Since the bible is so old, how do you know you are interpreting it correctly?

Question

I'm aiming this question at religious people. I've read a lot of answers from religious people who said that Athiests have misinterpreted parts of the bible, therefore saying that they were wrong about jesus, and christianity, etc. So how do you religious people know that you are correct about the bible? How does anyone know that any part of the bible is right about certain things? You know, a lot of fantasy authors could complile a book, state that it is the absolute official truth about life, put it in a time capsule, and when people open it up in 2000 years, they could believe it and turn it into their bible. Sounds resonable to me.

Answer 1

Hi,
My best friend is from Iran, although he is not a Muslim. His mum says that the Koran has this trouble, IE: open to interpretation. I think with something so ambiguous and diverse as ancient writings, the reader can interpret it to what ever suits them! Parts of the bible was edited by King James in the 1600's. He is said to have been a racist, "history" (if you believe any of it to be true!!) was rewritten to depict Jesus as a blond haired, blue eyed man, instead of the Arab that he would actually have been, had he indeed ever lived!

I'm sure the Bible is a jolly good read, but I'll stick to modern day fiction instead!! Far more believable!

Answer 2

Erasmus did the principal textual content known as Textus Receptus. He admits it was once performed unexpectedly and for cash. But it nonetheless carried the fact that ends up in permanent existence, and that is why God allowed it to exist. The such a lot correct compilation you'll be able to uncover is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. It's founded at the Vatican Codes 1209 which was once first significantly texted through Westcott and Hort. You'll uncover trash at the Internet approximately the 2 renown Greek pupils, however that is given that the attackers can not uncover something unsuitable with their works. Now, regarding the Catholics. I understand in my view, that possibly till not too long ago, the church discouraged Bible studying. They desired Catholics to visit the priest for all their non secular demands. But the church nonetheless incredibly adored the Bible. To factor, that's one of the vital explanations it's to be had to us at present. In the overdue 1800's, they made to be had from the archive catacombs, the Vatican Codex 1209 for photographing. That was once the turning factor. The Textus Receptus was once then proven to be inferior and a number of extra correct Bibles than the Douay and KJV was once made. The English Standard Version,The American Standard Version, The Darby and a number of others. Anyway, the Catholic Church was once instrumental in maintaining the Bible for us. But so far as compilations and interpretating, that credit score is going to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

Answer 3

It's widely misinterpreted.
I can state that without insisting my interpretation is correct simply by noting the range of interpretations of doctrines that exist .(I'm not speaking of translations or versions here)

One of my most used theological books is "Approaches to Old Testament Interpretation" by John Goldingay
He looks at dozens of different ways the OT has been seen, in five main categories, and some of these are intrinsically incompatible.

And in small, too. Where this has come up, in my experience perhaps 5% of Christians can understand Mark 10:23 correctly, even when advised carefully to consider the context, and especially 10:26.
Even some commentators get this wrong.

Answer 4

The bible is strongly misinterpreted. People all too often see it for face value and then come to the conclusion that mankind knows what he's talking about. If the religious side of mankind is so damn smart when it comes to the bible then how is it that he/she is always passing judgment on others?
Also, I believe the bible has been rewritten over the years to suit the structure of mankind's belief system. Of course, most "Christians" don't believe this because they feel mankind would never do anything to screw up the bible. Why not, religious mankind has been screwing up society since they acknowledged their own existence.
"Christians" always make themselves out to be better than anyone.

Answer 5

Well, for one thing we have ancient manuscripts and 'fragments' that tell us what the oldest possible scripture said. At the time of the King James Version's conception, they had a manuscript called the Textus Receptus. Today we have older manuscripts (some called 'complete' and others called 'partial' in that there are parts missing) to compare any Bible with.

Here is a link to one site discussing this:
http://allaboutgod.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=ancient+manuscripts

When we have at our access Lexicons and Concordances that tell us of the words that were used in translating the Bible, we can look up the words which are translated and interpret them for ourselves. I do this at times when I think that the translators might have missed something crucial, like in Genesis 1:2. The traditions of translating the Bible are sometimes frequent and sometimes, in my opinion, misleading.

One online source I use to discover the many meanings of certain words: thus more choices in the direction a particular verse might take, I can look up the word and weigh the result upon the Holy Spirit, without the weight of tradition upon me.

About Atheists interpreting the Bible: They suck at it daily. They do not claim, nor do they have peace with God. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit; referring to Him as 'Counselor'. And so the words of Jesus are true. And the words of those inspired by God are true.

As far as the Atheists, they do not understand, neither can they understand the interpretation of the Bible as it was promised by the same scriptures that tell them about that condition. It is not surprising to me that they get it wrong. The Bible says that they will get it wrong. Think of that!

As far as other writings being believed by masses of people which are thousands of years old, I can think of a few cases where that is not true. One story was believed to be pure fantasy by the most of the academic word, " Troy", until Troy was found. And other stories have been around a long time and are not believed by masses of people to this day: Greek Mythology, Norse Mythology, etc.

So the Bible is the one source that can be understood, believed and trusted as truth; but only by those who believe that Jesus is Lord.

Answer 6

We know because when folks as yourself attack it, we are then assured! Only God could take the illogical things of the world and make them logical and cause people question the validity of it all. You will know the answer for yoruself if you choose to seek it with an open heart. Otherwise, you will remain perplexed like the others. You actually confirm what the bible says we should expect when we who choose to believe take a bold stand, and express our faith. It's understandable some folks do not have the courage to stand on faith. I don't fault those follks. I do pity them. Honestly, I do.

Answer 7

Christians will tell you things like, "The original writings were perfect! It's man who has corrupted them." Ask them to show you these "original writings" and they will not be able to do so because they don't exist. Then you can ask them, "If these writings don't exist, how do you know they were perfect?" They will then mumble something about faith and belief and trusting God, because in the end, that is all they have--blind faith in something they have never seen, and a book that has been redacted so many times that nobody knows what the original writings may have looked like, or who wrote most of them. Given the number of changes and forgeries that we do know about, it is highly unlikely that Christians would even recognize those writings if they did exist.

Answer 8

...It's by "Faith"... but scientifically and by way of explanation, the Jews are the most accurate record keepers that have ever existed... The Tanakh, as it was copied was over seen by Sages and Rabbi's who examined every letter, dot and jittle... if there was a mistake (and at times there were)... the "scribe" had to start from the absolute-beginning again....
Likewise the Romans and Greeks were superlative record keepers as well... I'm sure that over the century's "some" errors have slipped thru... but the "message"... hasn't lost it's meaning nor has the intent...

Answer 9

I understand that the Catholics have many parts of the bible that are not common knowledge laid away in their archives. What is in them that has been hidden? And in the different versions of the Bible that have been passed on There was much deleted and there was much added that was not there in the beginning. Why should anyone pay any attention to it now.

Answer 10

You can't. That's why it's open to interpretation and why we have so many different brands of Christianity. Nobody can or should claim that they know the mind of God and as far as I'm concerned the Bible isn't truly the mind of God but rather the mind of God written by the ever fallible Human race.