By logic/reason? By an emotional feeling?
What is the method?
we can't roll a dice to determine truth. I.e "if the coin lands on tails and I blinked 3 times, therefore my interpretation is true". Won't work
So what is the correct method?
By reading and believing what it actually says. There are parts of the Bible that are written
for us, and others that are written
to us. Most of the confusion is people not knowing which is which. The rule of Hermeneutics (the principle of interpreting Scripture) is determining who is the Scripture directed to, why was it written, and in what context is it written?
For example, Paul said, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus". Who is he writing to? The Roman Christians of his time. What is the context? The conflict between Law and grace. What is he saying? There is no condemnation. Who are the ones benefiting? Those who are in Christ. Basically, Paul is informing the Roman Christians that there is no condemnation to those who have received Christ as Saviour. Because Paul is writing to a Christian community, and we are part of a Christian community, then the Scripture is written
to us as well. It is also written
for us so that we can know the truth of where we stand with God in Christ.
Let's take another Scripture: "Judas went out and hanged himself". We see that in the context, Judas had betrayed Christ for money. Then after he realised the enormity of what he had done, he despaired of life and committed suicide. This Scripture is written
for us, but not
to us. What we see are the consequences for someone who betrays Jesus, and the hopelessness of anyone who turns away from Jesus. It doesn't mean that every person who sins against God should go out and hang himself.
In the book of Joshua, there are descriptions of pagan Canaanites being slaughtered as the Israelites went in to possess the land. Therefore, some zealots may use that to think that they can uphold their religious position by killing their opponents and believe that they are doing exactly what Joshua did. But if we read the Scriptures carefully we see that God instructed Joshua to "subdue" the Canaanites. He gave no explicit instructions to slaughter them. What we get from this is that just because personages in the Old Testament did certain things, it does not mean that we have the right to do the same. Most of the Old Testament was written
for us but not
to us. Just because Elijah became depressed at having his life threatened by Jezebel, it doesn't mean that we should think that we are being spiritual by getting depressed.
What about the instruction: "Tarry in Jerusalem until you are endured with power from on high"? If we took that instruction out of its context, then we could believe that the only way to be baptised with the Holy Spirit and power is to go and book a room in a Jerusalem hotel and wait there for it!