How do you know your interpretation of the Bible is correct?

Question

And do not tell me you get inspired by the Holy Spirit, because JW and Mormons say the same thing and their interpretation is different than yours (unless you are one of them.... then this question is not for you).

Why 33,000 protestant denominations teaching different things if the truth is ONE - Jesus (" I am the way, the truth...")?

Tammy M
For your information: the Bible was not written in English. The KJV was a translation made over 1600 years AD
go to: http://www.standing-alone.com/articles/kjv.html

To Achtung Heiss:
How do you know that Jesus is not God and your doctrine is not wrong?
Please explain these verses:
• Is. 7:14; & Mt. 1:23 - Christ is Emmanuel = God with us
• Is. 9:5-6 - a child is born to us, a son is given us... he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace
• Is. 42:8 - "I am the Lord... I will not give my glory to another”, & Jn. 8:54 - “it is my Father who glorifies me” & Jn. 17:1 - "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,” & Jn. 17:5 - ”..glorify me, Father, with the glory that I had with you before the world began”
• Is. 43:10 - “Before me no god was formed, and after me there shall be none.” - so Christ cannot be “a god”
• Is. 43:11 - "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour." & 1 Jn. 4:14 - ...the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world

Answer 1

Great question!
Private interpretation of biblical doctrine is not the same as personal reading of the Bible for spiritual growth. The Catholic Church continues to protect the doctrinal interpretation of scripture as a matter beyond the decision of individual readers, but at the same time, in the strongest language encourages the personal, private reading and study of the sacred texts. If the inspired word is read in a spirit of faith and prayer, the Holy Spirit will protect from error and lead the reader to God's true message for his or her life.

The critical word here is "authority." Who has the authority to decide the proper doctrinal interpretation of scripture passages? Many Christians maintain that that this authority belongs to the individual believer. Catholics maintain that this authority was given by Jesus to his followers as a group under their proper leaders; in other words, the authority to decide what is the saving truth and what is the norm of Christian living revealed by the Bible is vested in the Church with its appointed leaders.

An example may help to focus the point at issue. In chapter 13 of John's Gospel, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. Most gospel readers probably interpret "washing one another's feet" as a symbol of service to others, an encouragement to love in action, or humility in doing good to others. "I do not need to wash feet literally to fulfill the command of Jesus; I do it by serving others. Fine, but who tells you to interpret the text this way? There is nothing in the reading itself to indicate that Jesus did not mean a physical washing of physical feet. Your authority for reading the text that way is not coming from the Bible but from outside it.

The Catholic admits this. The Bible does not interpret itself but needs an authentic interpreter. This, for the Catholic, is the community of believers, the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit through its leaders.
Peace and every blessing!

Answer 2

ok... the jews who canonized both the old and new testaments (yes, jews) were very very strict in the way they copied everything down. people called ''scribes'' copied everything word for word, letter for letter, to a tee. in the book of proverbs, there is a verse that says ''do not add to the word of God.'' because of things like that, jewish tradition holds that if a scribe changes, adds, or forgets so much as one single letter in Scripture, he will jeopardize destroying the entire universe. so that's how we know the old testament is accurate.

as far as the new testament goes, during the early christian church, anyone who was caught with Scripture oustside of the church was executed, for the same reason the jewish scribes had to be so exacting.

now if you wanna check the accuracy of your bible, go out and buy two or three different versions. it's not so much that one version is any less accurate than the other, but the original text has implied meaning that the english version just doesn't cover. so read a verse in, oh... say, the new king james version. then read it in the new international version, then in the amplified version. then you will start to understand the full meaning. then cross-reference what you just read by comparing it to other passages. if you don't do that, you could, and most probably will contradict the Word.

jehovah's witnesses have simply changed the parts of the gospel that they didn't understand. they created their own bible. they do not believe in the one triune God, because it's too difficult a concept. mormons have created their own ''bible'', which contradicts nearly all of the gospel. these two groups are classified as cults. they claim Christ, but do not claim His message, or at least not all of it.

and as far as the 33,000 protestant denominations go... we all have different interpretations of what things mean, and we all emphasize different passages. lutherans tend to stress the Holy Trinity and Holy Communion. baptists stress Holy Baptism. pentecostals stress healing. and there are all kinds of different roman-catholic denominations too, it's just not talked about as much. you have the marions, the latin rite, charismatic catholics, and so on. the important thing is that we are members of what i have been raised in the lutheran church to call ''the invisible Church of God.'' be a disciple of Christ and the sectarianism won't matter so much.

Answer 3

The best version is the 1611 authorized King James Version.
Now, this comes from research done on the correct manuscripts that they are translated from.
Do you know what the JW and Mormons believe or their origins. If you do not I recommend you reading the books Answers to My Mormon Friends and Answers to My Jehovah's Witness Friends from Jack Chick Ministries. They give valuable insight on this question.
Also, if you have a little free time try The Answer Book, also I believe form JCM. They can answer this question far better than I. God bless you and my you come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior if you do not already.

Answer 4

You will know by learning about the bible and realizing that it harmonizes from beginning to end. If you see that there is a conflict with a belief and with what the bible says then you know that the interpretation is false. An example could be about murder or killing a human being. Many so called Christians believe that its ok to kill or murder someone if its for the so called "right" cause such as warfare. What does the bible say about murder or killing another human? Jesus taught his followers to love one another not to kill. As we know Jesus himself was killed. Could he have had help in defending himself? Of course he could have!! For he was God the Almighty's son. But he fulfilled his life course on earth according to his father's will without resorting to picking up arms (weapons) and killing those who hated him. He told us to follow his steps closely. And that meant imitating him. So should we.

Answer 5

GOD said HE would preserve HIS Holy Word...despite many attempts to destroy or alter it...the KJV is still the same as when it was first created, barring the removal of the aprocrypha...which has nothing to do with GODS Holy Word and is why HE had them removed. this book is the same in every language it is intrepreted in, and it has been intrepreted in every language where they HAVE a written language. GODS Holy Word has been and will be preserved as HE promised it would be. all other translations are man made attempt to simply the KJV, trying to make it easier to understand it, when in reality the only way a person will ever have the eyes to see and the ears to hear...is through the HOLY SPIRIT, who reveals, teaches and guides GODS children through HIS mysteries of the bible.

Answer 6

There are many good translations. It is the Holy Spirit that brings life and revelation of God's Word. You must be "Born Again" Without God's Spirit dwelling in you, it won't matter what translation you read, it will be dead and full of rules. Where the Spirit is, there is liberty! If you don't have God's Spirit living in you, you will have a very critical spirit.

Answer 7

I did a lot of comparing and researched who interpreted them. This helped but I have to say I know that I didn't get to look through all. The King James Version is a great Bible .

Answer 8

Because everybody has an agenda, an opinion.
Certainly it is presumptuous for each and every sect of Protestantism to have its own interpretation of the bible, is it not?
Consider this, though, in general. They all agree that "god is infinite." What happens if u take infinity out of infinity? Well, you get infinity. What then, is god?

Answer 9

It should be noted that none of the complete Biblical texts survived last long after the Apostles were killed. This is why the Nicean Council met. They were told to gather all the remaining fragments of the scriptures and get the religion back in order. They did the best they could, but the entirety of Jesus' gospel was lost. We were left with pieces. This is why we have so many denominations today.

Answer 10

I know because your heart is your life force. What does Yeshuah really stand for? Think about it. For me Yeshuah means LOVE, the same as Yahweh is LOVE. When you talk and say scriptures from the Bible and every word that comes out of your mouth, your heart is filled with love, your spirit is calm (at peace); you know you are speaking the truth. Speaking Gods words and being filled with LOVE can only come from Yeshuah's presence, in your heart (life force) and around you.