I've read so many comments on nairaland here and have heard so many people saying some people are twisting the Bible while others are saying they are correct. For example like the recent case of freeze and the pastors on tithing which we are all aware of. Some "matured" Christians said freeze was twisting the Bible to suit his need but those supporting freeze says he is right. So my question is what is the yardstick for determining the accuracy of the interpretation of a particular Bible passage? Is it what has long been taught? What you heard from the person that converted you? Or based on personal conviction? or based on some revelations?
This post is opened to all.

A good question

Let's see......

Christians find it difficult to interpret the Bible because they treat it as a book that was written by God to tell us how to live, which is totally wrong.

The Bible is not really a book. It’s a collection of books that were written by different people for different purposes at different times, which were selected by church leaders in a meeting orchestrated by the emperor of Rome centuries after the real founders of Christianity had died.

Imagine if PFN pastors conducted a meeting where they reviewed the most popular books written by dead pastors like Idahosa, Josiah Akindayomi (RCCG), Ayo Babalola (CAC), Samuel Oshoffa (CCC), and Bimbo Odukoya (who deserves to be alive), selected the ones they could agree on, and called them the “word of God” which Christians must obey. That’s essentially how the New Testament was created.

There is so much confusion because there are so many contradictions in the Bible and different groups fixate on different parts of the Bible. The contradictions are there because the men who wrote the Bible didn’t have the same beliefs, just as Oshoffa and Odukoya and Akindayomi didn’t have the same beliefs.

The Bible is much easier to understand if you treat each book within it as what it really is: a distinct work of literature written at a particular time, for a particular purpose, by a particular person or group of people and incorporated into the Bible centuries later.

There are none. From experience; What ever you feel should be the meaning is probably the holy spirit telling you it's the meaning, so just go with that.

They interpret it based on beliefs. If we ask Christians to interpret the part were god said “ you’re the light unto the world....” we’d have a lot of interpretations

Seun:
....

No. The Bible is a book with just one concept, context and content - Jesus Christ.
That's all

People above me gat no chill

olaolutreasure:

No. The Bible is a book with just one concept, context and content - Jesus Christ.
That's all

Look up the First Council of Nicea. Thanks.

Seun:
Christians find it difficult to interpret the Bible because they treat it as a book that was written by God to tell us how to live, which is totally wrong.

The Bible is not really a book. It’s a collection of books that were written by different people for different purposes at different times, which were selected by church leaders in a meeting orchestrated by the emperor of Rome centuries after the real founders of Christianity had died.

Imagine if PFN pastors conducted a meeting where they reviewed the most popular books written by dead pastors like Idahosa, Josiah Akindayomi (RCCG), Ayo Babalola (CAC), Samuel Oshoffa (CCC), and Bimbo Odukoya (who deserves to be alive), selected the ones they could agree on, and called them the “word of God” which Christians must obey. That’s essentially how the New Testament was created.

There is so much confusion because there are so many contradictions in the Bible and different groups fixate on different parts of the Bible. The contradictions are there because the men who wrote the Bible didn’t have the same beliefs, just as how Oshoffa and Odukoya and Akindayomi didn’t have the same beliefs.

The Bible is much easier to understand if you treat each book within it as what it really is: a distinct work of literature written at a particular time, for a particular purpose, by a particular person or group of people and incorporated into the Bible centuries later.

great post

johnydon22:
There are none. From experience; What ever you feel should be the meaning is probably the holy spirit telling you it's the meaning, so just go with that.

that means no interpretation is wrong?

Premiumwriter:

I've read so many comments on nairaland here and have heard so many people saying some people are twisting the Bible while others are saying they are correct. For example like the recent case of freeze and the pastors on tithing which we are all aware of. Some "matured" Christians said freeze was twisting the Bible to suit his need but those supporting freeze says he is right. So my question is what is the yardstick for determining the accuracy of the interpretation of a particular Bible passage? Is it what has long been taught? What you heard from the person that converted you? Or based on personal conviction? or based on some revelations?
This post is opened to all.

My dear, the Yardstick for interpreting the Bible is Christ.
What is the Bible? The word of God
Who is the word of God? Christ Jesus
The Word of God is a person and the Bible is the description of this person. Therefore any interpretation of the Bible that is not in accordance with the constituent of this person (Christ) is false.

The reason why Christians misinterpret the Bible is because they don't know Christ. For example, if you know Ade very well and you read the biography of Ade you would be able to tell where the author misinterpret Ade. We Christians are so focused on knowing the Bible rather than knowing the Word (the person of the Word, Christ). If all you have is an history book of Ade you would easily misinterpret why Ade did certain things in his life. But if you know Ade intimately you would understand clearly why he did certain things.

You see, emphasis should be more of knowing Christ through an intimate relationship rather than knowing the stories and verses of a book. Here is a blog that is dedicated to helping Christians go beyond knowing the verses to knowing the person, Christ:
[url]hiswordxray.com[/url]

Hiswordxray:

My dear, the Yardstick for interpreting the Bible is Christ.
What is the Bible? The word of God
Who is the word of God? Christ Jesus
The Word of God is a person and the Bible is the description of this person. Therefore any interpretation of the Bible that is not in accordance with the constituent of this person (Christ) is false.

The reason why Christians misinterpret the Bible is because they don't know Christ. For example, if you know Ade very well and you read the biography of Ade you would be able to tell where the author misinterpret Ade. We Christians are so focused on knowing the Bible rather than knowing the Word (the person of the Word, Christ). If all you have is an history book of Ade you would easily misinterpret why Ade did certain things in his life. But if you know Ade intimately you would understand clearly why he did certain things.

You see, emphasis should be more of knowing Christ through an intimate relationship rather than knowing the stories and verses of a book. Here is a blog that is dedicated to helping Christians go beyond knowing the verses to knowing the person, Christ:
[url]hiswordxray.com[/url]

I really get what you are saying and I kinda agree with you. I mean totally agree with you but don't you think that will still give people rooms for different and even contrasting opinions?

Premiumwriter:
I really get what you are saying and I kinda agree with you. I mean totally agree with you but don't you think that will still give people rooms for different and even contrasting opinions?

Yeah, it would give unsincere Christians room to bring confusion. There will always be those who are false, that's just the way things are. But for the true and sincere Christians who are just confused, the best way to be sure you are interpreting Bible correctly is if you do it according to Christ, let him be the Yardstick. And if you don't know Christ then get into an intimate relationship with him, focus on knowing him rather than merely interpreting bible. When you know him then you would be able to understand what the Bible is truly saying. I am speaking from experience.

Seun:
Christians find it difficult to interpret the Bible because they treat it as a book that was written by God to tell us how to live, which is totally wrong.

The Bible is not really a book. It’s a collection of books that were written by different people for different purposes at different times, which were selected by church leaders in a meeting orchestrated by the emperor of Rome centuries after the real founders of Christianity had died.

Imagine if PFN pastors conducted a meeting where they reviewed the most popular books written by dead pastors like Idahosa, Josiah Akindayomi (RCCG), Ayo Babalola (CAC), Samuel Oshoffa (CCC), and Bimbo Odukoya (who deserves to be alive), selected the ones they could agree on, and called them the “word of God” which Christians must obey. That’s essentially how the New Testament was created.

There is so much confusion because there are so many contradictions in the Bible and different groups fixate on different parts of the Bible. The contradictions are there because the men who wrote the Bible didn’t have the same beliefs, just as Oshoffa and Odukoya and Akindayomi didn’t have the same beliefs.

The Bible is much easier to understand if you treat each book within it as what it really is: a distinct work of literature written at a particular time, for a particular purpose, by a particular person or group of people and incorporated into the Bible centuries later.

The bible is our manual to the unseen realm which actually is the most important realm for humans. The bible is like a manufacturers detailed manual to a complex product. It explains a lot ofd spiritual and unseen patterns with the seen things. This is where people get it all wrong. When Jesus said let the dead bury their dead, does it mean physically dead people must be buried buy the physically dead?
Genesis 20:1-18 is a good example of spiritual death that lead to partial physical death for abimelech.