Why is the Bible so immensely difficult to understand?

Question

Everyone seems to disagree with the meaning of almost every part of it.... Yuo would think an all-powerful being could and would have made it pretty straight forward, since the message is supposed to be so simple.

So, Alexandra.... you can't understand the Bible until you are saved, but you have to understand the Bible in order to be saved... chicken and egg?

As for it being easy to understand by the faithful, why is Y!A chock-full of lengthy, heated debates among the faithful about the meaning of individual sections???

Matt F - I feel your love for me. Go with God.

Veiled to the unbelievers? Does this sound ANYTHING like "The Emperor's New Clothes"????

Answer 1

IT WAS WRITTEN BY INSPIRATION AND YOU NEED INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO UNDERSTAND IT

Answer 2

You're right. If any of us were God we would have written a non ambiguous bible . We would have included a map of the world/solar system /universe, a copy of Gray's Anatomy, A Merck manual and other useful things like a time line. We would also have included a dictionary. A photo of the Whole Earth would have been a nice touch
In addition we would have had it etched / embossed / type set on gold , or stainless or some really hard steel alloy .
Parchment and ink would be the last choice-too fragile.
That didn't happen. What did happen was the continuation of the power of the priest class. Going back to the beginning of civilization the priest class has always been required to interpret the mysteries of the religious texts and they still are.
Lawyers do the same thing; they write laws that require other lawyers to understand them thereby insuring the survival of their class. Why should the priest class be any different ?

Answer 3

The written Bible is obviously incomplete. The reasons are that some concepts cannot be explained with the written word but must be demonstrated. Further, the meanings of words change over time, therefore, the Bible was intentionally written in a way so that much of the essence HAS to be learned orally. Indeed, the most common phrase in the first 5 books is "And God said to Moses...." demonstrating that the whole thing was first given over orally and then, the highlights were written down. Lastly, generally speaking, the Bible does not waste words or even letters (the original Hebrew). Therefore, many concepts are wrapped up in methods of learning that are foreign to modern intellectual discourse.

Bottom line...one has to learn the Bible, both the written and the oral...in the manner in which it was intended to be learned.

Answer 4

The reason it is perceived as so difficult is because of your observation that alot of people disagree on the meaning of so much of it. From a semantical point of view, you are exactly correct. However, may I suggest that instead of approaching it from a predetermined human perspective, try this. Simply ask God to give you understanding and insight to His word. I know that sounds terribly over-simplistic, but if you think carefully for a moment, when it comes right down to it, who else are you going to ask? I don't know your age, but if you are young or very young, your honest question to Him will not go unanswered. I personally guarantee that. If you come to feel that other people are more of a hindrance than a help, put some time and distance between yourself and them. Believe it or not, some of the best study time I ever had was in a graveyard. Before I go, let me give you a word of advice and a gem from the book of James. Don't always let man be your first choice in such matters. Some men have a very deep and insightful understanding of the Word. Others only imagine they do because they're not really interested in being of help to anyone; they just want to appear knowledgeable to avoid looking otherwise stupid. Always make God your first choice. Now from James 1:5- "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." You're searching and that is the first step. Don't give up so easily. If you come across anything hard to understand, the answer is but a request away. Grace and peace be upon you and in your heart.

Answer 5

The overall message is supposed to be simple: Christ died for your sins so that you would one day live again, eternally, in Heaven. Each and every little principal is not "simple." That'd just be ridiculous to assume. The first dude had it right though. You have to remember that while it's God's word - He did not write it, but rather it was written by fishermen, shepherds, and the like nearly 2000 years ago. Keep in mind it has been professionaly translated and is even in layman's terms through the version: The Message. Lastly, people are going to disagree over some of what's in the Bible because so much of it is open to interpretation - that's the result of it being a Faith-Based religion.

Answer 6

It's the human element. The Bible is divinely inspired, but written by people, many different people over a long span of time, who had only their own frame of reference to go by. Parts of it would be very different if *we* were being inspired to write it, since we have a more complete concept of how the world works (I doubt we'll ever know it all)--atoms, elements, 7 continents, etc...
The other problem is that it has been translated several times, and frankly, every translation has the potential to distort the original. Aramaic/Hebrew to Latin to Greek (or is it the other way around?) to English, at the very least. The original text may not have been so ambiguous.

Answer 7

There are a number of reasons for the difficulty.
The bible is a library. It was never intended to be read as any other book, a novel, it is not.
Can you go to a news stand, gather all the magazines into a book and make sense of them?
Neither can you read the bible that way. But, if you find the meanings of life in it, you can find meanings for your own life.

Another thing. God gave different people inspiration to write about their times and solutions for examples of how to do it!
Insight on things we need to know today.

Another point. The Bible was written by and for people of different era's. Different time periods. Read Daniel and Revelation. More?????????????

Answer 8

The contention was brought in by religions that wanted to "tag on" requirements that were never instituted by God. This is nothing new, and it really is nothing to stumble over. Paul had the same problem with Jews saying that you had to be circumcised to be saved. Or others trying to put the non-Jew under the Law of Moses.
I do not know what you are having difficulty with. Jesus summed up the entire Bible in just one sentence so that you could know and be saved.
http://www.schneblin.com/studies/pdfs/john_3-16.pdf

Answer 9

i'm sorry, Jesus stated "Father forgive them for they comprehend no longer what they do" and he wasn't chatting with homosexuals, it grew to become into the non secular leaders (they have been given him on that go). interior the Bible gays get an extremely undesirable rep for the reason which you in basic terms hear approximately them while they're raping human beings. i comprehend no longer all gays are rapist purely like no longer all heteros are rapist yet thats the only time I keep in mind analyzing approximately them. i comprehend being judged isn't hassle-free, God doesnt think of your a mistake. you're a particular unique creation. God doesnt make errors, he doesnt comprehend a thank you to try this. flow to church and examine the bible anyhow, all those those that stated something propose or degrading to you at the instant are not perefect. instead of listening to them hear what God tells you, he's no longer disillusioned, he doesnt think of you will magically be as we communicate. He purely needs to spend a while with you. Why no longer provide Jesus some moments now and tell him what you informed us

Answer 10

Most of the Bible is pretty straight forward. When God says, "Don't murder," he pretty much means, "Don't murder."

Debates tend to fall into a few different categories. First, there are the people who don't understand the layout of the text. They'll take something that's said with a particular setting in mind, and try to apply it universally. God says to Moses, "You will lead my people out of Egypt," and they take this as a directive to mean to get all Christians out of Egypt. Umm, no *Moses* is not me, and Christians aren't slaves in Egypt right now. These people sometimes just need to have their logical contradictions pointed out to them, other times they think they have some kind of divine Ouija board that told them that this verse is to be applied this way. I'm all for believing in prophets in every era of time, but you've got to have some proof that you're a prophet if I'm going to listen.

Other debates have to do with language. When God said, "Don't murder," what exactly did he mean? I mean, obviously, "Don't murder," but is it murder if I keep a cat in my house, and a friend of mine is allergic and I don't know it, and he comes to my house and goes into shock and dies? Or is it murder if a guy jumps me and I drop the knife I was using to peal an orange and he trips and falls on it and dies? Now what if I know my friend is allergic to cats? Or if I purposely stab the guy that jumps me?

A variation on that can be someone who tries to argue a point from a translation that isn't supported in other translations or the original text. Some translations render the phrase I've been repeating as "Don't kill." (or "Thou shalt not kill," or whatever.) Then someone will say that since you can't kill, you can't eat meat. But the original Hebrew would be closer to "Don't murder" (and many other translations into English follow it better.) But someone will fall in love with a translation, and decide that only it is right.

Then there are the preconceived notions we all start with in life. We all start out believing the world is flat, the stars are smaller than the sun, the moon raises and falls just over the horizon, and we know everything. Then we learn that the world is round, many stars are bigger than the sun, the moon rotates around the Earth, and we're not as smart as we thought we were. But I still remember the first time I heard the world was round, and I argued! I said, "But my dad uses a water level to see what's flat." and I really believed the world was flat. I was 4. I got over it. Some people haven't gotten over themselves. They'll read a statement that's kind of general, and read it with a particular meaning. They treat it as the only meaning. "Don't murder" pretty clearly covers the time when I walk up to my best friend, pull out a gun, and shoot him, but some people feel it's a little fuzzier on if that covers a court ordered execution of a criminal. Some people decide that it doesn't cover that, and then try to use that to say we shouldn't execute criminals. In reality, they started with the idea that execution of criminals is bad, and decided that the Bible must support them, and went hunting until they found something. We all do that subconsciously, the trick is being mature enough to admit when you've done it and listening to the reasons why other people think you're wrong. (Not to say I am for or against the death penalty, just to say that the Bible doesn't condemn countries who have it.)

But when you just sit down and read the whole thing, and understand it, you might be confused about a few of things here and there that you have to study, but with study and reading, I don't think you'd get the wrong idea on any verse. When you get into the more complex things (taking ideas presented in different parts of the Bible and seeing how to apply them together, etc.) then that's when people who are honest with themselves about what the're reading usually get into trouble.

Answer 11

The message of the Bible is simple to understand if one is willing to study it and forget everything they were taught in denominations and other "man-made" religions.

Every answer that we need for salvation is in the Bible. We must study EVERY verse and not just pick and choose verses that we want to apply. That is the downfall of most denominations who have been "taught" wrong for many years by their leaders.

For straight Bible answers to many of life's difficult questions see the source below.