Expert: John Fields - 3/21/2011

Question
I have been studying sacred texts recently and after some theological reading I have more questions than answers, I would like you help me understand your perspective please. (Personally I came from a Christian perspective upbringing).
The bible has to be interpreted in order to put it into action. From my understanding it is not possible to simply read the Bible and do what it says unaffected by outside influence.
(such as culture, dominating social and political ideologies, and personal, subjective perception and context )
The Book is open ended. No one has the objective pure exact truth. Interpretive decision have to made today about what it means to be a Christian
With this in mind,
1.   why do you follow a particular denomination or accept certain interpretation?

2.   If the Bible is not the final be-all-and-end-all on all controversy and must be interpreted. What obligations (physical actions) does a Christian have, once they have interpreted the will of God for righteous living/ actions?

3.   Is every interpretation of the Bible a valid interpretation?

4.   Biblical Interpretations of righteous lifestyle, actions and morals shapes diverse religious interrelations; What is your interpretation of how one should relate to other faiths,                                                                                     do we learn from  and give merit to some of their wisdom even if it is not from the God of the Christian religion.

5.   How are boundaries or intervention point established for the extremes of religious interpretations  and application, when no one is objective? ( i.e. anti semetisism, apartheid, the inquisition and religious justification for the slave trade. )

6.   Could this ever justify a Holy just war?

7.   And finally how literally should on interpret the Bible?
Thank you for assisting in my understanding
With all due respect,
Jeremy Hutton (17).

Answer
First Jeremy, let me commend you for the quality of questions you have asked for one so young. I will attempt to answer as completely as possible.

1. Why do you follow a particular denomination or accept a certain interpretation?

I am a member of the group churches of Christ because I feel they are closest to following the Bible as it should be applied and I live by the interpretations that I have made for myself after my own careful personal study. My parents gave me their faith originally which I have since questioned and made my own. Several of the views I received from them have been changed and applied differently to myself due to my concluding that many were found scripturally lacking the entire context.

2. If the Bible is not the final be-all-and-end-all on all controversy and must be interpreted, what obligations (physical actions) does a Christian have, once they have interpreted the will of God for righteous living/actions?

I believe the Bible is the final authority though it must be interpreted individually to a certain extent. The Christian must FIRST and FOREMOST be certain scripturally that they are ACTUALLY Christians. God has told us how to accept His Son as Lord and Savior and many either willfully ignore this or are too trusting in what someone else has told them for salvation. My parents told me what they thought was right to tell me yet they were mistaken about a few things. But they were right about how to become born again, when one actually becomes a Christian in the first place. Thus it is necessary that we ALL examine the scriptures carefully for ourselves. After one is saved by accepting the Gospel, they must be willing to do all they do from that point in love and gratitude for what has been done for them.

3. Is every interpretation of the Bible a valid interpretation?

If you are speaking about Bible translations, no, they are not all equally valid. Some, like The Message, are paraphrases; essentially commentaries based upon the author’s own faith and practice. These can be helpful to learning as a commentary on the word of God but should NOT be used as the authoritative Word of God to live by.

If you are speaking of how men understand and individually apply the word every interpretation will not be correct. For instance: some believe they are saved by asking the Lord into their hearts in prayer and then at some later time are baptized with the understanding that their salvation was achieved at their prayer and their baptism is merely an outward statement on their previously received salvation. Others believe that baptism is a required part of receiving the Lord into the heart without which salvation either has not occurred or, at best, is in serious doubt. These are mutually exclusive positions. The Gospel is what God did for us by giving us His Son. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 we see that Jesus died, was buried and was resurrected and that there were many reliable witnesses who could attest to this fact. So salvation is FIRST about what God did in offering His Son to satisfy His own demands for justice. But though the gift was offered to all, it will not be accepted by all. Romans 6:1-9 tells how the Gospel is received. A person believes in Christ by sharing in His death, burial and resurrection so that what Jesus did counts for them as well. The bible teaches that baptism is more than merely a symbol of what Jesus did but is actually the time when a person has it count for themselves. A person dies, is buried and is resurrected to new life with Jesus at baptism.

Many make the mistake of calling baptism a work. They say something truthful, such as: “Man is not saved by works but by faith.” This is true. When we have been saved, we work for God as a love response to show our gratitude for His having saved us. His salvation was His gift to us and our works are our gift given to Him. Works done to obtain salvation are not done to give to God but to receive something from Him instead. Scripture plainly says that the one who is trying to be saved by works of law will be lost (Galatians 5:4). But then they make their mistake by thinking and referring to baptism as a work (hence, to their way of thinking, it cannot be for salvation since it is thought to be a work). Baptism is NOT a work. Nobody baptizes themselves so it CANNOT be a work of the kind God is referring to in Galatians 5:4. Baptism is actively sought in obedience to faith and passively received. It is God’s work to save us (Titus 3:5). It is mainly for the reason I just stated that most will reject baptism as required to be saved. Interestingly, the things they do not think of as works actually are while the thing they think of as a work is not. Nobody could believe for you or offer the prayer of salvation for you (if it were valid), therefore faith and prayer for salvation is necessarily a work which must be done by the person seeking salvation since nobody can do it for them. So while they do not think of the works they are doing as works, though they are, at the same time they think the thing that should be done to them is a work, though it is not.

4. Biblical interpretations of righteous lifestyles, actions and morality shapes diverse religious interrelations; what is your interpretation of how one should relate to other faiths, do we learn from and give merit to some of their wisdom even if it is not from the God of the Christian religion?

I am a believer that there is one God, the God of Christianity. Because of this, I believe that the rest of these “gods” came from people in the past who either ignored Him or misapplied the truth while wrongly attributing its source as being from their false gods or religion. So the truth and moral precepts that can be found in many, many of these different religions can be emulated and honored as having come originally from God Himself. But when something comes from God and it is mis-attributed to a false god He is deeply offended. All people who need salvation should be treated with love and respect regardless of which god they serve or upbringing they received. The Christian’s job is to show those in false religions where to properly give the credit and worship in their lives, God.

5. How are boundaries or intervention points established for the extremes of religious interpretations and application, when no one is objective? (i.e. anti-Semitism, apartheid, the inquisition and religious justification for the slave trade).

Because of the flawed nature of men and their lack of understanding often being encompassed by broad sections of their culture, there will unfortunately be times when wrong is done in the name of God. This is why it is so important to catch lies and untruths early before they can form into a cultural norm. It is my firm conviction that a lie that catches on among many first starts among a few. This is why we must speak up for the truth before the lie spreads further and does more damage. Anyone who had and was practicing the scriptural Christian teaching of love would not enslave, segregate, torture, or pre-judge. Love, defined by Jesus, is doing unto others what you would want done to you. Since none of us would want those things done to us, the law of love would keep us from doing them in the first place.

6. Could this ever justify a Holy just war?

Sometimes a war is what God allows, causes or brings about to cause things to work out the way He wants them to. Romans 13:1-4 is the source for this. Many have attempted to justify unholy causes or movements as “holy.” Christians should do the best they can to practice love from a grateful heart. If this happened across the board there would never be war of any kind.

7. And finally how literally should one interpret the Bible?

Context, context, context is an important rule. Sometimes we will think something should be literal which should not be and at other times that something should not be literal when it should. For instance: I believe that when Jesus washed His disciples feet and told His disciples to do the same that he was telling them to serve one another and that foot washing as a command in itself was not being commanded but was just being used as an example of how to serve. Others believe it is required. So which is it? The person serving in love may have EITHER of the viewpoints and still be fine before God. The foot washer should bind his belief on himself and not on anyone else and wash feet accordingly. The person who serves should serve using this as a teaching example. Both can be faithful under the same roof without conflict if each is willing to let the other follow their own convictions.

In Ephesians 5:10 is a VERY important verse for Christian living. Ephesians 5:8-10 (8) for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

This says a Christian was formerly darkness but is NOW Light in the Lord. In other words he is saying that the person is in the state of being Light in the Lord. He then says that a Christian is to walk as a child of light. THEN he tells us what that walk produces or looks like. The fruit and product of walking in the light is trying to learn what God wants of us and then attempting to put it into practice.

Ten different people will come to ten somewhat different conclusions of how they need to be serving God. If finding the exact ONE correct way to please God was required, NONE OF US could please God since we make mistakes and are incapable of getting it all right (James 2:10). But if as Christians, through Jesus Christ, we are trying to learn what is pleasing to Him in love and trying to put it into practice we remain His children though we may differ in many areas. The Bible says that love is the fulfillment of law (Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14). Therefore, as blood bought believers, when we love God by attempting as best we can to love others for His and their sakes, we are counted as though having completely gotten every aspect of law right.
Thanks so much for your questions and I hope these answers are helpful.