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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | How can the Bible be "objective" truth | Bible general Archive 1 | Radioman | 38338 | ||
Flippancy dealing with Scripture. This verse means to me.... "Avoid superficial interpretation...avoid superficial interpretation. One of the common problems in interpreting the Bible is this little phrase, "This verse means to me...." so forth and so forth and so forth. Let me tell you something. It doesn't matter what it means to you, the question is what would it mean if you didn't live? What would it mean if you didn't exist? What does it mean period is the issue, not what does it mean to you. "Sometimes you'll hear people get together and supposedly have a Bible study which is little more than a pooling of ignorance. People say, "Well, I look at this verse and I feel this verse is saying..." It doesn't matter what you feel. That has nothing to do with it. It's not a matter of how you feel about the verse, it's not a matter of what you think it means to you. Avoid adlibbing in Bible interpretation. Avoid free wheeling in Bible interpretation. Haphazard handling of God's Word. "We all want to acknowledge the priesthood of the believer...yes, we all want to acknowledge that we have anointing from God, the Spirit of God who dwells within us and the Spirit of God who dwells within us is the teacher who teaches us. We all want to acknowledge that. But that is not justification for flippancy dealing with Scripture. That's why in 1 Timothy 5:17 it says, "The elders who work hard in the Scripture are worthy of double honor." It is hard work. Avoid superficial interpretation. Avoid "this means to me." That is not a statement that should preface any interpretation of Scripture. The question is, what does it mean if you don't exist? What did it mean before you were born? And what will mean it after you're dead? What does it mean to people who will never meet you? What does it mean period, is the issue." (John MacArthur at www.gty.org/Broadcast/transcripts/90-157.htm) |
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2 | How can the Bible be "objective" truth | Bible general Archive 1 | Hank | 38344 | ||
Excellent points, Radioman! Present me with Psalm 23 in Hebrew and without telling me it is Psalm 23, ask me "What does this mean to you?" My answer, since I don't know Hebrew, would have to be "Nothing whatever; it means nothing to me." Now, does my answer of 'nothing' detract whatever from the inherent meaning of the Hebrew text? Certainly not! All it says is that I don't know Hebrew. It speaks only to my inability to extract meaning from that for which I am unprepared to understand. It is wise, I believe, to bear in mind that there is an element of "Hebrew" in what we read, even in English. That is to say that we all have our blind spots, our own peculiar ignorance of the exact meaning of words and ideas even when they are clothed in our native tongue. Thus to say 'this passage means so-and-so TO ME' may not be at all what the passage is actually saying. This constitues the best license I know of to avoid being so dogmatic on issues about which we may be afforded by our own biased and limited perception but a pale and distorted version of what the truth really is. --Hank | ||||||