Does anyone find the Bible rather cryptic and ambiguous? And what do you do about that?

Question

So many on R&S ask the meaning of bible passages, and so many different interpretations are given, many plausible....why is that?

Answer 1

Of course, if it were specific everyone would be able to easily see through it.  Read a better book, more informative book.

Answer 2

what we do, is start with following the epistles of Paul and read up the whole thing to get the big pix - if you look at the original greek it was not divided into passages, it was all one story == if you take bits of it in isolated passages and then put them alongside each other, you can get lots of different meanings - and one passage by itself may have any number of interpretations === you can this with the traffic laws, take any one sentence by itself and you'll get lots of meanings, some of which could turn out to be very unsafe  

Answer 3

Read Joseph Campbell to really understand the Bible (and the Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita, and the Tao Te Ching, and Native American  legends, and Greek mythology, and......).

Answer 4

It depends on WHAT is GUIDING the person reading the Bible.

Fill in the blank:

Different persons, different attitudes, different thoughts while reading, and there's the Bible, and there's the ____ spirit.

a. Holy

b. evil

Answer 5

The Bible is a political document - all things to all people.

I ignore it.

Answer 6

My Bible isn't cryptic; it's the Living Bible version and it contains words like "Hello", "Any fish boys" and even "Illegitimate b*****d" (not to be taken out of context).

And some of the mysteries of God are best unexplained. Remember when Elijah wanted to see God, God wasn't in the fire nor the wind - he was in the whisper.  

Answer 7

The kingdom of God is not for everyone. Only those who seek him.

If it was easy, it would not be worth doing, and it would not test us.

Just keep going....

Answer 8

The main reason people misinterpret the Bible is because they do not know how to interpret.

The Bible teaches in I Corinthians 2:13 that we are to 'compare spiritual things with spiritual.' That is, we are to compare Scripture with Scripture, looking for the spiritual meaning.

Some people look only for the literal, physical meaning of passages. Unfortunately, doing so prevents them from understanding much of what the Bible teaches concerning salvation, the end of the church age, and the return of Christ. The Book of Revelation, for example, is understood by many as literal events that will take place. Most, if not all, of the events in Revelation are to be understood spiritually.

Most people never learn how to compare Scripture with Scripture. God has to teach us. Those whom God saves are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit teaches them the meanings of these difficult passages.

I Corinthians 2:14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

God will bring His people to an understanding of the passages He wants them to understand (John 14:26).

We know we have understood a particular passage correctly when it squares with everything else the Bible teaches concerning that subject.

Answer 9

The bible is designed for primary use by religious teachers who have care and accuracy in using language - can consult original languages to resolve any contradictions in the translations and who can retain a grasp of the whole book with which to compare sections that assume previous knowledge...

Christ said that men would have to give an account for every careless word they uttered - and James wrote in his letter that the tongue is an unstable member of the body and given to much evil which no man can fully control...

Learning Christianity is largely about coming to use language well... We have to repent - change our minds to become transformed from sinner to saint. And the tongue guides the whole body.

If you are finding the bible difficult to interpret you should either just try to practise what you do understand - the basics are made quite clear - or you should take time to study scripture carefully with a reliable translation and maybe a Greek-English dictionary. The NT is much easier to study than the ancient Hebrew of the OT - and the NT mostly holds the most relevant scriptures...

Answer 10

The Bible is a very deep well. One cannot see all of it's levels at once. Jewish mysticism teaches that the Torah portion of it, the Five Books of Moses, contain four levels of meaning in every verse, as follows:

1. The literal story in black and white.

2. A metaphor relating to your life somehow.

3. A literary allusion to another part of the text.

4. A mystical level that may include numerology, cyphers and other hidden meanings.

Most churches I have been in can go through the first three easily enough, but many people fail to understand that each of these levels also has multiple meanings. The literal story is pretty straight forward, but the others are more subjective. No church I've been goes into the fourth level. Some books are almost entirely ignored because they are mostly in the fourth level (Daniel, Ezekiel, Song of Solomon, Jude and Revelation, for instance). These are among my favorites, though, for exactly that reason.

The short answer is that the Bible is indeed cryptic and ambiguous, and that it has many correct interpretations. So, don't let anyone tell you that they have the only right meaning. It is not so confined.  

Answer 11

Much of what's in the Bible is open for interpretation.

That's why even the churches who claim "We just go with what the Bible says" or "We believe everything in the Bible to be true" still disagree on meanings. That's also why there are so many different Christian denominations.

If you're going to believe the Bible, just figure out what it means to you. (And try not to put too much emphasis on the nasty parts, please. We have enough g*y haters and judgmental asses in this world already, lol.)

Answer 12

If you are a Christian you have the Holy Spirit who gives you knowledge.  Inside the realm of Christians, all parts work together to show one part (a clock, for instance has many different parts).  Though we differ in nonessential theology, we all agree on the essential theology, Jesus Christ came and died for us.  

Please note there is a difference, nonessential (not essential to the outcome) and essential.  The Bible is very complex and takes years of study only to find you have so much to learn!  Every time I think I've got it now, I find more information just waiting for me.  

You have another group, too, people of other faith who don't believe in Jesus.  They have lots to say on the subject because they wish to debate.  

Add all that into a pot and you've got a mess of confusing banter.  

Know this only - "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace..."  1 Corinthians 14:33.  

He wants each and every one of us to search Him out.  Matt 7:7 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"

Jesus used parables to confound the wise.  Matt 13:13 "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."  He knew that anyone who wanted to find Him could and that those who thought they knew everything would not seek Him out, only serve ti confuse the matter, so He spoke in ways that only those who really want to know Him could find Him.  Only those with pure motives could understand and find His wisdom.  

Even when you do know Christ, it is hard to understand the complex things in the Bible.  We learn and grow in Christ, so that means we make mistakes and we get up and try again.  That's forgiveness and grace and it extends into our learning process of God and His Word, too.