Why do so many religions misconstrue what the Bible says?

Question

Here are a few examples. I cannot list more due to the charcter limit.

1. Many Roman Catholics think that infantile baptism is necessary because of how they misinterpret the verses in the book of Acts which talk about the census being taken by taking them to mean that all people in the houses were counted when, in reality, it was just the adults and not the children who were counted in the census.
2. Many Baptists believe in praying Jeus into your heart to be saved which is wrong because the Bible clearly states that without baptism first nobody is saved.
3. Many Mormons believe in monogamy and believe coffee is a drug, therefore do not drink it when the Bible clearly states that a person is aloud one spouse only and says absolutely nothing about coffee being wrong. If Jesus made wine out of water and wine is fermented, therefore intoxicating because it is an alcoholic beverage then how can coffee be unbiblical?
4. The Jews still do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior

Answer 1

Most anyone can find something in the Bible that supports their beliefs: Martin Luther King, Rainbow Coalition, KKK, American Nazis, Jehovah Witnesses.

Answer 2

roman catholics don't misinterpret acts regarding the census, look at scripturecatholic.com for the proper verses that support infant baptism. you can pick whatever you want to say baptists are wrong or mormons etc. and use your verse to combat what they believe. that is where all the problems come from,picking and choosing verses over others are in no way effective,once you use context and all scripture together can you be effective and make definitive compelling responses that can not be refuted. i see many people going back and forth "oh the bible says this" and then the other person "but the bible says this", you can do this for ages and come to nothing.

Answer 3

I would say that it is because the Bible is such a large and diverse book, really a library of smaller books, with sometimes ambiguous wording that can be taken to mean several things.

Example: I have yet to find even the most basic fundy who would take Jesus literally when he said to gouge out your eyes and cut off your hands. This was not supposed to be taken at face value! So the argument is open that other things are not literal either.

Answer 4

The longer I am a Christian the more I think we all misconstrue things in the Bible. There are a number of reasons for that maybe one of them is just to keep us humble and aware that only God understands all the truth. Just look at you making a statement that "without baptism first nobody is saved". Give me your Bible verses that teach that one!

Answer 5

Many religions and people take the bible (scripture) and twist the meanings to fit into their lifestyles and situations.

Nofreedom is right the bible is self explainatory. Scripture will interpret scripture.

Instead of using the scripture to interpret other scriptures, many people take one verse and come up with their own meanings or try to find sources outside of the bible to interpet them. That is why the bible is often misconstrued or misinterpreted.

Answer 6

Because human beings are fallible. Mostly it has to do with literal interpretations of the Bible.

If people interpreted concepts like "return" properly, they would realize that Jesus Christ has returned already, in the person of Baha'u'llah. Many people are held back by literal interpretations of things like "clouds". Clouds refer to the physical form of a prophet, which obscures their true identity. Jesus advocated a more metaphorical interpretation of the Bible, which is why He said that John the Baptist was the return of Elijah, i.e. in quality not in individuality. He did this to show that His return would also be in quality and not in individuality.

Answer 7

Jews and Baptists I can agree with you on them. Mormons and Roman Catholics still claim direct communication with God and therefore anything new they claim as truth is justified. It is believed God leads both their churches directly, so they can say anything they want. Old Testament for the Jews, New Testament for the Catholics, and The Book of Mormon for the modern day followers of Christ. Every time the truth grew, God gave new scripture. Those who don't conform are in the old ways and have strayed from the path.

Answer 8

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

The answer is men are not satisfied to teach only the word of God. They are not content to speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent. They are not content to do Bible things in Bible ways and call Bible things by Bible names.

Instead, they follow their own desires or those who preach what they desire to hear. Sometimes it is "out of season" or not convienant to preach the Word.

The word is to be used to exort, but also to reprove and rebuke. Men don't seem to like their wrongs being brought to light, so they have altered the truth to fit their desires, rather than altering themselves to fit the truth.

Answer 9

The bible also supports slavery. When pre-civil war southerners used the bible to support thier claim that slavery was sanctioned by god they were being 100% accurate.

You can use the bible to prove a whole bunch of things.

Answer 10

If one is looking for the real Bible before king Constantine changed everything go to gospelofthenazirenes The original Gospel which was kept hidden by the original followers of Christ (the Essenes) It is now available in English. Don't be cheated by false teachings. Only seek truth and it will be revealed.

Answer 11

There are so many contradictions in the bible that it's not difficult to find something to quote that conforms with your own idea of how the world should be--and somebody else can believe something completely opposite and they have their own bible verses to prove it.