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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Should the Bible be taken literally? | Bible general Archive 1 | kalos | 4203 | ||
I do not intend this as a criticism or putdown of you in any way. I perceive from your writings that you are a sincere fellow Christian with an honest heart. So with no disrespect to or criticism of you, I offer my best and most honest answer. The question you ask, although still lacking specific examples that would facilitate a reasonable answer, is one that I'm sure many people would like to know the answer to. In reply to your last paragraph, "If I lived on the make believe island of Jabuck . . . ", let me say this. Your last paragraph begins with the word "If" and is therefore a hypothetical question. So my reply addresses a hypothetical situation. I'm not saying YOU are doing this, I merely point out what would happen IF one did what you speak of in your last paragraph. If one were to go into isolation, cut off from all contact with the outside world, pretending that we're not connected to 2000 years of church history, with nothing but the text of the Bible (no English or Bible dictionary, no background information -- no archaeological, historical, or language information -- on the verses in question, and no knowledge of the basic (universal) principles of interpretation), then one would have no guarantee that all of his own understanding, interpretation, and conclusions would be correct. Follow it through to its logical conclusion. If it were possible to retire to a desert island and come out several years later with perfect understanding of every Bible teaching, then all one would have to do to be a world class Bible expert, is to do just that -- throw away and close your mind to everything but the text of the Bible. This sounds like a holy, pure, righteous and right thing to do -- ideally. But in reality it wouldn't work. You would not get at the truth of the Bible in this way. The method you describe in your hypothetical answer is not much different from what the founders of the Watchtower organization actually did. Look at the conclusions and teachings they came up with as a result. |
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2 | Should the Bible be taken literally? | Bible general Archive 1 | kalos | 4344 | ||
Where indeed did that come from? In my original answer, "I do not intend this as a criticism or...," the subject is NOT the JWs. The Watchtower organization is mentioned only in the last 2 sentences of 5 paragraphs -- and then only as an example of how not to interpret the Scriptures. However, it must be easy, if one does not understand the gist of a posting, to pounce on one or two sentences and write a book analyzing, criticizing, picking apart and rambling on about those two sentences. |
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