We Can Trust Scriptures vs. Can We Trust Scriptures?
For a Christian, Scriptures are the basis of what he believes. Scriptures are inspired by God and one can be sure that Scriptures never lie, because God simply cannot lie. God leads us ONLY to the truth: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13). The Bible itself tells us that it is a good teacher and we may use it to teach others: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16)
Nevertheless, if the Bible does contain contradictions, that has to mean that God is contradicting Himself. But, God cannot contradict Himself, thus one has to conclude that the Bible was written by man. Moreover, if Scriptures tell us that they were not written by man (“And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)) but they were, that in itself is a contradiction. So if man is able to find even one true contradiction in the Bible, the whole book may be discarded.
However, what should one do if he does find an apparent contradiction in the Bible? Well, for one thing, maybe it is not a contradiction at all. The reader might be, simply, incorrectly interpreting Scriptures: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthian...
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...heir way into heaven – they may fool people into believing that they are saved, but they won’t receive God mercy. Moreover, if one sincerely thinks that he can get to heaven by doing good works – he still won’t be able to do it. The only hope he’ll have is to truly understand the point James was making and change his beliefs ASAP! (Of course that’s easier said than done – but either way, it has to be done).
So, in conclusion, we must remember that the Bible does not contradict itself. The only reason why we might think that way is because we misinterpreted the Scriptures. It’s just like John Piper wrote: “The inspiration of the Word of God is like the incarnation of the Son of God. When the Son of God became a human being he became vulnerable to abuse and death. When the Word of God became human language, it became vulnerable to ambiguity and misunderstanding”.
The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.
The Bible for many has several interpretations, and meanings. There is not one interpretation or meaning in which Christians all believe identically. Each part of the Bible has its own symbolic meaning to each faith, and their ways to interpret those meanings may differ from other Christians. In Having Words with God: The Bible as Conversation by Karl Allen Kuhn, Kuhn describes the Bible as a conversation between several and God. In this essay there will be a different approach to the same metaphor effect describing the Bible but, as a Pizza. The Bible is like a Pizza in the ways of having many toppings (topics) and layers (depths within the text), not to mention the types or styles just like there are many styles of scripture
This is just like in the story, Everything Will be Okay, how James is trying to be just like his brothers and his father. For example, he was going to go hunting with his dad, not because he wanted to, but because he wanted his father to like
The Judeo-Christian creation story is one of the most well know beliefs for the beginning. The issue being looked at comes from the two creation stories in Genesis. One fairly interesting part of this is that the Bible has the two creation narratives back to back. These two stories have made believers uncomfortable and it has been used to discredit believers because they infer the two are contradictory. In order to answer the main question efficiently, the question has to be broken down into two main issues. The main discrepancies come from the creation of man and woman in each version and likewise the creation of man and animals. In order to answer this we must understand the reasoning behind the two and the original purpose and wording of the two.
Seemingly, there are folks who read the Bible for no purpose other than to search for flaws. Of course, there are no mistakes in God’s Word; nonetheless, there are those who have attempted to discredit the Bible’s message and they have used these verses, concerning the number of days, to support of their claim of a discrepancy.
This quote by Gene Nowlin in his book The Paraphrased Perversion of the Bible summarizes the composition of the Bible. Throughout life, Christians grasp tightly to these words of God in hopes to inherit the Kingdom of God one day. In order to do this, they must study the Bible closely and apply it to their lives daily. Without the proper Bible, this may become a difficult task to accomplish. Although the various translations of the Christian Bible are exceptionally similar in their message, some have quite a few differences and perversions that set them apart from one another. Many of them even leave out several potentially important verses in their revision. These variations contribute to the justification of one translation being more reliable and accurate than the other versions.
...k up the dark cliff that he had been forcefully pulled into. He persevered to forgive himself for his actions and to be their for his son when he was needed. James went through the fiery depths of hell and should not be blamed as the one who is guilty but sympathized with as the victim.
In my Christian tradition, the interpretation of scripture is approached literally, historically and spiritually. My Pastor usually gives background history of the scripture before explaining the context. Similar to most of the ministers in my church he will mention that he received inspiration from God while studying a particular text. As a result, I believe God is the true interpreter of Scripture. Specifically no two individuals get the same meaning from the same scripture. I believe that Scriptural interpretation is inspired by God. Therefore, each person’s approach to interpretation is tailored by God to the individual’s needs. As I consider the early Christian and Medieval methods of interpretation, many of methods are in use today. I believe different methods of interpretation are necessary to accommodate individual approaches to God.
Those that hold a Biblical theology are those in the church. When I refer to the church I am speaking of all that would pertain to a functioning community or individual that professes submission to Christ Jesus and Biblical scripture. Dietrich Bonhoeffer provides an explanation in his book, The Cost of Discipleship. In short, “the Church or congregation is an articulated organism.” (Bonhoeffer 1959, 252) Christians understand that they are a unique creation of an all knowing and powerful God in three persons; a triune God. The church lives in community with humankind and this God.
Although, Jesus scolded the Jews for not believing on Him, He told them to “Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39 If only those who are saved and have the illumination of the Holy Spirit can understand the scriptures, Jesus would not have told unbelievers to search the scriptures, nor would Paul have stated that faith is produced by the Word of God. (Rom. 10:17)
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
... for personal reasons you to are using exegetical approaches to the scriptures. We do this every time we read something or hear it spoken. The Bible is no different besides that you have to decipher it correctly. By reading other commentaries on that book or verse you can form your own exegetical hypothesis, but make sure it is a biblical one.
Secondly, the imagery used by the sources differs greatly. One example is worth noting: verse 7 in the Tyndale translation speaks of the testing of the faith; whereas The Message uses the imagery of gold to communicate the same idea. What can be deduced from the differences is the interpretive freedom which developed over the history of Bible exegesis.
The rule of Biblical interpretation that was not followed and should have been was when a contradiction like this appears, the emphasis should only be given to the multiple passages that are clear rather than to a passage that is isolated and obscure. The only basis for establishing a doctrine cannot be based off the historical occurrence of an event. As well as the writer’s original intent must be the only valid interpretation of a Scripture passage.
We have many tools to assist us in discerning whether something is biblical, but the most important is prayer or talking to God. We must not be swayed by what is popular or easy, but stick to the truths of the Bible. It is also important to look at the historical context in order to discern what the Bible says and use that to classify something as biblical or nonbiblical. We shoud always read the surrounding text to ensure that we get the correct interpretation of the text. By using the thought experiment, we can be assured that we adher to the original text meaning and convey that to our current audience.