Reason for asking this question is that when a circular writer write a book the readers get the point he is trying to portrait, but when it comes to the bible the readers get different understanding, opinion of what the scripture is saying. WHY?
Responses (5)
“How do you know that your interpretation of the Bible is correct? It can be interpreted in all kinds of ways!”
Yet it is possible to examine the Bible in such a way that it actually sheds light on itself. The secret is this: If the surrounding verses do not make the meaning of a particular statement clear, compare that statement with others in the Bible that discuss the same subject. In this way, we let the Bible, not personal opinion, guide our thinking.
For example, take the Bible’s teaching on the condition of the dead. Below are six passages taken from different parts of the Bible. Notice how they form a harmonious picture.
● “The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.”—Psalm 115:17.
● “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”—Psalm 146:3, 4.
● “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing.”—Ecclesiastes 9:5.
● “The grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee . . . The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day.”—Isaiah 38:18, 19.
● “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”—Ezekiel 18:4.
● Concerning the recent death of his friend Lazarus, Jesus Christ said: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. . . . Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.”—John 11:11-14.
See how these verses all complement each other. Contrary to popular beliefs, the Bible teaches that the dead are actually dead. They are not alive in heaven or somewhere else but are in a deep sleep, as it were, not conscious of anything. Hence, they cannot praise God or even think.
The main point is this: When you examine the Bible by subject, its basic teachings become clear. (Proverbs 2:1-5) But that is true of most things that are really worthwhile.
Whereas the Bible has only one Author, it does have many writers.
So to understand what the Author of the Bible says about a subject, it is necessary to gather together all the scriptures germane to the subject under discussion.
This requires a sound knowledge of the Bible and the ability to crossrefence different scriptures to come to a proper interpretation of what the author is conveying to us.
For instance, open your Bible to Romans chapter 9.
Here you will find an outstanding example of how the faithful Christian Paul did the same thing.
In this one chapter alone, Paul quotes 11 times from other parts of the Bible. Some critic might even charge that Paul does a considerable amount of “skipping around.” Starting with the first book of the Bible, he skips over to the 39th book, before continuing with the 2nd, the 28th, and finally, the 23rd book of the Bible.
Of course, it would have been wrong for Paul to take scriptures out of their context and twist them to fit his own personal ideas. But Paul was not guilty of this.
Apparently some early Christians were guilty of this, for the apostle Peter speaks of “things hard to understand, which the untaught and unsteady are twisting, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”—2 Peter 3:16.
“Things hard to understand” can easily be misunderstood. Even the works of famous writers like Shakespeare comes in various interpretations—obviously not all of them accurate.
Hence, it is not strange that this is true of the Bible. If Shakespeare were still alive, we could ask him: “Just exactly what did you mean?” Yet, this is not possible; neither is it possible for us to ask the writers of the Bible for further clarification.
Happily, we can still ask its author Jehovah God, for he lives! And he has promised to give such spiritual guidance to men of faith who ask it of him.
This real or perceived guidance however always has to harmonize with previous scriptural revelations.
Another consideration is that often translators have their own agenda or belief. This however, goes beyond the parameters of my small contribution to this discussion.
Pride and insecurity. There is only one way to understand the Bible (John 4:24; 1 Corinthians 1:10). And it requires Jehovah's help to do it (Proverbs 3:5, 6). However, most people do not want Jehovah's help (compare John 3:19-21; 2 Timothy 4:3). Others are just seeking their own glory (John 7:18).
We understand the Bible or any scripture differently for several reasons. The first reason is that ancient scriptures were often verbal inspirations that were written by somebody else. There may have been a miscommunication in transcribing the scripture. Then there is a problem of translation from ancient languages to new modern languages. Then, just like a game of Chinese Whisper, when you communicate from one to another, the scripture or the message gets diluted and finally there is the problem of interpretation - of what one is trying to say, different people interpret differently. Therefore the most important aspect of our spiritual-religious life is that we must not blindly follow scriptures or what somebody says, but we must ask questions, investigate, introspect, go within to experience the true meaning of the scripture.
Can you explain more what mean by holding some texts more important than others?