How do you interpret the Bible?

[Imotoku]

I take most of literally like when it says there will be a plague I believe there will be a plague. When Jesus speaks in parables then it is metaphorical, Jesus says it himself. Like when it says the statue had bronze legs then clay then silver in a vision, then I would say that it is a prophetic statement and it is a metaphor of real things, all we have to do is figure out the metaphor.  

[Trix Starlight]

I don't believe the Bible is perfect - as you said, it was created by humans, not God.

And I do believe a lot of the Bible is metaphorical.  

[Priestley]

Let's not forget that God opens our eyes to different truths and interpretations of different passages on each and every repeated reading. Translations of the Bible, especially the various English translations, allow us to see the same passage in so many different lights that it can reveal new things all the time.

When I read the Bible, I try to think of all possibilities of what a passage means, its context, whether it can be related to any other passage, whether it's factual, metaphorical, physical, spiritual, historial, etc.. For example, there are passages in the Old Testament that we now know refer to Jesus who hadn't yet come. At the time, the people involved had no idea of the passage's true meaning, but took it for face value. We can also take it at face value but there may be so much more to it than that.

Personally, I believe humanity is flawed and there are all sorts of things translators can do to slip up, mistranslate, pervert, etc. God's word purposely or by accident. Make sure everything checks out before you trust it entirely.  

[Lethkhar]

Badly, according to most Christians.

The problem, I think, is that I read it like I would any other book, without any presuppositions.  

[PiercedPixie2]

My take on the Bible is a little different..

I do believe in it, i have read it twice and think you cant read it too many times, after all, it does have some interesting stories whee

But we must remember, this was not written BY God..he spoke to man and told him His word.

Though God is perfect and all he does is perfect, Man is not. Man is fallible and he wrote the bible..So i think sometimes the Bible should not be taken so literally.

Just my opinion...

I also agree with Priestley about how things can be lost in all these translations...  

[Fushigi na Butterfly]

I wanna know why people are so quick to dismiss the possibility that God inspired man perfectly when He wanted His Word written down. Yeah, people screw up, but when God wants something done, He's really good at inspiring people to do it. It is God's Word, not man's. It is all God-breathed and inspired, not inspired by man. Moses may have been holding the staff, but it was God's will being executed through him, and it got done, exactly how God wanted it. Unless anyone thinks Moses (or any man) is greater than God to the extent of screwing up His will. Jus' sayin'.  

[Priestley]

Fushigi na Butterfly

I wanna know why people are so quick to dismiss the possibility that God inspired man perfectly when He wanted His Word written down. Yeah, people screw up, but when God wants something done, He's really good at inspiring people to do it. It is God's Word, not man's. It is all God-breathed and inspired, not inspired by man. Moses may have been holding the staff, but it was God's will being executed through him, and it got done, exactly how God wanted it. Unless anyone thinks Moses (or any man) is greater than God to the extent of screwing up His will. Jus' sayin'.

It's not that a person who refuses to do God's will is greater than God. After all, if God needs something done, it will be done regardless of one person's refusal or inability, because God can just give the mission to someone else if He wants. I believe that it was human weakness and/or selfish ambition that blocks God's will.  

[DOVE_SAVED_BY_GRACE]

I think some parts of the Bible--Noah's Ark, the Creation, etc, to be literal.

But I think some is metaphorical, such as the two beasts in Revelation.