THE FALSE CONTRADICTIONS IN THE BIBLE
For most of you out there, you read for the fun of it. Some of you also were fortunate to have accepted the reading culture that was inculcated in you as a youngster, so as at now you still enjoy reading. Well, for me, the reading culture was forced in me as a youngster. I was FORCED to read!!!! But due to the fact that there was more wax in my ears than a candle, i threw that culture away. If not for the fact that i am pursuing a four year degree course in ENGLISH in the university, i would probably be blogging in 3w3.
In literature class we read a lot. I mean we read a lot of books that are of no essence to our little Ghanaian lives. One quote from one of my lecturers i will never forget is, ‘in literature, validity is all’. This simply means that,in the analysis of a piece of writing, everybody’s understanding is acceptable provided he/she can support it with evidence from the piece.* Note, i will not tolerate strange or awkward interpretations of any of my blogs because of the aforementioned quote*. The level of validity with regard to the true interpretation of a text however varies. With the most valid interpretation being the one closest to the intended meaning the author wanted to put across. *please bear this in mind as you read on*
It has come to my knowledge, *and i’m sure to yours too*, that there are several interpretations given to some messages the bible puts across. It is not as if these interpretations vary because some of them come in to give us deeper understanding of the actual verse, but the interpretations are totally contradicting ones. They are almost opposed to each other. Due to this quite unfortunate situation *which shouldn’t be*, people have boldly called the bible a contradicting book. How funny?? If you are one of those people, please try and read about the history of the bible and the whole process of canonization. Then you would realize that the bible has stood the tests of time and been through worst arguments, so there is nothing your little argument can do to the authenticity of the bible.
Well, back to what i was saying. Therefore, the most valid interpretation of the bible is the one closest to the intended meaning God wanted to put across. So instead of wasting much time in unfruitful arguments (as the book of TITUS admonishes us not to),let’s rather spend quality time knowing the word of God so that the validity of our interpretation of the word of God can never be questioned.I dare say that there is no confusion in the bible as God (the author), is not the author of confusion. But the confusion in the interpretation of the bible is just due to the different cultural upbringing we have as human beings. The LAW OF DETERMINISM and the LAW OF LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY explain this further. These two laws imply that one’s background comes to play in his quest to interprete any piece of writing. But this shouldn’t be so when it comes to the bible, we should be able to let ourselves go, for the author(the HOLY SPIRIT), to explain HIS word to us.
Comments
In fact the diversity in the interpretation of the Bible is primarily dependent on our human approach to the reading of the texts. It’s undisputable that the scripture is literature, but for the manifestation of the holy spirit in the course of studyiing, the metaphorical interpretation will elude the reader. It is the more reason people aascribe wrong interpretation to the Bible….
truth man…
But here’s the problem with this argument: God did not write the Bible. Not at all. Contrary to popular belief, humans wrote the Bible under inspiration.
I usually write poems when I’m inspired by the works of great poets like Keats, Byron and Tolkien. None of them wrote my poems. No matter how I agree with the spirits and sentiments of my sources of inspiration, they did not write it. I did.
Believing God, or his “Spirit” wrote the Bible is a subjective assertion, by faith. And so it falls within the realm of very human arguments. The reason for the perceived success of the Bible is not because of anything intrinsically superior with the book. It’s the people of the faith.
The Bible has been subject to much editing, by various compilers. The original selection of the canon was not entirely spiritual. Yup, politics was a play. It was agreed upon.
Another reason for the Bible’s success is in the natural evolution of society and societal thought. It actually is on the wane, along with religion in general. In the future, you’ll see less of it. Not more.
When trying to understand verses in the Bible, unless you don’t mind being entirely subjective, which is what religion basically is about, you will have to consider the backgrounds and times of the authors of the books accepted in the canon; Moses, Ezekiel, Peter, Paul and the like.
well, i’ll disagree a bit with you. i believe if prophecy is given by the inspiration of God and yet it is extremely accurate, then i believe the bible which was also written under the inspiration of God, is accurate. About the politics,, well,,, u mean constantine ryte???? i don’t believe that though. cuz i’ve been exposed to the truth behind what really transpired. trust me, it wasn’t political… i believe the bible is the true word of God and accurate. it might loose some of it’s meaning by way of translations, but the original manuscripts still exist so some pastors still make reference to them