Official Bible Interpretation Thread

I'm not totally clear what the forum description statement is. I've seen the for Christians only heading but where do I find the statement that says it's specifically for bible quoting?

 

Yeah, I don't know why people seem to have a problem with this. The Spirit interprets to each of us individually and we should not be afraid to share it in our own words, or when we're lucky, in the words the Spirit grants us.

 

If you wish to go on to other topics, that's fine, just quote me and then talk about a topic that my comments were never intended to cover.

Again if you wish to make a statement that is off topic, start a new line of discussion and don't quote as if to say that the topic is still the same as what I was commenting on.

Yes if you stay on topic.

No.

 

It is not specifically for bible quoting but the guidelines do say:

 

I'm not a christian, so I should go, I don't even have a bible!

All the best!

 

That topic being? Could the topic be how are we to treat one another?

Okay, what is the topic? Could the topic be bible interpretation?

You say no, that is not what I'm doing, or no I'm not interpreting it correctly?
If I am not interpreting it correctly, what meaning did I change?

"In order to be the salt of the earth we need be willing to transcend tradition in order to heal once and for all, "hardness of heart." In other words, withhold nothing from anyone. There is no taboo on communion that we should not challenge or quietly lay aside. Our relationships are Holy, cast the money changers out of the temple."

 

No I wasn't, but I was in an altered state of consciousness after a night of meditation on the beach. It happened around dawn. I've been in quite a few ecstatic states, but usually these were in the form of intensely lucid and pointedly symbolic dreams. This one occurred when I had not been sleeping.
My wife was with me and she became very concerned. I was watching her and she was telling me I need to get up. There was something about my appearance that made her believe I was dying. I wanted to tell her everything was fine but I couldn't speak.

 

That's really interesting, I can see how one could be concerned. The effects of meditation can be powerful. I had a sort of similar experience once. There's a spot up the road down by the river where I go to relax sometimes. It faces north-west. Earlier this summer I was down there one evening after 7:00 and there is this quite large rock a few feet out in the water. I decided to walk out to it and watch the sun set. I walked out to it and sat down cross-legged on top of it. I remained in that position staring straight-ahead for the next two hours while the sun set. About 45 minutes in I could hear a group of teenage girls walking up the road behind me. When they got behind me some started shouting at me and one yelled, "It's Saturday night, you couldn't get any pussy huh?" and when I heard her say that I heard it but it didn't register, and I thought, that's odd that I don't care. I thought it was strange how I heard it, but didn't feel it. After two hours the sun set and I got up to walk home and for the rest of the night I was in a very stange dream-like state. I was able to witness what was going on around me with great clarity and indifference and yet I didn't feel the need to interact with it, direct it, change it, and I also didn't speak for the rest of that evening. The best way I could describe the feeling was just pure indifference, I had no desire whatsoever to assert myself or even change the current state of the things around me. Everything just was and everything just seemed fine the way it was.

Another time after a long meditation session I had a very profound symbolic vision of what I was in relation to the rest of the world, but that's another thread.

 

Your description almost sent me into a trance. I like to see that thread.

You reminded me of something. My wife did manage to rouse me after about ten minutes I think. When I got up I had absolutely no sensation in my body. I could not feel the sand I was walking on. If I didn't know better I would say that my feet were not touching the ground. The experience faded slowly so that I could not really tell when it ended. It is now an indelible part of my psyche.

 

http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?p=6491182#post6491182

I look forward to reading others' experiences.

Wow. That sounds like complete physical dissociation. You must really know what you're doing, or perhaps you were very receptive/open that day. The only time I ever experienced dissociation that physically profound was when I had terrible anxiety. It came on slowly until one day I was walking on the treadmill and I couldn't feel my legs at all when they'd step down. I had to get off for a bit because I was afraid I'd fall over. Like when your legs are asleep. On the other hand the lightness and ease of mobility was a somewhat welcome experience.

 

Hey, why don't you check out the general Christian forum. Anybody can post there, and lately it seems to be identical to this site. I doubt that most people would have a problem with your posting here either, but it could open the door to some problems we experienced a couple of years ago where most of the posts on the Christian site were anti-Christian and of the quality of CHRISTIANS SUCK! or JESUS WAS A FAG! Those have pretty much gone away now--on both sites.

 

Bible interpretation is what the topic of this thread should be.

Yes

Nearly all of it.

Once again pseudo-Bible speak, what does being the salt of the earth have to do with healing, transcending tradition or hardness of heart?

As for withhold nothing from anyone, we should withhold nothing good but should we visit what is bad on others?

And combining "Our relationships are holy" with "cast the money changers out of the temple", makes no sense at all. First, not all relationships are holy and second, "cast the money changers out of the temple" has nothing to do with relationships, it has to do with, as Jesus said, turning his father's house into a den of thieves.

 

To be the salt of the earth is to season the mix, to effect the change you would like to see. The law of Moses was given for hardness of heart. The people did not know mercy so laws were given that they could look to instead of tearing each other apart. But this solution became a substitute for true investment or genuine devotion.

So in this very instance I use the example of the dynamics of this conversation to demonstrate what I am talking about. You've got tradition in the rules of sanctuary. We have people coming to the sanctuary for their interest in the ideas of god. So here is our opportunity to love one another.
Do we say welcome or do we say see the christians only sign. Do we say go away because they did not pay the fee of calling themselves christian.
If the rules are there to allow for posting of scripture and to provide a place for christians to be comfortable, then that can be accomplished through mercy, entertaining non christians and still fulfilling the spirit of the law.

What bad are you talking about visiting on others. Why would you conceive of visiting bad on others. You don't have time for that if you love god with all your might and your brother as yourself.

What relationship would you not bring to god waterbrother? They are your relationships, how do you tend to them? If what we do the the least we also do to him, don't you think holy is the way to regard our relationships. Again god's temple is the devotional heart of man. So do we regard the non christian visiting sanctuary as a fellow child of god in creation or do we not care for them because they did not pay the fee of claiming to be christian. If you require that of him, you have robbed him of his rightful inheritance. Do you understand?

 

Are you willing to discuss interpretations without simply writing them off? I'm not accusing, I'm just asking because do you not feel that it needn't be interpreted since it's complete and proper in it's current language?

 

It is not our fault if we are smarter

I am just joking, but I think the reason for a few of us to be slightly blunt occasionally is that we have researched these things extensively and understand that any passage from Scripture can be made to say nearly anything, only a few go along with continuity of the complete text. If you presume the continuity of the Bible, then it makes no sense for Jesus' teaching to all of a sudden the need of God in our lives, or that we are all secretly Gods, or that God does not love all of humanity.

RE: Doesn't need to be interpreted...

Everything needs interpretation. I can say to you "I loooove that hat" but my tone could imply that I really do not love that hat, or that I think something else is really ugly so I am complimenting that to distract you. Or I could simply mean I like your hat.

All the Bible needs to be interpreted, it is just we have different parameters. OWB takes a more literal approach (if it says 144000 virgin Jewish males will reign, then that is what it means---sorry if I am saying this and you do not believe it OWB). For example, OWB and I have very different opinions on what it means for Jesus to command Peter to feed his sheep (repeatedly). It isn't so clear now. ALthough it may seem as though he is writing you off, what is really happening is that he is offering a different interpretation. I'd often agree with him that your is not right, although it is valid (in that it is perfectly fine for you to believe that, I think it is wrong, and I hope it at least came though logic and reason--not whims).

 

What Ukr-Cdn said. We don't have to all agree with each other. Actually, it's nice to see a difference because it helps to challenge us. I often learn a lot from the people that I disagree with.

That is the point of this thread, to hear out all people's interpretations, and to communicate our differences in a respectful way, but respect doesn't necessitate being agreeable. Also aside from that, keeping an open mind about those differences and perhaps allowing ourselves a change of mind if what the other says makes more sense than what we originally believed... but what makes more sense is entirely up to the individual

 

in the beatitude 'blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven', what does 'poor in spirit' refer to?

 

Poor in spirit refers to those who find no solace in the world and thus turn to god for redemption.

 

Did you know that salt is not just a seasoning but for thousands of years has been used as a preservative? Perhaps Jesus was saying that Christians should be a preserving influence on others, preventing spiritual putrefaction and moral decay.

Actually the "Law of Moses" was given for many different purposes, as prophecy of what was to come, to be used as proof that Jesus was the promised Christ, though obedience to it the sanctity of life and the dignity and honor of the family and of marriage and of person were protected but the real purpose of the Law was, as stated by the apostle Paul, “to make transgressions manifest, until the seed should arrive.” It was a “tutor leading to Christ.” It pointed to Christ as the objective aimed at (“Christ is the end of the Law”). It revealed that all humans, including the Jews, are under sin and that life cannot be obtained by “works of law.”

The law was never to be the solution but was meant to lead to the solution.

I will say that I have asked some non-Christians to leave Sanctuary, not because they are non-Christians but because they were abusive and disruptive. But I've already mentioned I care less if anyone here in the discussions is a Christian or not as long as they are not abusive and disruptive.

I conceive of it because not everyone are true Christians and even some who call themselves "Christian" have visited some very bad things on others. In fact Jesus himself said; "the hour is coming when everyone that kills YOU will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God" (John 16:2)

I beg your pardon, where did you say in your statement; "Our relationships are holy", that you were talking about my relationships?

And as I said there are some relationships that God would not find to be Holy.

Now I know that God's people are considered his temple, "For we are a temple of a living God; just as God said: “I shall reside among them and walk among [them], and I shall be their God, and they will be my people.”(2 Corinthians 6:16) but I don't remember the Bible ever saying that; "god's temple is the devotional heart of man", perhaps you can share that scripture with us.

It is you that don't understand. How many times to I have to tell you that as far as I'm concerned anyone can participate in these discussions as long as they are not abusive and disruptive.

 

I believe the Bible "interprets" itself but I know many don't feel that way and I am willing to discuss interpretations from that stand point