Why multiple interpretations?

Why is it that so many people can have so many different opinions on fundamental parts of the Bible in light of the contact between the believer and God? After all, not all these differing approaches, many of them contradictory, can be correct, so why does God allow this confusion and contradiction, which in many cases weakens the 'case' of Christianity to non-believers, to continue?

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The why in my estimation, has to do with Grace.. After all if God can forgive some of the most vile and terrible sin we can do to each other, and the sins we commit against him, then why wouldn't he be able to forgive someone who is trying with all of their Heart, Mind, soul, and strength to love him? But, just so happens to gets alittle lost in the translation.. If we adhere to the Greatest Command (Love your Lord God with all of your being.) and have Jesus at the core of our beliefs then we will find Grace and forgiveness for our "religious" errors.

I see The "weakness" in Christianity like you described, as a check engine light on your car that is on.. Now if you were to unplug that light or put some electrical tape over it, does that mean that the "weakness" has gone away? Of course not. it is still there, but now if someone else were to buy your car they would not know there was a problem, unless they were looking for one.. Meaning If there was unity in the Christian Church with a clear cut set standard as there was in the Jewish Faith, then we like them would fall hard into Worshiping the religion or the efforts we put into worship, and not readily know of it..

Jesus himself, spends much of his time here admonishing the religious leaders of his day because even though they followed the law they knew nothing of it.. To God what's most important is not what your doing or not doing, it's Why your doing it. With uniformity comes a collective loss of the Love in us God is trying to establish... Look at the Christian church during the dark ages.. That time period is referred to as the Dark ages because in large part of the efforts of the Christian church to unify everything.

We may have problems with the way things are done now, but at least there is opportunity for anyone who truly seeks God to find him.. This was not always true.

Hi, Staccato --- nice to meet you ---

Staccato said:

Why is it that so many people can have so many different opinions on fundamental parts of the Bible in light of the contact between the believer and God?

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This is the way I answer this question:

Put 10 people who have never read the Bible in a room and have them read the Bible; then quiz them on even basic questions.

You'll get about ten different answers.

Now have them read the Bible a second time, and ask them more basic questions; you'll get about six different answers.

Now do it a third time, and a fourth, and so one.

The point, is that the more they read It, the closer they'll come to agreeing with each other.

They probably will never meet in perfect unity, but they'll come close.

In addition, put them here in CF up against the atheists and scientists, and their senses will be honed even sharper.

If I had my own classroom, I would require all my students to spend some time here, and grade them accordingly.

Wow... that is exactly the same as if they read Twain's Huckleberry Finn or Joyce's Ulysses, or Plato's Allegory of the Cave...

The only problem with that idea is that mere repetitions of the same behavior tends to produce the exact same results... its called habituation. It certainly doesn't make much sense to say I have read the Bible 360 timers and you have only read it 12 times so I am at least 30 times more knowledgeable than you are. (If you don't understand the language and culture of the authors to begin with, you will NEVER understand it.)

Staccato said:

Instead my question is why this occurs when taken in light of the fact that, from my understanding, every Christian (and indeed non-Christian) has access to God through prayer.

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I just wanted to add that this assumption is incorrect. Non-Christians do not have access to God through prayer, except insofar as they pray to the true God to repent of their false religions and confess Jesus as the Christ. As it says,
The faith taught in the Bible is faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in a false religion, whether Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other theistic or atheistic religion, does not constitute faith in the true God. It would be a serious error to believe that non-Christians have any access to God.

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If Jerusalem is the destination and everyone is coming from all over the world and they have all different modes of transportation. Their report of the route, what they see and their understanding as they journey would each be different. It doesn't mean that the Holy spirit isn't guiding them all along the way. Not saying all the paths lead home either. Every journey is individual and thus each are learning at different rates and about different aspects at different times.. makes for a diverse understanding at any given time... But the Lord is putting it all together and it truly is in His hands. Our part is to follow Him and where He leads and not let any religious organization hem us in from following Him.

arunma said:

I just wanted to add that this assumption is incorrect. Non-Christians do not have access to God through prayer, except insofar as they pray to the true God to repent of their false religions and confess Jesus as the Christ. As it says,

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
​

The faith taught in the Bible is faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in a false religion, whether Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any other theistic or atheistic religion, does not constitute faith in the true God. It would be a serious error to believe that non-Christians have any access to God.

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Yeshua said He had sheep that were not of this fold and they hear His voice and obey Him... These do have access through prayer even if they do not know His name. nor subscribe to any religious organization.

Staccato said:

Instead my question is why this occurs when taken in light of the fact that, from my understanding, every Christian (and indeed non-Christian) has access to God through prayer. Why is it that so many people can have so many different opinions on fundamental parts of the Bible in light of the contact between the believer and God? After all, not all these differing approaches, many of them contradictory, can be correct, so why does God allow this confusion and contradiction, which in many cases weakens the 'case' of Christianity to non-believers, to continue?

Thanks for your time

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Well, I'm not sure you can eliminate the "human" component; God made us all and He made us all different, unique. Had He done otherwise and made each of us alike then one message, told one way would be received (or not) and understood (or not) alike by everyone.

A teacher, for example, must approach a subject from a variety of angles to reach everyone in the class. Some learn by doing, some by example, others by one sort of illustration, and yet others by a different method. Variety in creation makes life at the very least - interesting.

But your premise that contradictions exist and that God allows contradictions is erroneous. Contradictions do not exist, cannot exist. Two "truths" on one subject, one negating the other (contradictory) just indicates one or the other (or both) is incorrect. Often our thinking that something is contradictory only means some of our information may be incorrect or incomplete, or that our underlying premise is incorrect somehow. A "contradiction" (perceived or otherwise) simply requires further investigation to sort out our information or change our premise for understanding the information we have.

Staccato said:

Why is it that so many people can have so many different opinions on fundamental parts of the Bible in light of the contact between the believer and God? After all, not all these differing approaches, many of them contradictory, can be correct, so why does God allow this confusion and contradiction, which in many cases weakens the 'case' of Christianity to non-believers, to continue?

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I can make several comments about this matter.

1. First, it ultimately goes back to the fall of Adam and Eve. Before that, we were in perfect harmony with God and therefore not in need of guidance.

2. Second, God promised us a free will to make our own decisions with regard to matters of faith. We could hardly exercise our free will if the Bible was a precise cookbook of how we should live our life.

3. Third, we will never be able to understand the logic of God- it is beyond our comprehension- which is why we must have faith. Some people get very disillusioned trying to figure out the almost infinite complexity of God. In terms of our understanding of God, we are just like a little ant that walks through the glow emanating from a computer and realizes that something is present, but could never in a million years figure out how the computer works, let alone build one. Once you learn to accept the reality of God's infinite wisdom, it becomes easier to trust, and not be too worried about trying to figure it all out.

4. Fourth, I really don't think there is any disagreement regarding the fundamentals of our Christian faith. For example, here are my core beliefs:

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A Christian is a person who willingly believes:

1. That the Universe was created by God.
(Genesis 1:1)

2. That the Bible is divinely inspired by God, and describes how we are to live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to God.
(Matthew 24:14)

3. That we are all sinners and as such, according to the Bible, are destined to go to hell.
(Romans 3:23)

4. That God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and promised that if we repent of our sins, and ask God through the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us through life according to His will, that we will have eternal life and a place with Him in Heaven.
(John 3:16)
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Now there certainly are some great differences in how certain passages of the Bible are interpreted- we need to look no farther than this WEB site to see some of those differences.

To narrow the range of ideas, we need to do certain things:

1. Pray that God gives us guidance to understand and follow His Word.

2. as AV1611VET states, read the Bible, study the Word; the more you immerse yourself in Christian edification, the wiser you will become.

3. have an open mind; don't ever think you know it all, because you absolutely don't. Be willing to change your mind (reject stubborness).

Romans 2:

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6God "will give to each person according to what he has done."

4. realize that the collective wisdom of many is usually better than relying on just your own, or one opinion. Defer to the wisdom and advice of those with more knowledge than yourself- Christian scholars and leaders can often provide good advice on questions about our faith; seek them out and listen to their counsel.

There is more, but I'll stop here.

arunma said:

It would be a serious error to believe that non-Christians have any access to God.

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It IS a serious error to think "Christians" or any other self professed believer has the only access to God.

AV1611VET said:

Habituation does not claim the Holy Ghost in its documentation.Being facetious, are we? I went 10:10 then 9:6 on purpose, so someone wouldn't think like you just did.I'm talking about straightforward reading of the Scriptures, then being asked basic questions --- not contextual questions.

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Holy Ghost... what a quaint medieval notion. The word translates as SPIRIT. As in Spirit of the Living God. Spirit of Truth. Spirit of Love. These are not ghosts, they are attitudes, ways of thinking, ways of living.

Wouldn't it be nice if anything written could be read "straightforward" without cultural, linguistic and historical context applied.

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AV1611VET said:

So Jesus' disciples jumped out of their skin because they saw an "attitude"?---

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yes... things do go bump in the night... people get frightened at all kinds of "weird" things... do you believe in ghosts? Do you really think that was the point of Dickens' tale? Do you really think incorporeal bodies can be seen? Can you see something that is invisible??? Well duh, no. So they "see" a physically resurrected body and they think it is a ghost. But according to Luke it wasn't a ghost... it was Jesus. That is the point of Luke's tale. We automatically ascribe supernatural explanations to the natural things we can not explain. Luke was making fun of them.

Someone would still mess it up.

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But not you... not James 1611

Everyone, stay on topic please and respond ONLY to the OP.

Sidebar discussions amongst yourselves that do not involve the OP are not only rude but against the guidelines for posting here in Exploring Christianity.

If you've issues with someone else's comments, please take that up with them elsewhere, not in this member's thread.

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Staccato said:

Why is it that so many people can have so many different opinions on fundamental parts of the Bible in light of the contact between the believer and God? After all, not all these differing approaches, many of them contradictory, can be correct, so why does God allow this confusion and contradiction, which in many cases weakens the 'case' of Christianity to non-believers, to continue?

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Two more points:

1. God may allow the confusion and contradiction, but it is us silly human beings that do the dirty deed.

2. I may wonder about things that seem to "weaken" the case of Christianity for non-believers, but on the other hand, I don't have the grand plan in mind, so will trust that God has it all figured out.

This may be trivial example, but I wonder how often debates here about some religious issue encourages someone to delve into the Bible a little more, and learn something new.

Of course, we also need to keep in mind that many so-called non-believers (again, we can't judge) come to sites like Christian Forums in order to see what Christianity is all about- and if all they see is bitterness and conflict, then they sure aren't likely to be convinced to turn their life over to Jesus. If you are someone like that reading this, please don't get discouraged- we are all imperfect human beings and "religion" is a man-made institution with all the faults of every such human institution. Instead, focus on the fundamental message of Christianity as taught and practiced by Jesus, one that is best described in Matthew 22:

36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

DerSchweik said:

Everyone, stay on topic please and respond ONLY to the OP.

Sidebar discussions amongst yourselves that do not involve the OP are not only rude but against the guidelines for posting here in Exploring Christianity.

If you've issues with someone else's comments, please take that up with them elsewhere, not in this member's thread.

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Ha HA- a perfect example related to the opening post: so why does God allow disharmony and strife to creep in here to what is, after all, a Christian site?

Maybe to get us thinking more about His Word. Maybe to learn to become better Christians; to focus more on the Golden Rule.

But another important fact: while He may allow disharmony to creep in, God also provides the Moderators, and comments from other contributing members, to bring the discussion back to where it should be.

So He does give us a free will- we can let this discussion, or this site, spiral out of control- but He also gives us the ability to do the opposite and make this into something that really glorifies his name!

Let us never be scared to confront the truth and exercise with confidence the responsibility that God has given us!