MrsFoundit
Well-Known Member
Ok, so taking your literal approach, God has lungs and when he breathes, written copies of scripture come out?
You could just explain your position.
What do you believe the Bible is?
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Ok, so taking your literal approach, God has lungs and when he breathes, written copies of scripture come out?
The important thing to me is that I fully believe the first two chapters of Genesis to be the true way that God created the universe out of nothing in six 24 hour days. It is very straightforward to me.
It's too bad that some Christians don't accept Rabbi Moses Maimonides' advice
Ok, so taking your literal approach, God has lungs and when he breathes, written copies of scripture come out?
Rabbi Moses Maimonides' - who is not God.
Never said that.
We assume because you have Christian on your profile that you believe the Bible is God's word.
If you don't, then what is there left to talk about?
You could just explain your position.
What do you believe the Bible is?
Do you have a better question? What is it? It’s a book, written by people to explain their experience of god, among other things. The text itself tells you that.
The puzzling thing to me, apart from the sheer arrogance of such a position, is that somehow people of your mindset are unable to see they are interpreting the bible as they read it. As with the verses you quoted; when you read them, you are interpreting them to fit in with what you already think.
What God knows He means is true. How we interpret depends on how well the Holy Spirit has given us understanding.The truth recorded by the God of the Bible remains true whether you or I believe it or not.
Yes, it shows their experiences, their sins and their triumphs. But nothing went into the scriptures that God did not want in there. It isn't just someone's thoughts or letters they are all God-breathed or God-inspired.
2 Timothy 3:16 NIV
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
The King James is slightly different.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
The Hebrew says breathed.
πᾶσα Every
γραφὴ Scripture [is]
θεόπνευστος God-breathed
That is not my opinion or interpretation, that is what the verse says.
As with the verses you quoted; when you read them, you are interpreting them to fit in with what you already think.
Really? How would you know this? Are you immune to interpretation faults yourself?
The text itself tells you that.
Do not tell me what the text of the Bible tells me. I do not need you read it for me.
It is 66 Books, not 1.
This leads to a more consistent means of understanding what is meant.
Well I believe it can only be appropriately understood by the influence of God, in the form of the Holy Spirit. It does not depend on appeals to sophisticated scholarship.
Sure, I don't think you have to approach the bible through academic writing to get something from it. I do think it's important however to have a solid understanding of anything the particular church or group you are part of teaches, and that takes a bit of work.
Churches and their members do tend, in my experience, to simply take for granted whatever ideas are central to that denomination, and those can sometimes be based on dubious foundations.
Whether or not a person takes the genesis narrative 'literally' (although what that actually means doesn't really fit the meaning of that word) has no effect on whether or not that person can absorb what is important in the text.
To state the obvious again, stories are a very effective way of conveying ideas. I do think however that learning about the original context and intent of the writers can lead to a much deeper and richer understanding.
I believe the Holy Spirit is in charge of discerning this
This combined with your previous posts, reads as if you deem those Christians from traditions that adopt a literal interpretation to be lazy.
This reads as if you believe your personal interpretation to be superior, and you assume that a literal belief prevents awareness context and depth of understanding.
What you are saying is according to our natural reasoning, but God is above all that. The fact is that creation was an absolute miracle and therefore has no science to support it. It is understandable that creating a whole universe and our world in six 24 hour days is difficult for our minds to grasp, but then our minds are suited to this world and its laws of physics. But God is not limited to the laws of physics. He created those laws to support the universe, but He is above them and works according to His own ways.What God knows He means is true. How we interpret depends on how well the Holy Spirit has given us understanding.
It does say He made the universe and all in it, in six days. But it does not literally say how long those days were. If we claim how long they were, we are interpreting.
And I note how the creation was done before the fall of Adam and Eve, before sin entered the world. And our Apostle Paul says the creation was subjected to vanity, but later this whole creation will be changed into "the glorious liberty of the children of God." I offer this, based on Romans 8:20-21.
Possibly, I get through this scripture, the creation before the fall was not in a corruptible state. So, what could happen during twenty-four hours, then, could have been very different than after the fall of Adam and Eve.
We are the ones who can take a long time to do things. But God, being light, might be able to do things even faster than the speed of physical light. Twenty-four hours, then, for Him, could have been taking His time.
Yes it does. So how do you interpret it? That God essentially ‘wrote’ the bible, or that nothing in it is an expression of the individual writers? Or something else? How do you interpret the idea of inspiration?