Guest shiloh357 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Hi, I have been going to a bible study meeting at my church. And recently two of the members got into a heated discussion over the interpretation of scripture. Basically one person accused the other person of interpreting a piece of scripture incorrectly. It started off as respectful conversation, but then in the end one person got up and left the room. We never really resolved the situation, and we have some tension in the group as a result. I personally believe that we all are supposed to interpret scripture differently because god has different plans for each one of us, and part of his plan does include that we have different interpretations of scripture. Therefore I don't think anyone should ever "correct" someone's interpretation of scripture, especially after they have experienced a revelation. I think it is ok to share one's own interpretation if it helps someone come to a revelation, but I don't think it is ok to tell someone their interpretation is "incorrect." I think doing this would just steer them away from doing the work god has planned for them, and that wouldn't be a good idea. Please share your opinion if possible. One problem is that people confuse interpretation with application. There is only one interpretation of Scripture: The literal one. The point behind interpretation is to get at the meaning the author had in mind when he penned the text. The entire interpretative process is objective and is meant to get at the meaning the author put there. That is what "literal" means. It means reading the text in the light of the object the author has in view. Interpretation is not a subjective, personal exercise. Application is where we start getting into the personal side of things. How you apply the passage will be different than how someone else applies it and that is, in many cases, where people err. They view their application of the text as being the correct way to view the text. God may apply a passage to meet a specific need in your life, and apply the same passage differently to meet a different need in someone else's life. In many cases, people confuse how the passage was subjectively applied in their life with how a passage is objectively interpreted and understood. There are other reasons for why people misinterpret passages, but this is, arguably, the biggest reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamletcat Posted November 16, 2014 Group: Seeker Followers: 0 Topic Count: 10 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 49 Content Per Day: 0.01 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/12/2014 Status: Offline Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Thank you everybody. This issue came up yesterday when I was discussing a piece of scripture with a friend of mine. It seemed like if I interpreted the scripture his way, my salvation was threatened and if he interpreted the scripture my way then his salvation was threatened. The only thing that I could come up with to explain this was that god had different plans for us, and therefore that is why we had to maintain our own interpretations of this passage. Then I just decided to try to understand the passage from his perspective in order to understand why he would feel threatened by my interpretation. He still has an issue with my interpretation, so my reaction was just to say that I didn't think I was a Christian. But I don't know if that is the right thing to say in order to ease his mind. Does this make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Thank you everybody. This issue came up yesterday when I was discussing a piece of scripture with a friend of mine. It seemed like if I interpreted the scripture his way, my salvation was threatened and if he interpreted the scripture my way then his salvation was threatened. The only thing that I could come up with to explain this was that god had different plans for us, and therefore that is why we had to maintain our own interpretations of this passage. Then I just decided to try to understand the passage from his perspective in order to understand why he would feel threatened by my interpretation. He still has an issue with my interpretation, so my reaction was just to say that I didn't think I was a Christian. But I don't know if that is the right thing to say in order to ease his mind. Does this make sense? What was the scripture in question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamletcat Posted November 16, 2014 Group: Seeker Followers: 0 Topic Count: 10 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 49 Content Per Day: 0.01 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/12/2014 Status: Offline Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Isaiah 64: 6. Basically he was saying that any of my "good works" that I was doing were meaningless to god. "filthy rags." But I believe that god intends me to go out and do Christ's work: serve others. He basically indicated that I am not better than a criminal, using Jesus's quotes to back up his interpretation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Isaiah 64: 6. Basically he was saying that any of my "good works" that I was doing were meaningless to god. "filthy rags." But I believe that god intends me to go out and do Christ's work: serve others. He basically indicated that I am not better than a criminal, using Jesus's quotes to back up his interpretation. Isaiah 64:6 isn't talking about good works, per se. What it says is that our righteousness is like filthy rags. A lot of people have an inflated notion of how good they are. They look at the good things they do and assume that they are in some ways better than others who don't live as good as they do. Isaiah's point is that our "goodness" is like filthy rags before God. We have no bragging rights before God. We are sinners. Eph. 2:10 says that we are created for good works. That God intended that we would perform good deeds. What we should not do is assume that our good works win us any points with God. Good deeds are the product or results of salvation, not the means of obtaining salvation. But there is nothing in the Bible that would say that our good deeds are worthless to God. They simply need to have the right motivation behind them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Teditis Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 IDK, but there seems to be more scriptures that speak to delivering the Gospel, truth, wisdom and understanding in a spirit of love, humbleness and love than there are scriptures that promote "healthy debate". Prov.13:3, Jn. 8:32, 1Cor. 13:1-13, Gal. 6:1, Eph. 4:1-32, Eph. 5:2, 1Tim. 4:12, Jms. 1:19, Jms, 3:1, 1Jn. 2:5-6, 1Jn. 4:8,, Rev 2:4… and many others. It's through Divine revelation that any one of us has any kind of knowledge of/or about God in the first place... every time we speak about Scripture or God we should be giving him credit and footnotes like an author cites a source for making claims. We have nothing to boast of in being more correct in interpreting the Word. And that's just what we do (boast) if we aren't presenting knowledge without love and humility... it's foolish pride and arrogance that causes quarreling. More often than not, it’s a construct not made for teaching in humility and humbleness but rather a demonstration the debater’s pride of intellect. Self appointed teachers that have nothing better to do than go around correcting others of (perceived) mistakes, and then often times done with ad hominem attacks and put downs. In a bible study setting there should be one that administers the process, the same for forums like this and when someone disrupts the flow and process of learning with their haughtiness, it is them that need to be admonished and corrected. Otherwise they become like the Pharisees in the Bible who were full of knowledge of God's Word but vacant vessels when they could not separate their legalism from God's Grace and Mercy... and they caused the downfall of many. Many people can turn away from God because of the legalistic "debating" that is more of an attack against them for merely being incorrect in some detail about God and/or scripture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamletcat Posted November 16, 2014 Group: Seeker Followers: 0 Topic Count: 10 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 49 Content Per Day: 0.01 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/12/2014 Status: Offline Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 (edited) I had a very bad experience and I don't know what to do. I had someone recently tell me that my interpretation of scripture was wrong and that I was going to "burn in hell." All though he said it a lot nicer than that. When I tried to back out of the conversation, he wouldn't let it drop. I kept trying to bow out of the conversation several times but it kept going and going and going. It makes me not want to every get into a "healthy" debate again over scripture. Now I am a bit gun shy. Should I just read my bible, and go to church and not talk about scripture with anyone anymore. Edited November 16, 2014 by hamletcat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneLight Posted November 16, 2014 Group: Royal Member Followers: 22 Topic Count: 1,294 Topics Per Day: 0.21 Content Count: 31,762 Content Per Day: 5.23 Reputation: 9,763 Days Won: 115 Joined: 09/14/2007 Status: Offline Share Posted November 16, 2014 Fear is not from God. 2 Timothy 1:7 says "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Don't let the enemy plant fear in your heart. Learn to lean on God and His word. Yes, always study His word and allow the Holy Spirit to continue to change you into the image of Christ. As for discussions, you can pick and choose which discussion you wish to partake in. Do so by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Teditis Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I had a very bad experience and I don't know what to do. I had someone recently tell me that my interpretation of scripture was wrong and that I was going to "burn in hell." All though he said it a lot nicer than that. When I tried to back out of the conversation, he wouldn't let it drop. I kept trying to bow out of the conversation several times but it kept going and going and going. It makes me not want to every get into a "healthy" debate again over scripture. Now I am a bit gun shy. Should I just read my bible, and go to church and not talk about scripture with anyone anymore. I feel bad for you in this.... and will pray for enlightenment and guidance. In the meanwhile, reading your Bible and focusing on what does save a person (the Gospel) might be the wiser course of action. Also study "assurance"... that the believer can have about their salvation, and talk to some people that you know aren't arguers and contentious persons. Be aware that some people don't believe that we can have a full assurance ever, in this life time. I'm not one of those. But in understanding both of these basic things can be crucial in discussing other topics... people will never be able to make you question the gift that God has given to you just because you merely misunderstand other portions of Scripture. And never allow them to link knowledge of Scripture to your salvation... at least not in your mind... they might want to argue it all day long but: "God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God." (Eph. 2:8)... not by knowing Scripture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Patriot21 Posted November 16, 2014 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 28 Topic Count: 338 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 15,710 Content Per Day: 2.45 Reputation: 8,526 Days Won: 39 Joined: 10/25/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/27/1985 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Isaiah 64: 6. Basically he was saying that any of my "good works" that I was doing were meaningless to god. "filthy rags." But I believe that god intends me to go out and do Christ's work: serve others. He basically indicated that I am not better than a criminal, using Jesus's quotes to back up his interpretation. The thing is there's only one way to God-one path to salvation. Simple uno. So if one of your salvations challenged then its worth a second look. We are saved by grace through faith. Period. Not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9) so if one is relying on their works to get to heaven, than they are meaningless. They are like filthy rags, which was the prophet Isaiah's intent. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't do them it means we do it because we want to not because we have to. If we are a follower of Christ then we should want to help others because we love Jesus and want His love to shine through us. James said it best, faith without works is dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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