is it true that people can make the Bible say what they want it to say?

Question

Carlos, I didn't hear it, I have noticed that that's what fundies do.

Answer 1

Pretty much. You can justify murder, slavery, rape, stealing, lying and almost every other immoral act if you read the Bible with your own interpretation. Just read Leviticus.

Cherry picking is what Christianity is all about.

"I hate gays and look the Bible backs me up on this point! But I'll ignore the rest of the Old Testament like that whole stoning disobedient children part."

Answer 2

I guess, but then a watch can be made to tell different time just by rotating it 90 degrees in succession. That does not change the real time of the day. I amused by one thing though, Torah is the first 5 books of the bible, why atheists give free pass to Jews and for that matter Moslems but are hell bent on bashing christians ? Would you like to ridicule *kaparot*, and if not, then why ? No cojones to bash Jews ?
There are no fundmantalist Jews, right? ya thunk ?
and their beliefs do not offend you in any way, right ?
christian bashing=the last acceptable form of bigotry... sad...

How about ridiculing Moslems for allowing 9 year old girls to *marry* ?

I guess if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Bible is nothing more that a long parable writen by men centuries ago... those who take it literally are committing intellectual suicide...

Answer 3

Some have tried to twist scripture, even removing single letters, to prove false concepts. Like the trinity concept.
John 1;1 is a good example.
By removing the single letter 'a', the Catholic religion has tried to prove the trinity concept, that Jesus is God himself, somehow in another form.
(John 1:1) In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. NWT [ J.W.]
word was 'a' god...NOTE; SMALL G..
When the letter 'a' is taken out, it reads...the word WAS god [ KJV.
But when you look at John 1;2, it states that the word [ Jesus] was WITH [ alongside] God.
And this is in BOTH translations.
And being alongside God, it is confirmed at Proverbs 8; 22-31, where Jesus is the very first thing that Jehovah God [ Almighty God] created.
Jesus was created. Almighty God was not. He has always been there.
As to Jesus being 'a' god....He is, just like Satn is also 'a' god...a spiritual being.
(2 Corinthians 4:4) among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.

Now would you say that Corinthians proves Satan IS God?

No. it simply states that Satan is also a spiritual being...although not a good one.

Answer 4

Yes, the Bible can be twisted to justify anything a person wants to justify. But then, so can research of any kind if that's what a person's aim is. If, on the other hand, one genuinely wants to know the truth you'll approach the Bible with that aim in mind, and that's what you'll find. Just as in everything in life, you'll find whatever it is your looking for...

Answer 5

Of course they can---which is why Christendom has fragmented into literally thousands of different tribes.
eg---all Christians believe that God judges--despite the following teachings of Christ-
John5:22For the Father judgeth no man.John 8:15(Jesus talking to the Pharisees)-
Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.

Answer 6

The Bible confirms things over and over again. You can easily take a single scripture and force it to say what you want it to say. However, you cannot do this with multiple scriptures in its proper context. This is the sport of cults. They will take scripture out of context and force it to say what it does not.

The most important things the Bible has to say is repeated over and over again, sometimes with a parable, sometimes with a type, but most time by actually declaring such.

However, to truly get the accurate message of the Bible, read the synopsis as given by Jesus Himself...

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. - Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3:16

In this one quote is the encapsulation of the entire Bible, as well as the answer to mankind's most important question, "What must I do to be saved?"
http://www.schneblin.com/studies/pdfs/john_3-16.pdf

If all we had was the book of John, it would be enough.
If all we had was chapter 3 of the book of John, it would be enough.
If all we had was verse 3:16 of the book of John, it would be more than enough.

Answer 7

Unfortunately, I believe it is true. Many verses in the Bible can be taken out of context and twisted around to form weird religions and beliefs.

But also there are many things in the Bible that can't be misinterpreted.

Answer 8

Yep, and if you are really creative, you can pick out every3rd letter from every 124th word and see that God is telling you to "have a beer and realise that I do not exist".

Answer 9

Yep. Precisely true. Paraphrase severely enough and God says "Yankees win in landslide victory over Mets, 4-0" It's called Bible-Code

Answer 10

Of course they can. Ellen G. White founder of the SDA is a prime example of that.