bible. Fundamentalists are the most strict, usually taking the Bible quite literally. Then there are Christians who interpret the Bible into a peaceful, harmonious book (a difficult task, no doubt). And there are plenty of people in between.
How do you (personally) decide which parts of the Bible to take literally, and which to understand figuratively? Do you consider the Bible "timeless"? How do you justify these decisions?

Christians only please. I already know all about anti-religious sentiment. ;-)

Danhowell: I'm not talking about metaphors and imagery, but more along the lines of "sell your daughter into slavery", "stone fornicators to death", etc. Most Christians today would not condone such actions, but they are proffessed in the Bible. How do you seperate what is written in the Bible from what you practice?

Answer 1

I heard something once that I thought made very good sense. Someone was talking about the bible, and how there were many different ways of communcating to us. Metaphor, similie, hyperbole (exaggeration to underscore a particular point); symbolism, parable, and of course, literal. This person said "if the most obvious sense makes sense, seek no other sense". For instance, Jesus said, if your hand sins against you, cut if off. Now...this is an example of hyperbole. How do we know this? Because it wouldn't make sense; there would be nothing but handless people walking around.

The more you study the bible, the more you can see the nuances of the way God uses different forms of communication. And of course, a good bible teaching church helps. Not to TELL you what to think, but to teach, so that you can think it over yourself, apply the interpretation, and see how it sits with you. I have found it usually falls into place perfectly.

Answer 2

Actually it is not that hard. there are some basic principles that make the task easier. First make sure the translation you get is in a language you are comfortable reading. If you hate Sheakespeare's English chances are you won't like the King James Version. There are many modern translations that are easier to read. Some Bibles are paraphrases, they try to get meanings and ideas first. Some are almost word for word translations. I find comparing translations helps me think through the passages. Be careful of a translation written by one person or when all the translators come from one type of church they are more like to spin the translation to support their church.
Just like a newspaper there are different sections. We read the front page different that we read editorials. Lifestyle, sports and the opbituaries are read differently. The narative format is the most commom. Poetry is different. Psalms are meant to enable us to vent or express all types of good and bad emotions to God and were songs in the Hebrew.. Proverbs are meant to give us wisdom and work like the proverbs of today. The law is similiar in style to the modern legal text. Not a fun read or emotional but trying to make the general rules quite specific. Very importantly it is important to realize the each book of the Bible was originally written by a specific author for a specific reason. It was only after the fact that as the original was passed around and more and more copies were made that first the Jews (regarding the old testatment) and later the Christians (the New) and general agreement was reached on the idea that God inspired the Bible. P.s. regarding the New Testament this was settled long before the 3rd century councils Dan Brown talks about. It is also good to remember that a 1st century Doctor was writing as a first century doctor, a farmer from 500 bc writes as a farmer alive at that time. Typically the Athiest and the Liberal Theologian will read a narative passage with the presupposition that miracles do not happen. You may have seen the popular quote "Rule #1 I am never wrong, Rule #2 if I am wrong refer to rule #1. When they read a passage that includes a miracle, they first deny that a miracle could happen regardless of the evidence. There is also a pride that is clear. "They were primitives, fools,"these experts say' "we would not be fooled by these miracles like those simpletons would be." yet these same people would never foolishly apply the same principles to the greek philosophers Plato etc. And please if we are so much better please tell me which modern authoer would be seen as sheakespeares equal in 500 years. When i read a narrative that includes a discription of a miracle I am open minded enough to believe it. Once I start with the idea that God created all the stars in the sky it is reasonable to accepted that at times He can suspend the rules temporarily if He wants to.
I know that the Bible is universal but it is not multilingual. I know of a translation of the Bible for a island tribe that had never seen sheep were lamb of God is changed to sea bass of God. Pease let me know if there is somthing that i could be more specific about.

and re Brendas comments
If I used the same logic I would be blaming the Police and Judges for the existence of prisons. I could even get mad back in 1945 at those mean old bullies called the allies that cause the death of that poor man Hitler. Fortunately I believe in Justice. I love the stories were Good wins a evil is punished. Every person that God judged and killed was guilty of breaking God's law. God does not take rape and murder lightly. He is not fond of lying or stealing. He also considers wrong the sins we want to do and are too afraid of doing. If the people had been innocent you would be right. They were not and you are not.

Answer 3

I believe that the Bible is timeless in that the issues it deals with are the same ones people have been faced with since the beginning and still face today. I also believe that if you study the Bible, God will point out things to you that He wants you to know that will help you with your daily life as well as your relationship with Him. Almost every time I read the same passages in the Bible, I get something different out of them or see how they will apply to something Im dealing with.

The parts of the Bible to take literally are the parts where the writers are describing something that happened in the past, that is, before they wrote it down. The parts to take figuratively are the parts where someone is prophesying about the future. The prophecies in the Bible have a lot of symbolism in them. It helps to read a good concordance or commentary on the book that you are reading the prophesy in in order to help you understand what the symbolism means. It also helps to pray about it. God sometimes reveals what it means, especially if it will help you somehow.

Answer 4

The most important rule of bible interpretation is: context.

i don't think a particular denomination has a code or way of interpretting that is classified for its denomination.

There are many tools to interpretting the Bible. One thing to remember is that the Bible is 66 books (with different genres) for example some of the books are more historical (Kings, Chronicles, Acts) while the gospels for example are filled with parables. Even among the Psalms there are different types of Psalms. So it's important that we know what kind of book it is and who the book is addressed to.

The beautiful part however is that it is 66 books all with one story.

A great book on how to interpret the Bible is: Playing with Fire by Walt Russell. Living by the Book by Howard Hendricks is also great.

The Bible also commands us to study to show ourselves approved unto God a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (It's amazing- cuz that seems to be your question- how do we rightly divide the word of truth?) We need to study the Bible and we need to study the different parts of the Bible to come up with good interpretation and application.

Hope that helps,

Nickster

Answer 5

Almost all of the people that responded to your question I feel are wrong... I feel the have a vendetta or hatred tword the bible which I feel is a misdirected feeling. The bible is the greatest literary work of the world and few educated people could contradict that statement. The Bible has one of the only histories that can be verified to its time. Now... The question is this...Do you take the Bible as literary fact? and if you do... To what extent do you believe:? It's all very personal. I believe that the Bible is a great work of art that outlines one way for all humanity to attain a oneness within itself. Isn't that what religeon is about? Its sad that it excludes others that strive for the same goal. Really, Everything comes down to the individual....But, If I had it my way....Religeon wouldn't be a individual quest but a quest for humanity...We wouldn't be judged by our own sins but by the sins of humanity.....I think maybe then people might learn to think to have a responsability to us all.

Answer 6

there are parts of the Bible that have a literal meaning.. you will know it by the terms that are used.. ie: the fig tree in the Bible talking about Israel is not meant as a literal fig tree.. it is meant to be interpreted as a place... things like that... and the Bible does have many literal meanings... ie: Hell and Heaven... And the Bible is for sure timeless.. all things in the Bible are relevant today.. ie: the Bible tells young people not to sleep with each other without being married for a reason.. (std's and emotional problems arise from this sort of behavior.. ) The Bible does not tell us not to do things to hurt us but to help us.. it tells us not to buy on Credit.. most people who buy on Credit end up so far in debt they can't get out of it and it ruins them financially.. I could go on and on.. but please take time to study the Bible before you make a decision on not believing in it... Good Luck to you :)

Answer 7

The Bible was written by God Himself by haveing His people, who were filled with His own Holy Spirit, to put on paper EXACTLY what He wanted to say to us. For this reason all of scripture is litteral (and timeless) and good for teaching, correcting, etc. God did use imagery and poems to express His points. You can't tell which parts are which without the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read. This is the reason for preachers. A person can't have faith without haveing an understandable hearing of the Word because - faith comes by hearing - and hearing by the word of God. God choose preaching as the medium by wich He'd get His word out . Denominations may look foolish because of minor dissagreements but however the message is presented what matters is if Jesus is the Lord of the church.

Answer 8

The stories in the Bible have been around a lot longer than the Christians or the Jews. It was created and modified to serve civilization as a basis of understanding the unanswerable questions in life and a code of ethics to live by. It stands as a great guide for ethical behavior but also tells of the history of humanity's confusion in understanding the world around us.

Answer 9

I personally don't take much of it literally. Some of it is obviously fiction, like the part about the talking snake. Some things are just flat-out wrong like the assertion that flies have four legs. Some things are obviously legends like the story about Moses, if he ever existed, turning the Nile River into blood. There's also a lot of history, like the Jews crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The people who lived there sure didn't promise it to them. They were the Philistines, people we would refer to as Palestinians. The Jews went from city to city massacering people. Sometimes they only killed the men, but usually they murdered everybody, even children. They said the Lord made them do it.

Answer 10

The Books were sealed 'til the time of the end. The end came on 23rd May, 1844. Muhammad was the Seal of the Prophets. The Promised One all the great, world,religions were praying and waiting for, has come in the personage of Baha'u'llah. He fulfills the prophecies of all of the great religions of the past. He has opened all the Holy Books of all of the religions of the past, and has explained how he fulfills the phophecies in them, all, concerning the "time of the end" and the "coming of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven".

Only God has the right to interpret His Holy Books, and He has done so.

The Bible (as well as the other Holy Books of God--the Bhagadva-Gita, the ZendaVesta(sp?), the Qu'ran, etc.) are spiritual, symbolic Books. They're not to be understood literally, materially, physically. They were designed to separate the wheat from the chaff, the men from the boys, so to speak, those with spirits from those who are dead. Those who really want to know from those who can't be bothered to pray while they investigate the reality of things--truth.

The Holy Books consist of both Social Teachings and Spiritual Teachings. The Spiritual Teachings never change from Book to Book (religion to religion--Divine Educator to Divine Educator). But the Social Teachings were designed for the people they came to, in the place the came to, at the time in history in which they came. They were not designed for the whole world, and for now and the next thousand years; therefore, only the Spiritual Teachings are timeless; to try to live by the Social Teachings of the Great Major Prophets of the past--Zoroaster, Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad or The Bab, today, are like trying to put overalls designed for a boy on a grown man. The social solutions they have are for another people, another time, in a specific part of the world--not for the world as a whole.

For those who have the ears to hear and the eyes to see, and are courageous, enough, to investigate with an open heart and an open mind, with neither love nor hate in your hearts, without prejudice, praying to God to guide you in your independent investigation of the truth, who are brave enough to know of your own knowledge, and not through knowledge of your neighbor, or clergyman, please check out my source, below: