Since you mis-interpret internet posts, how much more the bible?

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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Absolutely true, That reminds me of how easily we can get the meaning of texts messed up, then explanations are in order.

When I'm uncertain, I look to well respected commentators to see if their interpretation sounds correct. Any passage directed at believers should contain a message of love, hope and encouragement to them. If it doesn't, then it's not addressing the Body of Christ. Or you're reading it wrong.

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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No one writer of scripture is so important that 40 other writers were not informed of God's message.
No one writer should be given any attention if an idea they propose is not backed by the writings of another. And God's central tenants are detailed by the writings of many other authors. Any unique statements or ideas should be discounted in value and importance as they can more easily be misunderstood. The Holy Spirit should be your guide as to if this is true. As in all things.

We are sure because God's Holy Spirit is our Witness.

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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It's worth mentioning that there is no "correct" understanding of the Word of God for humans; the only true absolute complete and final understanding is God's.

Even we who write posts here don't understand what we say completely. How many times I've gone back a day or two later, read my own posts, and said, "HUH??"! But it's more than that. Consider this from CS Lewis, from 'Till We Have Faces -- a fable retold" (and don't get spiritual indigestion from his mention of plural gods --he only believed in one God):

(Here quoting the protagonist of the story), "I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean?"

Our thoughts, were we able to even express them well, would be only child's prattle to God. They are full of self-important foolishness, assuming things we think we understand. But that's just the thing --along with the theme that "without [him] we can do nothing", we DO have the Spirit of God within us, working our souls, our hearts, our minds, in truth. "We do not know what we are talking about" works both ways! I love the irony, and mercy, the patience, of God.

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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Only the Holy Spirit can guild us into all truth. Some on CF have not quenched the work of the Spirit so that truth remains in them. Those who are in truth under the Holy Spirit share the same likeness. Be blessed.

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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Cont....Christian Forums does a pretty good job of dividing like minded people. Unfortunately, when you separate Christianity into "forums"you will not get unity but rather different opinions of scripture based on their theology.

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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Great topic !

The bible presents truth claims things we can know are the truth and can distinguish them from error of false teaching.

There are some foundational truths regarding salvation, the gospel, the Person and work of Christ, Deity of Christ, the Godhead etc........

I think when we get the foundational/essential truths wrong its has an effect on everything else we believe.

It doesn't take long when you see or read something that is off and start asking them some basic questions about Jesus you will see it goes back to a misconception on the Person and work of Christ.

hope this helps !!!

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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Not every internet post is misinterpreted. A great many aren't. In my experience, the problem isn't that my posts aren't clear, but that people come to my posts with certain personal filters, and prejudices, and presuppositions and read what I've written through them, sometimes badly contorting what I've written as a consequence. The problem, then, isn't with the clarity of what I wrote but with the confusing lenses through which people will read what I wrote.

A good interpretive hermeneutic can go a long way to countering the contorting effects of our personal "lenses":

1. Immediate context is king. It defines and constrains what meaning we give to any verse or passage.
2. Can my interpretation of a verse or passage be solidly reconciled to the rest of Scripture?
3. To whom was the verse or passage written?
4. What sort of literature is the verse or passage I'm reading? Poetry? Prophecy? Wisdom literature? Historical account? What bearing does the genre of a particular verse or passage have on how I understand its meaning?
5. Avoid eisegesis.
6. What was the cultural context in which a verse or passage was written? Does a knowledge of this context aid in understanding the verse or passage?
7. Consider root meaning and common (historical) usage of words and phrases.
8. Avoid reading modern ideas and meanings into ancient verses and passages.
9. Avoid prooftexting. That is, removing a single verse, phrase or word from its immediate context and stringing it together with other verses, phrases or words torn from their contexts to form a doctrine. (This is really just a restating of point #1.)

It is...interesting that your OP question assumes the very thing it questions. You wrote your question assuming that it would be understood as given, though the question itself asserts that it may very likely be misinterpreted. As I read the responses of folks so far in this thread, I don't see that your OP has been badly misinterpreted, which rather defies your concern expressed in it.

The Bible is not, of course, an internet post. There are four Gospels, supporting and qualifying each other, and together providing a very fully-orbed description of the life and teaching of Christ. One can cross-check and compare among the Gospels, arriving at a very full idea of what Christ did and what he taught.

Thematically, the Bible is an astonishingly coherent text, enabling a reader to trace many themes from Genesis right through to John's Revelation. The many books of the Bible also act upon each other much as the Gospels do to each other, qualifying, clarifying and constraining the meaning of any one word, verse, or passage.

Then, too, the Christian has the Holy Spirit as Teacher, applying the truth of God's word to the believer's life, making it a part of the fiber of the believer's being, transforming and conforming them according to Scripture.

I don't see, then, that your worry that the Bible cannot be rightly understood as particularly valid. I suspect much of the modern concerns along this line stem from postmodernist philosophy that seems to have insinuated itself into nearly every region of human thought and endeavour. "There is no absolute truth!" postmodernism asserts; "Question and doubt everything!" it urges; "There is no true, objective right and wrong, only your truth and my truth," it proposes. But if one takes these ideas to heart, trying to comprehend the absolute, objective, exclusivistic, divine truth of Scripture has to be impossible, for no such truth, on postmodernism, exists.

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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People make the excuse that they are more connected to God than the other person.. hence showing their faith is more of sugarcoated form of vanity than an actual relationship with God

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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After I was saved, through the Holy Spirit and careful study of Scriptures I was led to a certain theological understanding... as I listened to and read sermons, both from those long dead and those living, I came to see there was a specific group of people with a certain theological bent whom I absolutely understood, and largely agreed with on major Biblical topics.

I specifically decided that since that is where God, Scripture, and reason led me then that is where God wanted me, and it was these men I decided to study under as I grew in the faith.

Am I right? I can't say, if I did I'd be arrogant... but I will say this is where I'm supposed to be, with the understanding God wants me to have, and in the end, that is what matters.

I do think we should, as Christians, remember to pray the Lord's prayer with a specific nod to "lead us not into temptation", I think some aren't praying that enough and they are being tested and sifted without being mindful of their condition... but that's just my own opinion there.

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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I think much of our biblical interpretations should come from various Theologians and much brighter minds than ourselves. Its easy to read a verse and come up with your own interpretations but oftentimes Theologians know the original Greek/Hebrew in which the verse originated. It provides a lot of clearer understanding of the verse.

Michael Collum said:

The first part of your post illustrates the point in the OP.

Relationship is more related to trust and love.

being correct is more the realm of God (Romans 3:4)

In terms of the second part, truth comes in many parts in the scripture.

The spoken words of God are truth, the truth sets us free, Jesus said I Am the Truth - thus something we embody.

The question in the OP is related to the tendency of orthodoxy in every tradition, because orthodox means "the right way" - however if there are fingers pointing in every direction saying "this is the right way, and every other way is wrong" might as well sit and pray and listen to none of them.

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Thanks for explaining this more. I misunderstood the question. There are a lot of voices, and I agree overall we need to let the Holy Spirit teach and guide us. There is one Truth, that is God. And we are being schooled. Lol. Not one denomination or church has all the answers right, I think. I still believe it is important to have a church though, because the church lifts each other up. The worship and love to Jesus as one body is powerful and shouldn't be forsaken. I wouldn't want to take one man's sermon and say he is omniscient. I check things for myself, or take things to prayer more now. I glean what I understand to apply into my life and grow deeper in my relationship with God.

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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With internet posts that is difficult, because many times we see posts where people do not fully explain the terms they use, or the subject they are trying to convey from their own perspective is not fully detailed, or they alter their own meanings to cover up their flaws in logic.

We do not have that problem with the New Testament Apostolic Writers because they do fully explain the terms they use, and fully explain what they mean - but only if you read their Epistles from beginning to end as coherent letters in context.

The fact is that most people do not read the Apostolic Letters in context, and read with an already preconceived bias that prevents them from understanding.

So even if an Apostolic Writer was to rise from the dead and answer a person's questions, it likely would be that such person still would not grasp what the Apostolic Author intended, because his own bias will blind him so that he will hear only that which agrees with his own biased understanding.

In addition, people like to use the Holy Spirit as a scape goat, not realizing that everyone here claims to have the Holy Spirit to help them understand God's Word. The Holy Spirit will guide us, but only as we humbly live, walk, and sow to the Holy Spirit who indwells the believer.

Blessings

By knowing the person, and the full context, and I do mean all of it, etc, and that includes much, much more than just all of the words only, etc, setting, backdrop, audience, etc, time period, culture, etc, then you can then get a pretty good idea of what is the most correct interpretation or perspective or point of view, and also, what is not the right or correct perspective or interpretation or point of view also, etc...

And I also think there is enough about the people in there to pretty much "know them" as well, which is also very important also, and is also part of the "full context" also, etc...

But with all of that, or all of those, and as long as your looking through it/them from your own completely neutral and honest and not ego driven completely honest or neutral or objective perspective or point of view, then it's pretty difficult to get them wrong in any of that or those specific cases, etc...

But way, way too many of us seem to have a big problem, or lots of problems with that last part I just mentioned in my opinion though, etc...

Way, way too many of us don't even start to ever go into it completely neutrally objectively or very honestly in my view, and in my opinion, way, way too many of us have already decided what we want to see or hear before we even ever hear, or look, or listen, etc, and that can be a major problem, etc, and results in a lot of a lot of "error" always in my view, etc...

Anyway,

God Bless!

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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I agree with setst777 [post #34]

God is the ultimate Author of Scripture, the Bible writers were the pen-ultimate authors. If we approach Scripture humbly and prayerfully seeking the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, then I think we can arrive at an understanding of what is meant. Scripture also interprets and sheds light on scripture, we use the clear passages to interpret those which are more difficult. Also perhaps even more importantly its been said: Scripture interprets us.

Scripture Interprets Scripture: What Does this Mean? | 1517

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

Click to expand...

Perhaps Holy Spirit inspired Scriptures may be of a higher quality than posts on an internet forum?

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16)

Michael Collum said:

When internet posts are mis-interpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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You shouldn't be interpreting the scriptures anyway. Scripture must interpret scripture. The vast majority of Christians have their own, or someone else's interpretations.

If you read a passage of scripture, and just assume you know what it means, guess what? You are interpreting scripture.

Michael Collum said:

When Internet posts are misinterpreted so easily, how can we be sure of a correct interpretation of Bible passages now that the writer of said passages cannot be questioned in person?

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We often do misinterpret Bible passages, but the way you worded your question about this reminds me of Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Neostarwcc said:

Theologians know the original Greek/Hebrew in which the verse originated. It provides a lot of clearer understanding of the verse.

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Theologians have an agenda. Perhaps neutral scholars would be a better choice if the words of Jesus are not enough and religion takes precedent over the Gospel of the Kingdom.