How to Interpret the Bible
The Bible can be difficult to interpret at times, not to mention knowing whether it is all true. It has always astounded me somewhat how religion are so sure of themselves when interpreting the Bible, while at the same time claiming that it is all 100% accurate. First of all, who said that the Bible is 100% accurate, and why should we believe him/her? And lets say we accept it is 100% accurate, then how do we know who interprets it the right way and who doesn’t? I know religion claims that the Bible is 100% correct because they say it was inspired by God.
But if God wanted us to get a clear message, would he really have made it this hard for us? Would he have wanted us to put our faith in what people wrote some time after events had occurred from what they have been told by others? More importantly, would he have wanted others to interpret the Bible for us? Why would He give us a brain only for us to allow others to imprint their beliefs on it? To me, if there is such a thing as sin, then that must be it. If God wanted us to get a message, I seriously doubt he would have spoken to us only once a in history and then disappear again.
If God cared about us like the Bible says, he would always be in contact with us if we are willing to listen. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to believe in a God who sends us one message through one book, and then leaves us t0 pick up the pieces. Yet still, there is much to be learned from the Bible if we know how to interpret it correctly. Personally I don’t have much use for the old testament. It seems way too harsh, as if God was a human. Only humans are that harsh. God is not vengeful and judgmental. I think it was written in a time when life was very harsh, and therefor people thought God was harsh.
I find the new testament more accessible. Consider the following versus in the Bible:
“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 14:16-17)
If you take the first verse literally, it makes little sense, because Jesus taught love not hate. But if you look at the deeper meaning, it points to the fact that ego is what holds us back from finding God. When you are not identified with your ego, you know that the ego is not the real you, and neither is this earthly life and everything that goes with it, including family. In enlightenment you realize your oneness with all things and that you can never be truly separated from anything. Thus this verse points to the attachments of the ego, which needs to be ended to achieve enlightenment.
The next two versus are controversial as far as I’m concerned, because religion has interpreted those versus very literally, especially the bolded parts. Christianity makes it very clear that you must except Jesus as your personal savior, or you will burn in eternal hell. For me Christianity takes the Bible way too literally overall. If they take the second and third quotes literally, then it would only be consistent to take the first quote literally as well. But religion has never struck me as very consistent anyway. Surely they can’t possibly take the first quote literally as well.
What kind of God would want you to hate your family and your life to be saved, right? Another thing I have noticed is that Jesus speaks very metaphorically. If you take everything he says literally you would completely miss most of his teachings. The meaning of the second and third quotes is not that you would burn forever if you deny Christ. That would be the literal meaning. The true meaning is that Jesus serves as the perfect example, because he is enlightened himself. So what he means by saying that he is the way and the truth and the life, is that we must be like him.
If we become like him, we would abide in the Father/God/Source like he does. It really is that simple. When he says that those that doesn’t believe in him shall perish, it doesn’t mean they will burn in hell. It just means that they are ignorant of truth and therefor they live in darkness. Jesus was like a shining beacon that came to the world so that anyone who bothered to really take his message to heart, could gain enlightenment as well. That does not mean he was the only one. There have been many like him, like Buddha, Mohammed, etc. But he may well have been the most impacting one of them all.
Consider the following versus:
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17: 20-21)
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)
His message was that the kingdom of God was within, and that we shall do all of what he did and more if we have faith. This is consistent with enlightenment, because enlightenment is simply finding that the kingdom of God is within, and not somewhere outside. And when you become enlightened you will be able to so what Jesus did and more. I don’t think he would have said these things if he was the one and only son of God. So this must mean that we are all sons and daughter of God and we can all become like Jesus. This is the goal of the spiritual journey.
Ps. I realize the title of my post make it seem like I know how to interpret the Bible, but my point is really that you should interpret the Bible in a way that makes sense for you, and not just take someone else’s word for it. A loving God is not going to throw in in hell for doing that.
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