Me Myself
Back to my username
Do you hear the voice of God telling you what to do?
I am not taklking about a subtle little voice in your head that sounds like you, I mean burning bushes and inimaginable visions.
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Man's Interpretation
- Thread starter InfidelRiot
- Start date
Do you hear the voice of God telling you what to do?
I am not taklking about a subtle little voice in your head that sounds like you, I mean burning bushes and inimaginable visions.
e.r.m.
Church of Christ
You're right. It is a mess. I don't think God would hold people accountable if they couldn't, at least enough.
Me Myself
Back to my username
Shermana
Heretic
I don't think there's such thing as "couldn't".
I think everyone is held to the task to figure out the truth. How much they take for granted and how much they are interested in questioning their assumptions and researching the facts I think is all part of the general assessment of character.
e.r.m.
Church of Christ
Thank you Shermana. My point is in fact that people can see past their own corruption to God's word. God makes it possible. God holds us accountable.
McBell
Unbound
The scriptures mean what they mean.
Seems to me you should be asking why the scriptures were written in such a manner to have so many interpretations.
The scriptures were written for a specific group of people in a specific place at a specific point in time.
Shermana
Heretic
I don't believe the author intended it to have a meaning that his audience wouldn't directly and uniformly understand or was "left up to interpretation". I think at the time, just like any other literature, it was intended to have a very specific, single, limited meaning and was NOT meant for individual interpretation. As others have pointed out, it seems that the problem is mostly confirmation bias due to outside authorities dictating what they want people to believe and basing their interpretations from their confirmation bias, not the other way around.
Me Myself
Back to my username
for various specific groups of people, various specific places, and various specific point of time.
Many books after all o.o
Shermana
Heretic
Kinda, sorta, not really. There are many books but they really don't deviate in theme. They may reveal different glimpses and angles but nothing directly changes the overall message in any of the books, they just have different styles. There are however a few cases of interpolation where I agree with the scholars that things were shoe-horned in that do in fact contradict, like the story of Ruth.
Only ONE specific group of people was the intended audience. They may have been at various places and various times, but I don't think the message was ever intended to be read in a perspective outside of that one single people's culture and law.
jasonwill2
Well-Known Member
They couldnt, that is my point.
Pegg
Jehovah our God is One
the bibles author is not dead... he can impart understanding to anyone he choses. In fact, Jesus promised that God would impart understanding. So amongst all the many interpretations, the truth can be found.
Me Myself
Back to my username
Ah! that clears it up completely!
When we confuse the meaning of the bible, it is because God didn`t want to give us understanding.
In other words, not our fault anyways
waitasec
Veteran Member
Pegg
Jehovah our God is One
Ah! that clears it up completely!
When we confuse the meaning of the bible, it is because God didn`t want to give us understanding.
In other words, not our fault anyways
I could offer you an example of how people deliberately misapply what they read...if you are willing, perhaps you can be the guinea pig
Lets take a few simple straight to the point statements that the bible makes. I want you explain what you think each one means.
1.
Ezekiel 18:4 Look! All the soulsto me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the sonto me they belong. The soul that is sinningit itself will die.
2.
Eccles 9:5 For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.
3.
John 5:25 Most truly I say to YOU, The hour is coming, and it is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who have given heed will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted also to the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to do judging, because Son of man he is. 28 Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment
McBell
Unbound
A couple of my favorites is the Onan story being about masturbation, Judge not jest ye be judged being a command to never judge, Adam and Eve as "evidence" of marriage meaning one man to one woman, the trinity...
e.r.m.
Church of Christ
But they did.
McBell
Unbound
Interesting he would choose to hide the truth in such a fashion.
Shermana
Heretic
I think it's intended to be less than understandable for those who aren't the intended audience. The idea that the Bible message is universal for everyone as if they don't need any backstory or commentary from the intended audience is an example of where misinterpretations come from. It would be like picking up Homer or Plato without any understanding of Greek culture, history, myths, and philosophy and attempting to extract the moral message, but far worse in this case. This is one way in which those who are truly interested in the truth as opposed to confirming their biases are sorted out. I believe that those who actively are seeking the original meaning may receive the "Spirit of Wisdom" to help them.
A reason why I believe it IS about unnecessary...ahem....waste, is because it 1) says God was "offended" (with connotations of being grossed out rather than just angry), the only other times it says God is directly horrified as such is in relation to sexual abominations. He may get angry at other sins, but I don't think any other use the word "disgusted/offended". More importantly, the Levirate marriage which Onan failed to do is OPTIONAL. I don't think it was once mandatory and then later become optional, many who cite the failure to obey Levirate marriage issue as the moral of Onan's story do NOT take into account that one can simply choose to throw your sandal down and refuse, as if they haven't read the story. So I would personally chalk up the Onan-as-Levirate-marriage-penalty interpretation as a gross misinterpretation that involves cherry picking and ignoring the context which is contained later.
Last edited:
jasonwill2
Well-Known Member
No they didn't, they couldn't of by definiton. It's a logical inconsistency. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
Either the scriptures are perfect and only a perfect word of god is reliable,
Or the scriptures are not perfect and an imperfect word of god is still useful.
Only the second option makes sense if you believe humans are corrupt, as a corrupt human can't even register seeing the words, much less organizing them into thoughts, without corrupting the perfection. This happens then both when they were first written and when you read it yourself, as well as every single translation between. :yes:
e.r.m.
Church of Christ
2 Peter 1:20-21
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. [21] For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.