How can a religion be viewed as accurate if they are open to interpretation?

Is there only one true God? If we believe so, then there can only be one true religion! True religion would have to be precise and clear in important matters that might harm others and allow for personal decisions in matters that do not affect others in a harmful way, it would have to promote the highest ideals in humans, and it would have to have a way to humanely discipline those that don't follow the guidelines of the religion. It would be similar to traffic laws. Some matters have strict guidelines, like the maximun speed in certain areas, the need to obey traffic signals, ect. but the color and make of the vehicle one drives is a personal matter where no guidelines are necessary. But since there are various religious books and various religious interpretations of the same books and various religions, then each of us should make an examination of all these and choose for ourselves which religion we think is the correct one. Each one of us is responsible to make a thorough search and make a decision. I am sure that true God will help all who are making a sincere and honest search to find the one true religion and worship the one true God. I guess, in the end, we will know what happens.

Well, the problem with your question is that I don't think that God INTENDED religion to be open to interpretation. Since I am a Christian, I will use the Christian example. The Bible, since it was written a long, long time ago and much of it is written kind of like poetry, is a little hard for us to understand sometimes. If you take the time, sit down and study it, and take years of your life to completely understand it, it is not much of a mystery anymore. UNFORTUNATELY, there are stupid people in the world. That is something that will never change. Just because a person does not believe certain facts does not mean that the facts are unclear. Take, for example, evolution. Science has made it pretty clear that evolution IS REAL and IS HAPPENING and yet a lot of people do not believe it. Does that mean evolution does not exist, because if it did it would be so clear that everyone would have to believe? Absolutely not. It means that some people just can't SEE the facts. I think it is a lack of perception on the part of people that makes thing seem "open to interpretation". It is not the fault of the religions themselves or the religious texts.

The so called inaccuracies in religion and therfore the various "interpretations" are the result of using the finite to describe the infinite.Or better still, to describe the indescribable. It is just like 'sweetness' could mean the quality of the juice of the sugarcane for someone who is familiar with it but could mean the "extract" of the sugarbeet to another who was introduced to 'sweetness' through that one! It is not just this.Do we really have an objective way- other than expressing in a language (a faulty, limited, or I would say even error-prone) to describe the state in which my mind/brain is placed when I am tasting something I call sugar? Even in a thing that is as available to the senses as the taste of sugar, we can never be sure that identical states are created in both of us. Now compound this with the hypothetical case of an observer who knows 'sweetness' through sugarbeet to the one who knows it only through sugar-cane, assuming that neither of them have the experience of the other, trying to describe their experience in say a common language- you have an intractable problem on hands! You might now suggest that they could write the formula- the organic chemical formula of cane sugsr in a structural formula. In such a case they would both be referring to the same "material" but will they be referring to the same state their brains cells were arranged in, for codifying their experience? This is what is responsible for differing interpretations of religious texts. Our excellent thinking apparatus (= the brain, mind, rationale, intellect) has no clue to a singular indisputable reality, in a very sensory experience! What to speak of an experience that is not even, not at all, sensory? So, our limitation, the limitation of our language has resulted in the differing interpretations. If you aksed me I will liken the interpretations to different teachers teaching the same lesson. The incapacity of one teacher would not make me doubt the veracity of one over the other.

You can have faith in anything... your best friend, the weather man, yourself... but that is still based on your own thoughts, feelings and beliefs - your interpretations. The Old Texts: Aren't meant to be used as they often are. They are guide posts at their best and works of fiction at their worst. The lessons may be great but out dated, terrible and cruel, or too open to being turned to suit the reader or teacher. As I said in another discussion... to lead a flock is to have power. Many of the interpretations (and the changes) are made by men ( and more recently women) who wanted to gain control in one way or another. No God sat down and wrote a book. Like they would have the time. Man wrote those and did so to suit what ever purpose they had... even if they believed every word that was first wrote... look at how many times it's been fiddled with. As for knowing what comes next or what is controlling us on an inner or cosmic level.... It is faith but again a faith that is based on what YOU have taken from the things taught to you (in some cases turning you from those teachings) your own research and the self developed beliefs. There are great things to be taken from religions : "Harm None" is a badge I have on my arm and I connect it to the teaches of other beliefs Do unto others... Be Nicer then you have to... Honor family (of course I twist it a bit to include the family of the heart as well as blood) But many wrong things: That one that says Do unto others also says it's ok to beat your wife with a stick as round as your thumb.... I soooooo don't think so! The teachings of others has taught me to have faith that my friends will still love me in the morning, that my family comes before everyone else, and that I should do my best not to cause harm through my actions... or inaction. I also have learned that no devil made me do it... I made me do it. That living for life is better then worrying about what happens after I stop living. And that I can't change how others believe but they will always try to change how I do.

all experience and all opinions are subjective. no one can ever really know anything is certain. you can believe things but never actually know. i'm not either religious or an atheist incidently.

For lack of complete facts people are philosophizing, so in my belief the Bible is a book of moral philosophy, and up to people interpretations. I don't believe the Bible is accurate though I am not an atheist. In my culture, God or religion came first before science. Let me explain. Unless someone came from a family of naturalist or family of strict pragmatics, mindset is automatically set to the belief of the forefathers, or family, and most of the world have religion. But don't be misled, because atheism can be religion too@

Hello ulalume!!! Yes, that is the point to be noted out. Actually the writer may himself not understand the actual meaning of the reality, and then start to interpret it with his thoughts which people tend to read it as the ultimate reality. It is obvious that the reality is far more than the information written on those bulky books. They are just not so accurate and original. May be the ancient being connected to the nature more than us, have the greatest secrets of life, but with the time, those informations have gradually lost. There is evolution in the thoughts of various people. The religion as believed in those times is not the same as believed today. And how can the reality change with it??? So, I agree with your statement.... Happy mylotting...

Very Good! That means that you can not depend on religion for your true information on God! You must seek God out yourself for the real answers. If you really care about truth you will search until you do find God. If God does not exist, then you will search forever and never find Him. However, sometimes people who really search will find what they are looking for!!! The choice to search and value truth are all in your hands.

I am of the opinion that all religions are merely code of conduct, developed by the senior members of society of the ancient eras. The object was to ensure that there would be peaceful existence. Over the years, considerable changes have come in situations. But these religious code of conduct has not adapted to it. Some of the priests of every religion try to extrapolate it to contemporary times, without stretching it too far. However, there are others who prefer not to deviate much from the original text as there can be several possibilities. The punitive consequences of wrong action mentioned in every religion are possibly to deter people from doing wrong. When we grow up, we do realize that there are gray areas where no god comes down to rescue us when we are wronged, or punish us when do wrong. When we do not understand this, we convince ourselves that may be we did something wrong in our previous birth and so on and so forth. That does not mean there is no god. There is a creator of this universe, and because of his/her capabilities, he/she can indeed make us calm and composed if not pull us out of our problems. Well, I'd leave fear of punishment alone for the sake of children as otherwise it will be very difficult to have children come up with some sort of discipline. But other than that, we do need to look at each religion at a deeper level and search our own answers. Each of us may be relating to god in a different way. And there may be a way that we can all be good to each other and eventually reach an exalted level that knows no pain or sorrow. I am still searching.