Your personal interpretation doesn't make it true

Johnny4ChristJesus

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One person said: "your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make what you believe true."

To which another said: "That's true for all of us."

I agree. Whether the original church wants to hear that or not, this is what we all have to deal with. No interpretation of today is necessarily True.

Just because you believe something. Just because you believe the Bible supports your beliefs. Just because your church tells you that this is true, does not make it True. True is only found in God's perspective on a subject.

Safety in numbers won't be an excuse either--just look at what happened when Jesus came.
Scripture says the Holy Spirit will testify to your spirit that you are a child of God. I would strongly encourage you to know that you hear that confirmation. The confirmation of your priest isn't good enough. Nor is your personal conviction based on what somebody told you.
Nor is your emotional response to being manipulated by man to come up to the altar. You need to know for yourself from God. It is imperative.
 
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Albion

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One person said: "your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make what you believe true."

To which another said: "That's true for all of us."

I agree. Whether the original church wants to hear that or not, this is what we all have to deal with. No interpretation of today is necessarily True.
I think the point was that everyone has what we might call a personal interpretation; it is not as though some people do it and it is
bad to do while other people know exactly what God meant upon reading it for the first time.

The issue is bogus, in other words. Even the people who defer to their church in the matter of an interpretation--or to some Bible expert or the consensus of history or something else--are imposing their own personal view upon the text to the extent that they are saying "Whatever X says it means, I will go with that."
 
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Greg J.

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One person said: "your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make what you believe true."
This makes it sound like we can't trust any view, but that is false. We can trust Jesus. The issue is not about trying to figure out who has their facts right. The issue is choosing to continue to follow the Truth (Jesus) while He reveals more and more of Himself to us. The question is not, who has their facts right; it is, has God appointed someone to teach or not (1 Corinthians 12:28-29)—which is definitely not revealed by how much someone wants to teach (James 3:1) or whether a person thinks he is qualified or not. God wants this to be everyone's heart, whether they teach or not.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, (James 1:19, 1984 NIV)

The verse below is a statement against self-righteousness, but God make it clear we are to have teachers, and that we should "not let many be one" (James 3:1 in Greek), which also indicates that teachers come about through those in authority.

The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. (1 Corinthians 8:2, 1984 NIV)
 
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Bible Highlighter

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One person said: "your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make what you believe true."

To which another said: "That's true for all of us."

I agree. Whether the original church wants to hear that or not, this is what we all have to deal with. No interpretation of today is necessarily True.

Just because you believe something. Just because you believe the Bible supports your beliefs. Just because your church tells you that this is true, does not make it True. True is only found in God's perspective on a subject.

Safety in numbers won't be an excuse either--just look at what happened when Jesus came.
Scripture says the Holy Spirit will testify to your spirit that you are a child of God. I would strongly encourage you to know that you hear that confirmation. The confirmation of your priest isn't good enough. Nor is your personal conviction based on what somebody told you.
Nor is your emotional response to being manipulated by man to come up to the altar. You need to know for yourself from God. It is imperative.
You had better

Jesus says narrow is the way.

In my walk with the LORD, I have learned:

The Way to Find the Truth of God's Word (That is Different From the Mass Majority) is Doing the Following:

#1. We need to know that we had a genuine experience with Jesus (GOD) by His Word (the Bible) by seeking out His forgiveness and by believing that He died on the cross for our sins and that He rose 3 days later from the grave on our behalf. This reality should be the same as we are sure about the existence of air, gravity, and in knowing we are alive. You have to know Jesus and the Bible are the one and only way (and be able to defend that with others with no doubt).

#2. We need to forsake sin and not justify it (On any level); For example: We cannot say King David was saved while he committed his sins of adultery and murder because the Bible says otherwise (See 1 John 3:15, and Proverbs 6:32).

#3. We have to make a decision by prayer to dedicate our life to following Christ. This is not just going to church on Sundays. This would be seeking to spread the gospel yourself, helping the poor yourself, loving the brethren yourself, and loving your enemies yourself, etc.

#5. Do not be blindly spoon fed and accept everything just because you like a particular church or Pastor, etc.; Seek the truth of God's Word on your own with the LORD; In other words, do not be a blind following sheep, but think for yourself (with the help of God).

#6. Pray for understanding on a Piece of Scripture (And sometimes pray again, and again, and again);

#7. Believe there is one Word of God as our sole authority that is for our day that is nailed down that you cannot alter and twist yourself. Find that particular Bible that you believe is God's perfect and divine Word for our day that is without error and divine. In my experience, I have discovered this to be the KJV and I do not believe it conflicts with the original languages. The point here is that God's Word should change us, and we should never change God's Word. There are huge warnings in Scripture if we are to add or take away from God's Word. So I believe it is vital that we accept every word of the Holy Bible, and we do not accept an outside book, or church traditions or beliefs (that would conflict with God's Word).

#8. Context (An interpretation on a Verse or Passage should be based on the surrounding text and what it says.

#9. Cross References (The truth of the verse should be expressed in some other places in the Bible that say the same thing).

#10. Seek out what other believers believe on the topic by reading tons of articles on the topic or verse. While there are times God has showed me something in His Word that I don't believe other Christians widely know, I believe it is healthy to get a second opinion, but we should not let another person's thoughts cloud our thinking. If an article does not sound right (after praying for guidance), move on to another. I remember one time, that I took several days in prayer and read what felt like a hundred articles. I kept knocking, I kept seeking.

#11. Morality or God's goodness. Does your view on this piece of Scripture support basic Morality and or what you know deep down is right and good? Can the belief be illustrated by way of a real world example showing the Moral Superiority of this kind of belief or truth expressed in Scripture? This is why beliefs like Calvinism and Eternal Security seem so odd and or foreign to me. They fail a basic morality test by way of using real world examples and or looking at the fruits of it.

#12. Some things in the Bible we do have to take by faith and not by sight. Some people deny certain miracles in the Bible because they cannot see how that is possible. Others believe that Jesus did not really mean we can walk perfectly because they do not see others doing so around them. We have to walk by faith and not by sight accepting things that are eyes cannot witness to. This is important because without faith, it is impossible to please GOD. We have to believe in His Word and walk by faith.

#13. Have a willingness to see a verse or passage from a new light or perspective (that you have not seen before).

#14. Do Key Word Searches or Studies. God sometimes guides us to search out words that say the same thing and it can be really fruitful in our understanding on what a particular word says in the Bible. For knowing what a particular word says, can help us to understand a verse or passage better. I use BlueLetterBible's website.

#15. Love God, and love all others. For if we are not loving like we should, then we are not abiding in God like we should to have a proper understanding on God's Word. We need to check ourselves and make sure that we are following the Lord and His commands instead of seeking to uplift ourselves instead of Jesus (GOD).
 
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Tolworth John

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One person said: "your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make what you believe true."

That is true if what I believe is a personal interpretation.
If I believe just what the bible says, that is not a personal interpretation eg John 3: 16-18 say that those who believe in Jesus are saved and those who don't are condemned.
There is only belief there.
 
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1stcenturylady

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One person said: "your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make what you believe true."

To which another said: "That's true for all of us."

I agree. Whether the original church wants to hear that or not, this is what we all have to deal with. No interpretation of today is necessarily True.

Just because you believe something. Just because you believe the Bible supports your beliefs. Just because your church tells you that this is true, does not make it True. True is only found in God's perspective on a subject.

Safety in numbers won't be an excuse either--just look at what happened when Jesus came.
Scripture says the Holy Spirit will testify to your spirit that you are a child of God. I would strongly encourage you to know that you hear that confirmation. The confirmation of your priest isn't good enough. Nor is your personal conviction based on what somebody told you.
Nor is your emotional response to being manipulated by man to come up to the altar. You need to know for yourself from God. It is imperative.
You had better

I agree with you. There is only one truth, and that is by the Spirit of Truth.

I have found also that many of us have a "western" mindset, and interpret Hebrew authored scripture through western "glasses." That has been one of the main reasons for false doctrine, not being able to interpret what the authors meant from what they wrote. From this error, we have contradictions.
 
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eleos1954

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One person said: "your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make what you believe true."

To which another said: "That's true for all of us."

I agree. Whether the original church wants to hear that or not, this is what we all have to deal with. No interpretation of today is necessarily True.

Just because you believe something. Just because you believe the Bible supports your beliefs. Just because your church tells you that this is true, does not make it True. True is only found in God's perspective on a subject.

Safety in numbers won't be an excuse either--just look at what happened when Jesus came.
Scripture says the Holy Spirit will testify to your spirit that you are a child of God. I would strongly encourage you to know that you hear that confirmation. The confirmation of your priest isn't good enough. Nor is your personal conviction based on what somebody told you.
Nor is your emotional response to being manipulated by man to come up to the altar. You need to know for yourself from God. It is imperative.
You had better

In the end, it comes down to this, "church(es)" or not.

“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).

“So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:12).

God Bless.
 
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Johnny4ChristJesus

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I agree with you. There is only one truth, and that is by the Spirit of Truth.

I agree with you here.

I have found also that many of us have a "western" mindset, and interpret Hebrew authored scripture through western "glasses." That has been one of the main reasons for false doctrine, not being able to interpret what the authors meant from what they wrote. From this error, we have contradictions.

I'm not sure I agree with you here. However, I, too, would rather err on the side of the understanding of the Apostles and the first generation after them, than with what we have today.
 
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Johnny4ChristJesus

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This makes it sound like we can't trust any view, but that is false. We can trust Jesus. The issue is not about trying to figure out who has their facts right. The issue is choosing to continue to follow the Truth (Jesus) while He reveals more and more of Himself to us. The question is not, who has their facts right; it is, has God appointed someone to teach or not (1 Corinthians 12:28-29)—which is definitely not revealed by how much someone wants to teach (James 3:1) or whether a person thinks he is qualified or not. God wants this to be everyone's heart, whether they teach or not.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, (James 1:19, 1984 NIV)

The verse below is a statement against self-righteousness, but God make it clear we are to have teachers, and that we should "not let many be one" (James 3:1 in Greek), which also indicates that teachers come about through those in authority.

The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. (1 Corinthians 8:2, 1984 NIV)

So, if I don't agree with your interpretation and application of the verse you quoted in James, for example, who is right? Did you come up with that interpretation on your own or was it a church-controlled opinion or do you believe you got it from God?
 
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1stcenturylady

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I agree with you here.



I'm not sure I agree with you here. However, I, too, would rather err on the side of the understanding of the Apostles and the first generation after them, than with what we have today.

I agree. Also - CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT!
 
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Greg J.

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So, if I don't agree with your interpretation and application of the verse you quoted in James, for example, who is right? Did you come up with that interpretation on your own or was it a church-controlled opinion or do you believe you got it from God?
The point of my post was, that's not what fundamentally matters. The solution is not deciding who is right, the solution is to go to Jesus and build your relationship with Him the way He wants.
 
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bling

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The preacher I respected the most never told you anything, but taught you a great deal. His sermons were usually just a verse or two to a somewhat controversial topic. He would give one interpretation with all the pros and cons delving into the Greek stop, and give you another likely alternative interpretation doing the same thing and another and so on until all the likely alternatives were given (we might come back at night to finish it up), so he would sit down, never giving us what he thought was the most likely alternative and only answered our questions with questions. We would spend the next week discussing it among ourselves (everyone took lots of notes) to come up with what we could defend as being the most likely alternative. That church grow rapidly doubling tripling and growing out of the building and multiple serves.
 
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1stcenturylady

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The point of my post was, that's not what fundamentally matters. The solution is not deciding who is right, the solution is to go to Jesus and build your relationship with Him the way He wants.

Jesus IS the Word of God. There is but one interpretation and that is what the Author means, not private interpretations that divide. We must do as the Word says, "if any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

A few years ago I prayed for God to show me His meaning in His Word. I believe He answered my prayer, because since then the Word has come alive with meaning I didn't know before. In fact, some things are not taught in the common church. Yet, since then, I have come across teachers that are teaching the exact things I learned. It is like confirmation that He is answering my prayer.

I've given this example before:

Lord Byron, romantic poet of the early 1800’s, walked into a pub and sat down at a table by the fire. Sitting at the table next to him he overheard the heated conversation of two gentlemen discussing the meaning of a poem – one written by the poet himself. He listened with amusement as they debated over the meaning of the poem, both completely missing the point. Finally, he chimed in with the true meaning of the poem, introducing himself as the author. Even so they stood their ground preferring their own interpretations, and both argued with Lord Byron over the meaning of the poem.
 
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Blade

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Amen... its why we have each other.. should ALWAYS have someone over us. Always have a church.. even those that didnt go for year. HELLO DANNY!

My best example was the grandmother that prayed 4 hours a day. When EVERY you asked her about someone something. She went right to the word.. told you what He said. And then say things like "for me"..then would share. Like a vision I saw.. when I was praying with someone.. wide awake.. I told her ..well asked her about it.. lol she said "when ever the lord shows me something.. dream vision it never goes down and never has black in it."

Or about a preacher we ALL heard know. She said "I listen to him I just dont agree with everything he teaches". She knew she was not my God.. had no right to tell me what to think say nothing. She would say..if we every say anything that is not written dont listen to us.

Now.. its just..when this woman prayed.. it ALWAYS happened.. you never saw her you saw Jesus.. NEVER in my 57 years seen ANYONE with so much power of God.. you could not even say THANK YOU to her. it was NO..never thank me .. thank Christ. I should not say never.. well one night I keep waking up thinking about her and could not stop crying..

So I called her and told her.. I said. as I was crying again.. thank you..if it was not for you. I would not be saved right now.. She said thank you. But about the crying? She never said a word.. just a short time after that she went home.. sorry for sharing so much
 
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