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Monday, August 22, 2005

Interpreting Scripture

I posted a while back about the book Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. My biggest challenge with what was said was in the book was the author suggests we should continually reinterpret the scripture. Somewhere out there a correct interpretation exists, but we as feeble humans will probably never get it right, so we should keep on trying so we can at least get closer.

I won't discuss my initial hesitance to this, since I did that in the first post about it, but I wanted to discuss my slow acceptance to this thought.

I think I've come to realize that Rob isn't saying we should throw out everything we've been taught and start our own sect of biblical interpretation, forming our own doctrines about scripture which will lead to redefining salvation and even questioning is salvation even necessary. Instead, I think he's saying realize what you've been taught has most likely come from man and not directly from God himself, so take an opportunity to question what scripture is really saying.

I've seriously been giving this a lot of thought / meditation / wrestling with God. So, let me pose to you this practical application question that I've been considering all day. In Mark 5:35-42 when Jesus goes to Jairus' house after being told his daughter is already dead, did Jesus raise the girl from the dead, displaying healing power, or was the girl literally sleeping like Jesus said she was and by recognizing this, Jesus displayed supernatural wisdom, recognizing another trap set by the religious leaders. Everything I've been taught about this passage (and there has been a ton) speaks of healing and raising from the dead. Even the motives we place on Jairus' and Jesus' actions are interpretations. So what's your interpretation of this or other scripture that is different than common thought?