How do you read the Bible?

[SandRose]

My apologies if the title to this thread is a bit vague, but I'm wondering what state of mind you approach the Bible with. I understand that many Christians believe the Bible to be the word of God (or divinely inspired) -- if this statement needs to be revised or expanded upon, please do so, because my question kind of hinges on it.

Anyway, my question: Did you believe the Bible to be divine before ever opening the book? Or did you arrive at that conclusion upon reading, due to something inherent to the book itself? In the case of the latter, I'd be particularly interested in hearing what specifically it was that convinced you that this was the case. Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[SWigton87]

When I started reading the Bible I considered much of it to be allegorical. I thought it was a book of symbols. Of course at the time I was not a Christian.

A further, more in depth reading showed me that the Bible was not written to be allegorical, or symbolic. I realized that after I became a Christian.

2 Timothy 3:16 the Bible says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"

Also, there is no actual reason to believe that the Bible is symbolic, or allegorical that is based on anything other than conjecture. Yet the authors put their lives on the line to get their message across. Many Old Testament prophets were persecuted for what they did, and so were the New Testament writers. Their willingness to give their life for their cause demonstrated their own belief in what they were writing.

To answer another question of yours: I did not believe that the Bible was divine the first time that I opened it. Not at all. I actually was just looking up a reference that a friend gave me. It came from 1 Corinthians 13. It speaks about love, and you may have seen it before. I recommend looking it up.

I'll be praying for you.

 

[Confess]

I believed before reading it, found some areas of difficulties which were later overcome with wisdom by the grace of God.

 

[heron]

Did you believe the Bible to be divine before ever opening the book? Or did you arrive at that conclusion upon reading, due to something inherent to the book itself?

I was a kid when I started reading it voluntarily. Before that turning point, I had been told it was divine, but thought of it as a textbook with more distance and irrelevancy than my school textbooks.

 

[OldChurchGuy]

My apologies if the title to this thread is a bit vague, but I'm wondering what state of mind you approach the Bible with. I understand that many Christians believe the Bible to be the word of God (or divinely inspired) -- if this statement needs to be revised or expanded upon, please do so, because my question kind of hinges on it.

Anyway, my question: Did you believe the Bible to be divine before ever opening the book? Or did you arrive at that conclusion upon reading, due to something inherent to the book itself? In the case of the latter, I'd be particularly interested in hearing what specifically it was that convinced you that this was the case. Thanks in advance for your responses.

Growing up, I would say yes that I believed the Bible was divine because that is what I was taught. It was almost mysterious because various people in my life would quote snatches from it and somehow presume that the particular verse(s) cited were the answer to the question.

By my mid to late 20's I was convinced the Bible was the divinely inspired inerrant word of God. Then, an opportunity came to teach a high school Sunday School class.

I asked the class what they were interested in and the unanimous decision was that they wanted to study Revelation.

So, I said that was fine. I hadn't studied it either, so we will have a learning experience together. In a moment of inspiration, I asked them if they wanted to have only one viewpoint or a variety of views. They were united in wanting various viewpoints.

The church had a great library of commentaries such as Adam Clarke, J Vernon McGee, Matthew Henry, The Interpreter's Bible, and William Barclay. So I took all of them home in the naive belief there would be only a small amount of difference between them. After all, we are talking the word of God so there must be unity in understanding it, right?

As you can imagine, I was rudely awakened from the start. I was spending about 8 hours a week just to get a one hour lesson ready. The class was equally surprised about the different interpretations and especially how they all made sense.

It was a great growing experience for me and by the time we finished Chapter 22 of Revelation, I reached the following beliefs:

Is the Bible inspired? - Yes
Is the Bible divinely inspired? - Probably
Is the Bible inerrant? - Since we don't have the original manuscripts, that question can't be answered with absolute certainty.

I also realized that studying the Bible is a life long journey of discovery and revelation. Rather than turning me away from God, the different commentaries showed me many more facets of belief than I would have otherwise known. That deepened my faith as it showed a God of love and grace who is so awesome that no one commentary or book in the Bible can adequately describe God.

Enough preaching.

OldChurchGuy

 

[heron]

I was spending about 8 hours a week just to get a one hour lesson ready.

Something that many of us find -- we read something in the morning, then hear it on the radio later in the day, then hear the Sunday sermon preached on it, then find a friend who needs to apply that concept in their daily lives. There's a strange and wonderful interconnectivity in His communication with us, that makes it come alive.

 

[winsome]

My apologies if the title to this thread is a bit vague, but I'm wondering what state of mind you approach the Bible with. I understand that many Christians believe the Bible to be the word of God (or divinely inspired) -- if this statement needs to be revised or expanded upon, please do so, because my question kind of hinges on it. .

I believe the Bible is divinely inspired so it has two authors, human and divine. But God didn’t dictate it and the human authors were not just secretaries. But God inspired holy men who pondered and prayed and wrote using their own styles of writing, writing for particular purposes, with their own understanding of the world in which they lived and within their own limitations.

They were writing about the outworking of God’s plan of salvation for the world, about spiritual truths, about God revealing himself to us progressively and in particular through Jesus Christ. They used allegory, symbolism, stories that had been handed down. They used history as they knew it, or just set the stories in historical settings.

The Old Testament speaks about Jesus, about God’s preparation of a people for his coming, their mistakes and successes and of the purpose of his coming. It is full of foreshadowing of Jesus and his work. I see that story of God’s work fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The New Testament then is his life and that of the people he instructed and left to carry on his mission, and God’s purposes, which are still being worked out. In that sense the story is still being written. The final chapter, the epilogue has already been written in the Book of Revelation, but salvation history up to that point is still be lived and written

Anyway, my question: Did you believe the Bible to be divine before ever opening the book? Or did you arrive at that conclusion upon reading, due to something inherent to the book itself? In the case of the latter, I'd be particularly interested in hearing what specifically it was that convinced you that this was the case. Thanks in advance for your responses.

.
I believe the Bible to be divinely inspired because the Catholic Church says so. It was the Church in the early days that discerned which, out of all the writings that were current which ones were divinely inspired. I have no authority (or knowledge) to say otherwise. The people who made the decision were those who were the successors of those whom Jesus appointed to carry on his mission, and to whom he guaranteed would be led into all truth. So I believe that in this they were indeed led into the truth.

 

[Zeena]

My apologies if the title to this thread is a bit vague, but I'm wondering what state of mind you approach the Bible with. I understand that many Christians believe the Bible to be the word of God (or divinely inspired) -- if this statement needs to be revised or expanded upon, please do so, because my question kind of hinges on it.

Anyway, my question: Did you believe the Bible to be divine before ever opening the book? Or did you arrive at that conclusion upon reading, due to something inherent to the book itself? In the case of the latter, I'd be particularly interested in hearing what specifically it was that convinced you that this was the case. Thanks in advance for your responses.

I was convicted it was the true Word of God by the Holy Spirit while reading. I continued to read, according to this conviction, and was saved upon accepting Jesus as my personal Saviour

 

[calidog]

After reading the entire book I conclude it is inspired.
It is hard to explain but the following verse comes to mind:

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

[Zeena]

Praise God!

You know, HE's the One reminding you of those verses! haha!

 

[calidog]

Amen..I do indeed.

 

[039]

I was an apostate myself, having been raised in a christian family, turned buddhist and then atheist. Before I became a christian again, the topic of spirituality was reintroduced to me and I began to take the meaning of existance seriously, turning the things of life over in my head. I'm not one just to take things by faith - I have always been the analytical type. This led to a big headache on my part and eventually I got so sick of my wandering mind that I wanted to settle it once and all - so I began to research the arguements for pro-christianity and arguements con-christianity, and found the against side to be lacking and the for side to be enlightening and logical. So, in a sense, I approached the bible considering it the word of God, but only after researching throughly its claims and how it matches to historical, philosophical, and scientific claims.