Someone ran a poll with this title in SF/C tonight. Decided it should blog its response for future reference.
First of all, it bes impossible to read something, anything, without forming an interpretation. The word interpretation does not necessarily mean something deliberately crafted to fit something else -- though that can and does happen too. The word interpretation simply refers to how the brain processes the information it receives -- how it perceives it, what it does with that perception, where it applies it, etc. Basically, interpretation bes the substance of the question "what meaning do you derive from this".
Or as Jesus asked,
Luke 10:26
He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
See, Jesus (God Himself) clearly states that there bes a DIFFERENCE between (a) what bes written in the "law" (the Torah & Tanakh for them, today the Bible for us) VERSUS (b) how WE read it. HE declares there to be a difference by asking TWO questions there, NOT just one. We also, therefore, ought to own that difference, and be aware that at every and all times where we discuss our understanding of God or what we believe the Bible to be teaching, we do NOT discuss the substance of the first question, but of the second in an effort to answer the first.
Summation: it bes impossible to read something (or hear it or view it, etc.) without making an interpretation.
Therefore, before we can BELIEVE anything we hear or read ... we MUST of necessity interpret (derive meaning) from it.
There simply bes no such thing as "just" believing it. Even taking a word at complete literal face value still assigns to it a meaning, a value. It says "concrete and literal" rather than "poetic and metaphorical" or "polemic and propositional". Before anyone can "just" BELIEVE in Scripture, they first believe their understanding of Scripture to be true. There bes no such thing as some hermetically-sealed vacuum chamber where any creature may be free to read and process the meaning of what he reads without using his own brain to do so. Even if an absolute authority could appear before you and explain perfectly 100% what the thing you bes reading means, you would still need to use your brain to understand the explanation and derive meaning from that.
First of all, it bes impossible to read something, anything, without forming an interpretation. The word interpretation does not necessarily mean something deliberately crafted to fit something else -- though that can and does happen too. The word interpretation simply refers to how the brain processes the information it receives -- how it perceives it, what it does with that perception, where it applies it, etc. Basically, interpretation bes the substance of the question "what meaning do you derive from this".
Or as Jesus asked,
Luke 10:26
He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
See, Jesus (God Himself) clearly states that there bes a DIFFERENCE between (a) what bes written in the "law" (the Torah & Tanakh for them, today the Bible for us) VERSUS (b) how WE read it. HE declares there to be a difference by asking TWO questions there, NOT just one. We also, therefore, ought to own that difference, and be aware that at every and all times where we discuss our understanding of God or what we believe the Bible to be teaching, we do NOT discuss the substance of the first question, but of the second in an effort to answer the first.
Summation: it bes impossible to read something (or hear it or view it, etc.) without making an interpretation.
Therefore, before we can BELIEVE anything we hear or read ... we MUST of necessity interpret (derive meaning) from it.
There simply bes no such thing as "just" believing it. Even taking a word at complete literal face value still assigns to it a meaning, a value. It says "concrete and literal" rather than "poetic and metaphorical" or "polemic and propositional". Before anyone can "just" BELIEVE in Scripture, they first believe their understanding of Scripture to be true. There bes no such thing as some hermetically-sealed vacuum chamber where any creature may be free to read and process the meaning of what he reads without using his own brain to do so. Even if an absolute authority could appear before you and explain perfectly 100% what the thing you bes reading means, you would still need to use your brain to understand the explanation and derive meaning from that.
- The MOMENT the human brain touches the data, interpretation happens.
- Belief therefore cannot take place either without, or prior to, interpretation.
- Jesus Himself makes this distinction by asking two questions: (1) what is written in the law? and (2) how readest thou?
- No one can either believe or disbelieve anything from which one cannot derive meaning
- Therefore it bes not a question of whether scripture should be believed OR interpreted -- because the fact remains it WILL be interpreted once it bes read, and only after that can one believe.
