How You Can Understand the Bible
By ljordan
@ptty_noel (190)
Uruguay
June 30, 2009 10:27pm CST
The Bible is one of the most popular book in the world. It continues to outsell all other books, being avaliable to more people, in more languages, and in more formats that ever before. Yet many people who own a Bible find it difficult to understand. Is that true of you?
Do you think God want us to understand the bible? Or did he deliberately make the Bible unfathomable to all but a priviledged few, such as clergymen and Bible scholars?
Consider the following verses from the Bible:
- "This commandment that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away" (Deuteronmy 30:11)
- "The very disclosure of your words gives light, making the inexperienced one understand" (Psalm 119:130)
Hence from these the author of the Bible wants us to understand the Bible. However the fact remains that many sincere people find this book difficult to comprehend.
Here are three suggestions that can be followed to understand the Bible:
1. ASK THE AUTHOR FOR HELP:
At Acts 4:13 Jesus' apostles were considered "unlettered and ordinary" because they had not attened rabbinic schools for religious training. Nevertheless, Jesus assured them that understanding God's word was within their reach. Jesus explaing why this was so at John 14:26 where he said "The helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things." God used this holy spirit, or active force, to create the earth and all life upon it. He also used it to inspire about 40 writers to record his thoughts in the Bible. That same sprit is avaliable to help those who seek to understand the Bible. You can receive this holy sprit by asking for it in faith. And you need to ask persistently. God will be willing to give it to us because at Luke 11:9 &13 it stater "If you.... know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so will the Father in heaven give holy spirit to those asking him". That active force can help you understand the Bible.
2. READ WITH AN OPEN MIND:
We must read the bible with an open mind so that a veil of prejudice or preconceived ideas can hinder a reader from understanding bible truths.
3. ACCEPT HELP FROM OTHERS:
At Matthew 28:19,20 Jesus commanded us to "Go therefore and make deciples of people of all the nations... teaching them to observe all the thing I have commanded you". There are persons who offer to help persons to understnd the bible. Have you ever seen them? I am sure they came knocking at you door on many occasions. Yes I am talking about Jehovah's Witnesses.
Jehovah's Witnesses continue the preaching work in over 235 lands. They voluntarily help persons to understand what the Bible really teaches. They do this by means of a topical study of the scriptures. This progressive method of Bible study involves analysing what the Bible says about a particular topic or subject.
1 person likes this
11 responses
@SusanLee (1920)
• United States
1 Jul 09
Wonderful subject! I love the bible and like you, man cannot understand the depths and layers of the scripture without help from the Holy Spirit.
I myself have grown very leery over the years of someone else interpretation of the bible. I don't believe we're suppose to take what every Tom, D-ck, and Harry says.
I know God has revealed many scriptures to me over the years and they always applied to me, not anyone else unless it had to do with correcting me about an attitude I was having or something. It edifies, enlightens, and it goes straight to the your spirit.
Amazing and awesome just does not begin to describe it. And when God shows it to you, you know, that you know, and no one is going to be able to shake you from it.
We are so puny in our wisdom and knowledge. All the degrees and doctorates in the world aren't worth the paper they're printed on compared to one, tiny scripture that has exploded and illuminated our inward understanding.
To be taught by man is one thing, to be taught by the Holy Spirit is something else all together. The two can't even be put in the same category.
Again, good subject.
1 person likes this
@ptty_noel (190)
• Uruguay
1 Jul 09
Thank you for your comment. Yes the Bible is is wonderful book and like you said we need holy spirit to understand the depths of the Bible.
@freethinkingagent (2501)
•
4 Jul 09
The bibles words and phrases are not easily understood unless someone was able to read the older Hebrew, and Aramaic. It is often mistranslated and its meaning are misunderstood deliberately by some denominations and cults. Pretty much today's Christian religions have the bibles meanings completely wrong, especially the Jehovah Witnesses.
1 person likes this
@LovesTravel (303)
• United States
1 Jul 09
In my view, the Bible is a magnificent piece of literature. It represents and documents man's struggle to understand his place in the universe. The same can be said for other great religious writings. Is it inspired? Yes, of course, it's inspired by humankind's struggle to understand and explain--and to connect with things greater and more powerful, to seek comfort, and to provide a sense of hope in the face of hopelessness. Is it worthwhile? Of course, it is one of many key accounts that maps our human spirituality. Is it godly? I doubt it, beyond the fact that it illustrates one of many ways in which humanity has conceived of the divine.
1 person likes this
@clutterbug (1051)
• United States
1 Jul 09
I treasure my Bible. If we think of the Bible as a mysterious book that's hard to understand, we won't value it much and will read it even less. But if we see it as priceless treasure, we'll dive into it often and reap its amazing benefits. (Psalm 119:162)
1 person likes this
@ciocan_66 (91)
• Romania
1 Jul 09
I don't believe in bible!The bible was written by some "holy" people just to give other people fear of a supreme power!
@ptty_noel (190)
• Uruguay
2 Jul 09
2 Timothy 3:16- "All Scripture is inspired of God.." Yes the bible was "written" by men but what is written is not men's thought but God's since these men were "inspired" by God to put pen to paper and write God's thoughts. God directed the writing much a businessman uses a secretary to someone to write letters for him.
@Partyboy88 (23)
• Japan
1 Jul 09
The bible is hard to understand because it was compiled in Ancient Times. The people back then spoke in that way. Also the bible has been translated thousands of times and there are proably alot of mistakes from the original text. All old texts are hard to understand. Look at the old shakespere storyies/plays. They are all hard to understand because people spoke differently at that time.
You can understand it better if you buy a modern version. However that tends to lose its originallity.
@alex_raju (173)
• India
1 Jul 09
Hi..partyboy88..Bible isn't just a book .Its religious text of cristians .To understand it once needs the help of Holy Spirit .There is a standard bible in every language .Its no different from the original one except the language.Its hard to understand some parts...if u ask a priest.
@ptty_noel (190)
• Uruguay
1 Jul 09
You mentioned that the bible have been translated many times. That is true. But take for example that you dont know how to speak French yet you decide to come to an French speaking country for your vacation. Would you choose someone who can only say a few words in French or someone who is a fluent in French and English to be your translator?
The Bible have been translated by Professionals in many different languages and reviewed to ensure accuracy. That is why if you compare many of the Bibles that have been translated you will realise that they say almost the same thing. So it is not like a grape vine where after a while the message becomes distorted and untrue. Many scholors and fluent translators have been used to translate the Bible. I did some research on this You can also do some home work for yourself to see if what I just said made sence.
@freethinkingagent (2501)
•
4 Jul 09
No it has NOT been translated by professionals, it was translated by Clergy of different faiths and translated and arranged in a way to support Their dogmas. The bible has been mistranslated from the very first chapter and it is done too make people beleive something that is not true.
I can read the ancient texts, and I can translate without prejudice, and I can get a totally different story from the bible, a story that makes sense, and is in total agreement with itself, no contradictions, and not at odds with physical science.
1 person likes this
@elmiko (6630)
• United States
1 Jul 09
the Bible can mean different things to different people considering how people interpret it. considering the Bible is over 2000 years old it makes sense for it to have natural error over time or possibly intentional error. for the most part though i believe the Bible is one of the best books in the world while at the same time considering the good in other religions.
@Frederick42 (2024)
• Canada
3 Jul 09
First of all, we have to be sure that God exists. Before we even know whether God exists or not, it is absurd to jump to the conclusion that Bible is word of God.
If it is true that Bible is word of God, then it should be taken literally and no room for interpretation. But we can see that various interpretation can be given to the Bible statements by various theologians. Now, everybody can say that he has been guided by holy apirit. If it is true that each of them has been guided by holy spirit, then there not be different interpretations. We could say some of them lying. But where is the guarantee that all of them are not lying or just imagining.
If it is true that holy spirit guides us, then it would guide us day-to-day life and not while reading a book. In fact, the book called Bible would not be needed at all if holy spirit guided us in our day-to-day life.
Then, we could go on praying to the holy spirit to guide us. This prayer makes people confident that the holy spirit will surely guide them. Such is the power of faith. But actually , it could be just their imagination that the holy spirit is guiding them. Based on their imagination, they read the Bible and think they have understood the meaning. They really think they have been guided by their imagination when the fact could eb that they have been guided by their own imagination.
Another thing is that : are you saying Bible is the only word of God or are there other books that are supposed to be the word of God? If Bible is word of God and Quran is also the word of God and Vedas or Upanishad is also the word of God, then that is really absurd because there are glaring contradictions between Bible and Quran and the concept of God of Upanisad is very much different than that of bible or Quran. So, we would have to find out first which of these is the word of God.
No, I do not consider Bible as word of God. Guidance of an imaginary holy spirit is not required to understand that Bible is not the word of God. Our own understanding and wisdom is more than enough to understand that Bible is not the word of God.
@ulalume (713)
• United States
5 Jul 09
The problem these days with "understanding" the bible is that once you conclude that you "understand" it, you will inevitably be slammed by someone for believing something. Take for example any atheist who reads the bible and insist he understands the bible (like myself). Then take most Christians who insist you need to have a personal relationship with Christ and God to be able to understand it. Then on top of that take those verses that imply that anyone should be able to understand the bible. Mesh them altogether and all you have is a compilation of stupidity. The bible is a "I can understand it (but not really)" type of book.
@justbeingtiffany (1156)
• United States
2 Jul 09
i don't, i'm not religious. but the people who try to intpret r really smart ppl cause i couldn't do it
@phookadude (7)
• United States
5 Jul 09
The Jehovas' Witnesses were founded by a man who predected when the end of the world would occur.
He was wrong.
The bible clearly says that if someone makes a prophecy and is wrong then that person is a false prophet.
So the JW's were founded by a false prophet and therefore thier religeon is a false one.
The failure of the end end of the world to occur when it was predected has been glossed over by the JW's as the guy simply getting his math wrong or some other such nonsense, it was a prophecy people prepared for it, it was false. Study the history of your own sect before advocating it.
