Does your faith convey the notion that by asking tough questions, you're falling into Satan's trap?

Question

There are few Southern Baptists, for example, who today would openly argue that God meant for people of African descent to be enslaved to people of European descent. Yet that argument is precisely how the Southern Baptist Convention came into being. Now, a century and a half later, the doctrine seems to have changed, in spite of their notion that the bible should be interpreted literally, and therefore its meaning can't change.

If the Southern Baptists were wrong about slavery, and later about segregation, it begs the question - can we trust anybody's interpretation of the bible?

My apologies, this turned into more than just one question, but I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Answer 1

Bible interpretation has always been a huge problem. That's why there are sooo many branches in Chrisitianity!! It really bothers me and this has been a problem ever since the Catholic religion began (where some people were against it and created the Protestants and so on....)
This is something important to consider. These days anybody can call themselves a Christian as long as it's under their own standards.... it's awkward and seems wrong but it's true.

Answer 2

You are correct that today's interpretation of the bible by any group tends to be different than yesterday's interpretation. Sometimes some groups will admit error but, more often than not, they just hope people don't notice.

Slavery is one instance of interpretations softening. Punishment of children is also softer. We rarely put kids to death for cursing their father and mother as Leviticus specifies. On the other hand, abortion is one of interpretations that has gotten more radical. The bible clearly states that abortion is not murder, it is a property crime against the (lower case f) father. Later groups have tried to make it murder. Contraception wasn't even contemplated by the bible but the Romans have used Onan's sin (which was actually the sin of failing to complete intercourse with his brother's widow) as justification for bans on condoms and the pill.

None of this even gets into some of the more absurd science and history of the bible.

The key question I always had was, since Jesus supposedly abolished some of the OT rules (thereby allowing Christians to eat pork for example) he was never specific about which ones. How do Christians judge which parts of the OT can be ignored? Why can't Genesis be replaced by John 1:1?

Answer 3

No, we can't trust anyone's interpretation of the Bible. Ten people, all looking at the same thing, will interpret it differently (check it out at the art galleries, that's always fun).

We can't trust what is written in the Bible, either, since it was written by human beings who each had their own take on things. There are contradictions all over the Bible, such as differing accounts of Jesus' last moments. It's just a book. It doesn't prove a thing.

Answer 4

In ancient Jewish tradition Satan is simply an angel doing the work that God assigned to Satan to do.

The word Satan means challenger. With the idea of Satan challenging us, or tempting if you will. This description sees Satan as the angel who is the embodiment of man's challenges. This idea of Satan works closely with God as an integral part of Gods plan for us. His job is to make choosing good over evil enough of a challenge so that it becomes clear to us that there can be only one meaningful or logical choice.

Contrast this to Christianity, which sees Satan as God's opponent. In Jewish thought, the idea that there exists anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be considered polytheistic or setting up the devil to be an equally powerful polarity to god or a demigod.

Oddly, proof for The Christian satan/devil mythology is supposedly found in the ancient Jewish texts that were borrowed to create the bible. One can’t help but wonder how Christians came up with such a fantastically different interpretation of Gods assistant Satan in their theology.

Other hints about Satan’s role in human relations can be seen if you look at the name Lucifer. It’s meaning in the original tongue translates as Light bearer or light bringer. Essentially the bringer of enlightenment. The temptations of the Satan idea bring all of us eventually into Gods light. Hardly the Evil entity of Christian mythology.

Love and blessings
don

Answer 5

I have often thought that if god had written (or at least dictated) the bible, it would not be ambiguous. It would be clear and simple to interpret. After all, he would not want all this disharmony caused by different interpretations of his word in his church.

Answer 6

No. He would be using the mind that the good Lord gave him. The Episcopal church says "Jesus came to take your sins, not you mind". Hopefully your neighbor will come into a more mature and deeper and truer faith after he thinks about it rationally.