[LearsFool]

Could this be sour grapes?

My goal is to encourage people to let the Bible interpret itself. I'll happily be accused of sour grapes if I can accomplish that goal. :-)

[wideawake]

It is a logical impossibility for a book to interpret itself.

The act of reading is an act of interpretation, and there is more than one reader.

Every translation of a book into a different language is an interpretation.

And every living language is a constantly changing interactive interpretation of external reality.

You are assuming quite a bit.

[reaganaut]

//My goal is to encourage people to let the Bible interpret itself. I//

The two are not mutually exclusive, but if you think of the bible as being only in English with an English understanding, your interpretation can be and often in flawed.

Again, is it necessary, not entirely but it helps a great deal. This is not arrogance but simple fact. There is a reason that seminaries require it.