Could God have designed the Bible to only have one interpretation?

In this case the only correct understanding, is my understanding of it and that fact, in a way, proves my point.

Yep

Except, I see God as the first piece placed.

I will agree that the desire to access the true "interpretation" is necessary and not in question, I don't believe that that fact that "interpretation" is necessary means that one is prevented by that fact from knowing what the true "interpretation" is.

 

Maybe it's not meant to be fully comprehensible. There's another theory that says the more sense it makes to man, the more likely it was written by man.

The Bible is full of paradoxs. My burden it light, but you must carry this cross(heavy). God is approachable, yet infinite at the same time. Few will be saved yet every knee will bow and everyone confess. These can either be changed to make them easier to understand or they can be accepted and allow for some mystery. My ways aren't your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.

 

You are a beautiful man. The cross is a symbol of suffering. The cross picked up daily is the uprooting of suffering. My yoke, (joining), is easy and my burden light. God is infinitely approachable if the approach is infinite, i.e. love god with all of you. As to your last enigma, everyone says i am sorry when the chips are down, but are not so interested in forgiveness when they are not under duress.

I don't mean to lend light where none is expected, but the truth comes from the mouth of babes. God wants to be known and his plan for salvation is utterly simple. Love one another.

If we understand something it is okay that it is understood. The mystery of god is how could such love be, it remains so to me.

 

Perhaps. But the question isn't so much what the bible is suppose to be but can God author a book for man that only has one correct "interpretation" and that "interpretation" could be known and understood by all who truly wish to know the message that God has for them.

Personally, I don't consider any of your examples to be paradoxes.

 

As to your question waterbrother, I think what you mean is could the bible have only one meaning that can be gleaned by all. The answer to that question is yes. Interpretation is always interpretation.

 

The watch words are "that we can all share". My suggestion for gleaning this meaning is to accept no compromise, that is if your meaning requires exclusions or is held out for special cases, then it is simply a point of contention and not a shared meaning. Ask anyone in the world if they believe in the value of love and they all do. It is when we try to assign conditions to the nature of that love, that our belief in love becomes contentious.

 

The only thing proven is that your point is yours. : D
I understand it. You haven't gotten mine yet. lol

Of course you do. I'll elaborate a last time, FTSOA. : D
If God is the first piece placed, there is no more puzzle to complete.
You're not suggesting that the bible or God are superfluous are you? lol

Not prevented altogether, no, ( knowledge being shared ) but taken up with it as opposed to being it.

'God' inspired the bible, but did not write it.

 

I agree with OWB, they are not paradoxes, but cases of "both...and..." rather than a general not Christian view of "either...or...".

For example. Jesus being both God and man. It is not either/or, but he is both/and.

Sometimes this can come out in arguments against Catholic theology, but overall they are not paradoxes, but a different way of viewing the world.


http://catholic-resources.org/Both-And.htm A good list of so-called paradoxes (the both/ands) of the Church and theology. Also some important groups of three, and even four.

 

That's great.

 

For any book, the content has to be thought provoking - so the reasoning and logic is a major aspect of interpretation -
For me, "there is no answer save the one we decide upon"

 

Yes, and I think even a child can understand it. God loves you.

 

It's probably easier for them to understand than for most of us grown ups.

 

There are some things in the Bible that are clear and easily interpreted. There are other things that we are not sure of the interpretation. Funny how the Jews were so sure that they knew the interpretation of the Old Testament that they crucified Jesus, and yet they were wrong on their interpretation. In the same way, I think many people who are dead certain of their interpretation of the Bible are wrong about it. So long as we are human, we will not know for sure the interpretation of the Bible, and are only able to understand it partially with the help of the Holy Spirit. For us to push our very certain (but probably wrong) interpretation of the Bible down someones throat is dead wrong. If we have an opinion, we can share that opinion with someone, and perhaps we are duty bound to do so, but if they reject our opinion we should not press the matter further.

If someone wants to kill themselves, there is really nothing that can be done to prevent them. I spent some time in a mental hospital where they took away any sharp objects I had and my shoestrings and belt. And yet if I had wanted to hang myself, I could have used my teeth to start a tear and made a rope out of my shirt and hung myself. In the same way, you cannot force someone to accept your interpretation of the Bible.

 

OlderWaterBrother,

Just wondering if you have a television. The Amish interpret the Bible to say that if you have a television, or car, or electricity in your house, you are bound for hell. Just wondering what you think of that. Whose interpretation is correct?

 

Totally true.

 

So are Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus. Not that belief in God and the Bible are in the same class, but fundamentalist belief in them is. I think there's much to be said for being an adult.

 

LOL. I'm not so bad when you get to know me.:biker:

 

Aha, aha, ahahahahahahahahahahaa

Hahahahahahahahahahahha

 

I just had to laugh. The answer here is that first of all there are different meanings on every page. So right away there cannot be one meaning. Did that make sense?

 

So are Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Not that God and the Bible are in the same class with those, but the fundamentalist interpretations are. Paul said: 1 Corinthians 13:11, When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. There's a lot to be said for maturity.