[grumpa]

If you are not ready to be challenged, this article might make you a bit uncomforable.

[scripter]

Thanks for posting. Will read it later.

[mnehring]

this article might make you a bit uncomforable.

Actually, although I'm not finished reading it, this seems one of the more rational articles on the subject I've read in a while.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

There are the ultra-fundamentalists who think that every word in the Bible is to be taken literally—making a mockery of language itself including the language of Scripture.

You know, it's funny, I keep hearing about these folks, but of all the fundamentalists I've met over the years, I haven't actually met any.

[scripter]

Just finished reading and I liked it. From what I've seen on FR, some here won't like the article because it doesn't support their particular theology... I'd like to be wrong.

I was glad to see the reference to context, something many either don't understand or ignore.

In addition to a number of books, I use Logos Bible software to study the Bible. Well, who am I kidding... I rarely use books any more because Logos is excellent.

Good stuff. Thanks.

[Olog-hai]

I see no mention of the Sabbath or other commandments. Too sticky a topic for one that wishes to challenge one's thoughts on the Bible?

Also no mention of Isaiah 28:10-13, which gives one of the most important clues on how to study scriptures.

It always helps to have a copy of the Bible with Strong's Dictionary if you want the meaning of the words in the text.

[BereanBrain]

Hank sold out to the “different” doctrine guys several years back.

I guess his books weren't selling well enough, so he had Willow Creek guys onto his program to promote their “seeker sensitive” theology.

Sorry, but Hank USED to be bible based sola scriptura, but now he's more into doing and saying what he has to to get listeners

[RaceBannon]

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/doctrine/doctrine.htm

[SVTCobra03]

The biggest problem with post-modern evangelism are the emergent, seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven churches that cater to itching ears.

[Quix]

Hmmmm

place marker.

[RatRipper]

Have read some of the website already. Looks like an excellent resource to me. Thank you for sharing it.

[aruanan]

Forgive us for saying so, but perhaps it is time to be honest with ourselves. American Christianity is a mess. It is separated into divisive sects, giving the world the impression that we don’t know what we are doing. And maybe we don’t. Some serious introspection is in order.

Yeah, I mean, obviously the Father doesn't know what the hell he's doing with his Son's own body, the church, so it's a good thing we have folks like those at FaithFacts.org to give the Deity a sorely-needed helping hand.

[count-your-change]

The author evidently has never done the self examination that he would have others do.

“If you are not ready to be challenged, this article might make you a bit uncomfortable.”

Uncomfortable? Only to the extent that had he practiced what he advised he might be less anxious to “challenge” anyone.

[Campion]

According to the Roman Church, it is neither the right nor the responsibility of any individual Christian to interpret the Bible and declare its meaning.

I always get a good chuckle out of Protestant websites and writers who pontificate (the word is chosen deliberately) about what "the Roman Church" teaches or believes, "according to the Roman Church," without ever citing, and most likely without ever reading, an official teaching document of "the Roman Church".

They all just assume they know what Catholicism believes and teaches, because, by golly, they're wrong and we're right. I mean, Pastor Jones told us what the Romanists believe, and Pastor Jones knows all about that stuff.

Fact: "The Roman Church" indulgences Bible reading by the laity, which is just about the highest approbation it can give. Of course, she reads it out loud to her members at every Mass and every celebration of the Divine Office.

Fact: Anyone who reads the Bible is thereby necessarily interpreting it.

In view of those facts, the bald proclamation in the article of what "the Roman Church" allegedly teaches is clearly nonsense.

[Uri’el-2012]

How to Interpret the Bible

The method that has been employed for over 3500 years is Pardes (Jewish exegesis)

1. Peshat (פְּשָׁט) — "plain" ("simple") or the direct meaning[1].

2. Remez (רֶמֶז) — "hints" or the deep (allegoric: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond just the literal sense.

3. Derash (דְּרַשׁ) — from Hebrew darash: "inquire" ("seek") — the comparative (midrashic) meaning, as given through similar occurrences.

4. Sod (סוֹד) (pronounced with a long O as in 'bone') — "secret" ("mystery") or the mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[Just mythoughts]

Yes I read the article.

1. (Christ speaking) Luke 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you Nay; but rather division: (disunion)

And of course it does require reading the whole chapter of Luke 12, why Christ who is the only pure source of ‘peace’ would need to tell us that He would be the cause of ‘wars’ and ‘division’. Look around this world there is plenty of ‘division’ and ‘wars’ taking place.

Now wonder why the majority of the inhabitants on this earth today have such animosity to the Saviour? Now that is a challenge to understand.

2. ICorinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples (examples): and they are written for our admonition, (warning) upon whom the ends of the world (age) are come.

Again the whole chapter is required reading to get the ‘context’ of Paul's instruction.

3. Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that *I* will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, *but* of hearing the words of the LORD:

Sure looks as if things foretold all those many years ago that would be are indeed happening right on schedule.

[raygun]

Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. Biblical exegesis as a specialty that includes a wide range of critical disciplines: textual criticism (investigation into the history and origins of the text, historical and cultural backgrounds for the author, what does the text say), the original audience, classification of the type of literary genres present in the text, and the grammatical and syntactical features in the text itself.

If the canon of Scripture is considered as an organic whole, rather than an accumulation of disparate individual texts written and edited in the course of history, then any interpretation that contradicts any other part of scripture is not considered to be sound. Sound biblical exegisis is dependent upon a rigorous and systematic implemenation of hermeneutics. Biblical hermeneutics employs interpretive formulae common to general hermeneutics and are generally not mutually exclusive, and interpreters may adhere to several of these approaches simultaneously once. The interpretive formulae employed include:

Theological Group of Principles:

• The Election Principle
• The Historical-grammatical principle based on historical, socio-political, geographical, cultural and linguistic / grammatical context
• The Dispensation Principle or The Chronometrical Principle: "During different periods of time, God has chosen to deal in a particular way with man in respect to sin and man's responsibility."
• The Covenantal Principle: "We differentiate between the various contracts that God has made with his people; specifically their provisions, their parties and their purposes."
• The Ethnic Division Principle: "The word of truth is rightly divided in relation to the three classes which it treats, i.e. Jews, Gentiles and the Church."
• The Breach Principle: Interpretation of a certain verse or passage in Scripture is aided by a consideration of certain breaches, either breaches of promise or breaches of time.
• The Christo-Centric Principle: "The mind of deity is eternally centered in Christ. All angelic thought and ministry are centered in Christ. All Satanic hatred and subtlety are centered at Christ. All human hopes are, and human occupations should be, centered in Christ. The whole material universe in creation is centered in Christ. The entire written word is centered in Christ."
• The Moral Principle
• The Discriminational Principle: "We should divide the word of truth so as to make a distinction where God makes a difference."
• The Predictive Principle
• The Application Principle: "An application of truth may be made only after the correct interpretation has been made"
• The Principle of Human Willingness in Illumination
• The Context Principle: "God gives light upon a subject through either near or remote passages bearing upon the same subject."

Sub-divided Context/Mention Principles:

• The First Mention Principle: "God indicates in the first mention of a subject the truth with which that subject stands connected in the mind of God."
• The Progressive Mention Principle: "God makes the revelation of any given truth increasingly clear as the word proceeds to its consummation."
• The Comparative Mention Principle
• The Full Mention Principle or The Complete Mention Principle: "God declares his full mind upon any subject vital to our spiritual life."
• The Agreement Principle: "The truthfulness and faithfulness of God become the guarantee that he will not set forth any passage in his word that contradicts any other passage."
• The Direct Statement Principle: "God says what he means and means what he says."
• The Gap Principle:"God, in the Jewish Scriptures, ignores certain periods of time, leaping over them without comment."
• The Threefold Principle:"The word of God sets forth the truths of salvation in a three-fold way: past - justification; present - sanctification/transformation; future - glorification/consummation."
• The Repetition Principle:"God repeats some truth or subject already given, generally with the addition of details not before given."
• The Synthetic Principle
• The Principle of Illustrative Mention
• The Double Reference Principle

Figures of Speech Group of Principles:

• The Numerical Principle
• The Symbolic Principle
• The Typical Principle: "Certain people, events, objects and rituals found in the Old Testament may serve as object lessons and pictures by which God teaches us of his grace and saving power."
• The Parabolic Principle
• The Allegorical Principle

In the interpretation of a text, hermeneutics considers what language says, supposes, doesn't say, and implies. The process consists of several steps for best attaining the Scriptural author's intended meaning(s). The techniques utilized in conjunction with the aforementioned principles include:

1. Lexical-syntactical analysis: This step looks at the words used and the way the words are used. Different order of the sentence, the punctuation, the tense of the verse are all aspects that are looked at in the lexical syntactical method. Here, lexicons and grammar aids can help in extracting meaning from the text.
2. Historical/cultural analysis: The history and culture surrounding the authors is important to understand to aid in interpretation. For instance, understanding the Jewish sects of the Palestine and the government that ruled Palestine in New Testament times increases understanding of Scripture. And, understanding the connotations of positions such as the High Priest and that of the tax collector helps us know what others thought of the people holding these positions.
3. Contextual analysis: A verse out of context can often be taken to mean something completely different from the intention. This method focuses on the importance of looking at the context of a verse in its chapter, book and even biblical context.
4. Theological analysis: It is often said that a single verse usually doesn't make a theology. This is because Scripture often touches on issues in several books. For instance, gifts of the Spirit are spoken about in Romans, Ephesians and 1 Corinthians. To take a verse from Corinthians without taking into account other passages that deal with the same topic can cause a poor interpretation.
5. Special literary analysis: There are several special literary aspects to look at, but the overarching theme is that each genre of Scripture has a different set of rules that applies to it. Of the genres found in Scripture, there are: narratives, histories, prophecies, apocalyptic writings, poetry, psalms and letters. In these, there are differing levels of allegory, figurative language, metaphors, similes and literal language. For instance, the apocalyptic writings and poetry have more figurative and allegorical language than does the narrative or historical writing. These must be addressed, and the genre recognized to gain a full understanding of the intended meaning.

Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that presents a rational basis for the Christian faith, to defend the faith against objections and misrepresentation, and to expose error within other religions and world views.

Christian apologetics have taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul of Tarsus, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, and continuing today with the efforts of many authors and speakers from various Christian traditions, such as Cornelius Van Til, Gordon Clark, Greg Bahnsen, James White, John F. MacArthur, Hank Hanegraaff, Ravi Zacharias, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, C.S. Lewis, Ken Ham, Kent Hovind, William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, Hugh Ross. Apologists base their defense of Christianity on historical and archaeological evidence, theological and philosophical arguments and scientific investigation. Sound apologia of theological doctrine is absolutely dependent upon a sound exegisis of the doctrine contained in Scripture and exposited upon through a rigorous, structured, and systematic use of biblical hermeneutics.