Is it safe to assume no one truly understands the Bible?

[Red Eyed Pothead]

The Bible is said to be written by men who were divinely inspired by God. Or, perhaps, psychic men.

Now... there are a thousand different interpretations of the Bible, and believers and non-believers.

Is it safe to assume no one truly understands the Bible, except God?  

[Seraph68]

I’d disagree. While the Bible was inspired by God, it was written for man. It is not some mystic book of secrets that can only be deciphered by the elite of the church. Some say the Holy Spirit will give us understanding, while I could agree with that, it is not because the Holy Spirit acts as a decipher but more as a tutor (clarifying the issue not decoding some secret message).

Also, There needs to be proper interpretation of scripture. This is not a mysterious ritual, it is a process of looking at scripture logically. I have been studying hermeneutics and it is a practical tool for gaining understanding of scripture. It is a process of understanding the passage as the original audience would have and applying the principal to our current time and culture (I say that with caution because there is a mentality that if it is acceptable in our culture and not in theirs, it must be just cultural and can be thrown out, which is not true. The specifics may change, but the principal is the same.)

But even with that, there are still parts of scriptures that we may not understand. It may just be us bogging down scripture with philosophical questions about theology, like us asking questions that were not intended to be addressed in the Bible (like how is the soul bound to the body?), mainly because it is not important to Salvation or Godly living. I do not believe that the Bible will tell us everything about God, Life, the Universe, and everything, but it tells us everything that we need to know to follow God faithfully.  

[Dcaff]

Seraph68

I’d disagree. While the Bible was inspired by God, it was written for man. It is not some mystic book of secrets that can only be deciphered by the elite of the church. Some say the Holy Spirit will give us understanding, while I could agree with that, it is not because the Holy Spirit acts as a decipher but more as a tutor (clarifying the issue not decoding some secret message).

Also, There needs to be proper interpretation of scripture. This is not a mysterious ritual, it is a process of looking at scripture logically. I have been studying hermeneutics and it is a practical tool for gaining understanding of scripture. It is a process of understanding the passage as the original audience would have and applying the principal to our current time and culture (I say that with caution because there is a mentality that if it is acceptable in our culture and not in theirs, it must be just cultural and can be thrown out, which is not true. The specifics may change, but the principal is the same.)

But even with that, there are still parts of scriptures that we may not understand. It may just be us bogging down scripture with philosophical questions about theology, like us asking questions that were not intended to be addressed in the Bible (like how is the soul bound to the body?), mainly because it is not important to Salvation or Godly living. I do not believe that the Bible will tell us everything about God, Life, the Universe, and everything, but it tells us everything that we need to know to follow God faithfully.

I completely agree and second that. It is easily to get discouraged when we look at things like Church history and the countless denominations of Christianity we see today. I thank God that our hope lie in Jesus Christ, not in Man. We are called to have fellowship with one another as believers but more importantly, fellowship with our creator who gave us his son, who dwells within us by his Holy Spirit. Not a one of us as believers has their doctrine completely correct and that is why it is so important to believe in the simplicity of the message of salvation! Scripture can be interpreted in a correct manner and it is so important for us to continue in the Scriptures and be dilligent to study correctly!  

[chicky overlord]

yea pretty much  

[lordstar]

If God is all knowing and we are part of God (perhaps because the only way God can know him/herself is through us) than we too are all knowing and thus understand the Bible.

The problem is that if we are all knowing than what use is expeirenceing life (for God that would diprive him/her of knowing him/herself)

This is why remembering is so hard
Perhaps we know all but do not remember all thus we seek to explore our world to know ourselfs (thus God may know him/herself)  

[trinity343]

i wouldn't say that we don't completely know what the Bible says. there are plenty of things that are completely forthright in what their meaning, for example:

john 14:6

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

but there are things that can have many levels of meaning behind them, some of which we as the race of man will never learn until we pass from this existence into the next. we can only pray about what we've read and let God's spirit lead us into understanding His word b/c he is the only one that can fully completely understand all that it says.....b/c he said it....yeah. we are but human and we sometimes see things differently but if we have the Holy Spirit within us then our over all understanding of God's word will not conflict eachother.

*side note* hermeneutics is an interesting subject though. while i'm not studying it directly we discuss it in my Christian education class. my professor studied it while he was in school so we touch in on it a good bit every class.  

[Typhoeus]

i think you can understand parts of the bible. but the whole thing i think that is quite incomprehendable.  

[dirtdevilgrunt13]

You know... Smart question... The bible was written by men, but inspired by God. Now, wether or the stories is the real debate. As a few examples my brother...

The story of the Creation of the World:
I don't care what you say Gods' real, he created the universe, but not as the bible said, he created the energy to make the big bang. Now after the big bang comes the processes of Evoultion.

This leads to Adam and Eve:
Adam and Eve represent the "Dawn of the Human Race" meaning, one of the first. It is a figure of speech saying "They were one of the first and were tempted by an outside force via Satan; and an inside force via the feelings and mind. This is representing the struggle us Christian must go through. Now, I know for a fact that the Garden existed, the 3 Rivers are located in the Middle East, until, the Great Flood, from the great flood one of the rivers was destroyed. It wasn't the hole world, and how I know this is, during that time, most life was in the Middle East. So to the people of the Middle East, and the ones that have never traveled when the Valley flooded it seemed like the "end of the world".

Now let's move forward.. To my favorite story of all.
The story of Job, Job was a man a little before or after Christ, I can't remember... But anyway, long story made short Job lost everything! His wife and his land, his kids you name it, he lost it. But he never broke, always believed God will return him the favor and give he back 10 fold. Well... What do you know? Job got everything back for staying with God. I am sure this story is true, but the moral is that he stayed with God even though he lost everything. Meaning, if you stay with God, you will get repayed...


I hope I helped a little! God Bless!  

[Seraph68]

lordstar

If God is all knowing and we are part of God (perhaps because the only way God can know him/herself is through us) than we too are all knowing and thus understand the Bible.

The problem is that if we are all knowing than what use is expeirenceing life (for God that would diprive him/her of knowing him/herself)

This is why remembering is so hard
Perhaps we know all but do not remember all thus we seek to explore our world to know ourselfs (thus God may know him/herself)

What are you talking about? Is there a scriptural reference to this concept?  

[dirtdevilgrunt13]

Seraph68

lordstar

If God is all knowing and we are part of God (perhaps because the only way God can know him/herself is through us) than we too are all knowing and thus understand the Bible.

The problem is that if we are all knowing than what use is expeirenceing life (for God that would diprive him/her of knowing him/herself)

This is why remembering is so hard
Perhaps we know all but do not remember all thus we seek to explore our world to know ourselfs (thus God may know him/herself)

What are you talking about? Is there a scriptural reference to this concept?

We need to learn that not all of things on in the bible, the TRUE faith and knowledge comes from inside my brother.  

[Seraph68]

dirtdevilgrunt13

Seraph68

lordstar

If God is all knowing and we are part of God (perhaps because the only way God can know him/herself is through us) than we too are all knowing and thus understand the Bible.

The problem is that if we are all knowing than what use is expeirenceing life (for God that would diprive him/her of knowing him/herself)

This is why remembering is so hard
Perhaps we know all but do not remember all thus we seek to explore our world to know ourselfs (thus God may know him/herself)

What are you talking about? Is there a scriptural reference to this concept?

We need to learn that not all of things on in the bible, the TRUE faith and knowledge comes from inside my brother.

Faith, maybe, but knowledge? Knowledge is sought after, you seek out answers to your questions, not looking within yourself.

How would you get to know someone better, by looking within yourself or hanging out with them? How would you know science better, think about how it could work or research what scientists have found and do the experiments to see the way it works? How do you know what the capital city of Uganda is, by looking within yourself or looking at a map? How do you know about who God is, by looking within yourself for what you feel is right or reading the Word of God?

I do not trust what come from "inside" me. While I do have the Spirit within me, I also have the flesh, which wars against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). How do I know if it is from the Spirit or the Flesh, I ask the authority, The Bible. If it does not agree with the Bible, then it is not from the Spirit.  

[dirtdevilgrunt13]

Seraph68

dirtdevilgrunt13

Seraph68

lordstar

If God is all knowing and we are part of God (perhaps because the only way God can know him/herself is through us) than we too are all knowing and thus understand the Bible.

The problem is that if we are all knowing than what use is expeirenceing life (for God that would diprive him/her of knowing him/herself)

This is why remembering is so hard
Perhaps we know all but do not remember all thus we seek to explore our world to know ourselfs (thus God may know him/herself)

What are you talking about? Is there a scriptural reference to this concept?

We need to learn that not all of things on in the bible, the TRUE faith and knowledge comes from inside my brother.

Faith, maybe, but knowledge? Knowledge is sought after, you seek out answers to your questions, not looking within yourself.

How would you get to know someone better, by looking within yourself or hanging out with them? How would you know science better, think about how it could work or research what scientists have found and do the experiments to see the way it works? How do you know what the capital city of Uganda is, by looking within yourself or looking at a map? How do you know about who God is, by looking within yourself for what you feel is right or reading the Word of God?

I do not trust what come from "inside" me. While I do have the Spirit within me, I also have the flesh, which wars against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). How do I know if it is from the Spirit or the Flesh, I ask the authority, The Bible. If it does not agree with the Bible, then it is not from the Spirit.

I am sorry, I was misunderstood. Knowledge of God and how he works. The scriptures just provide insight my friend. The rest is from yourself.  

[Seraph68]

dirtdevilgrunt13

I am sorry, I was misunderstood. Knowledge of God and how he works. The scriptures just provide insight my friend. The rest is from yourself.

You are going to have to clarify again, you still seem to be saying the same thing.  

[dirtdevilgrunt13]

How do I explain this to you? FAITH is the answer to all question! I am always out and about on the street helping people, much like homeless. I don't bring my bible, I use my knowledge that I already have and ask the Lord to use me to talk to them.

Get it now? haha