2006-09-29 01:11:25 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It is that ability for interpretation that makes it so popular. People can pretend it makes them special. Leaders can use it to validate whatever agenda they wish to push, and the followers will treat whatever interpretation as "Gospel".
2006-09-29 01:18:19 · answer #1 · answered by nondescript 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That's always been a problem. There have always been people who would interpret the Bible according to what they wanted it to say instead of what it actually says. By the end of the first century you had the gnostics who believed that all matter was evil and only the spirit was good and they taught that Jesus was not a human being but a "spirit man" and that it didn't matter what you did with your body since it was already corrupt. Then you had the opposite extreme where people believed that taking communion was actually eating the flesh and blood of Christ and along with that people had to live according to legalistic precepts in order to ensure their salvation.
But God has always gifted and appointed men who would stay true to his Word. It's up to us as individuals to be like the Bereans who listened to the Apostle Paul and then went and searched the Scriptures to see if what he was teaching was in line with what God had already said to mankind.
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Acts 17:10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
2006-09-29 08:52:57 · answer #2 · answered by Martin S 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mankind has a problem. We can't help.. We sin. Gos gave us commandments and we broke the all. It's who we are living by a set of rules in not possible for man... If I tell you that it is now against the law to think of pink ans blue striped zebras the next day there would be pictures of them all over town.. Jesus came to help us with this problem. God can not abide sin. It must be destroyed from His presence. Man=sin. See the problem. Jesus came into the world and lived a perfect life and hung on the cross and became our sin and gave us His righteousness. All we must do is except it. Then we live for Jesus not for or by a book but for God Himself. He tell us how to life the life He would have us live. That life, it's a life of joy. He want our happiness. It's not a life of servitude and slavery. Jim
2006-09-29 08:39:37 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very good point. And we have seen the result of such personal interpretation, thousands of denominations that can't agree with one another on any point of doctrinal teaching. Which is why God gave us an infallible Church as the only authorized interpreter of its own writings. The true Church is the Pillar and Foundation of truth. Without its pillars and foundation any structure warps, crumbles and collapses.
2006-09-29 09:10:26 · answer #4 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good Question! That's why Sola Scriptura (the Bible Alone) is a wrong notion. Because anyone can interpret it to mean what they want it to mean...
Someone(s) have to be an official authority on it...
~_^
2006-09-29 08:19:04 · answer #5 · answered by Sudy Nim 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the book says to live by the spirit. not a book
2006-09-29 08:20:47 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I CHOOSE TO STAND ON THE WORD AND THAT WORD IS THE BIBLE,,NOW DON'T BELIEVE IT,,I DIDN'T COME HERE FOR YOU, I CAME FOR MYSELF BUT JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY YOU DON'T BELIEVE DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T ..YOU DON'T KNOW THE COST,I PAID TO READ IT, THE PAIN I HAVE HAD TO ENDURE BECAUSE OF PEOPLE REJECTING ME BECAUSE I STOOD ON HIS HOLY WORD..MY GOD IS REAL AND NOONE CAN TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME,,THEREFORE I AM FREE FROM ALL OF THE ONES WHO CHOOSE TO SLAM GOD..JUDGEMENT DAY WILL COME AND EVERY PERSON WILL HAVE TO ANSWER EVERY KNEE WILL BOW..THERE IS A TIME YOU WILL BOW TO MY FATHER IN HEAVEN...BELIEVE THAT OR NOT BUT YOU ALL WILL AND GOD HAVE MERCY ON ALL OF YOUR SOULS WHEN THAT TIME COMES..
2006-09-29 08:24:40 · answer #7 · answered by I give you the Glory Father ! 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Anyone who has truly given themself to Jesus can do it, for God sends His Holy Spirit to them to help them do it.
2006-09-29 08:19:56 · answer #8 · answered by Born Again Christian 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Apparently a whole bunch of people. I like to refer to them as sheep.
2006-09-29 08:17:43 · answer #9 · answered by Cold Hard Fact 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not me.
Makes no sense to me.
2006-09-29 08:16:12 · answer #10 · answered by steelypen 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋