Liberal Hermeneutics

[evangelist6589]

Word has reached my ear that some of my critics on this board believe that I hold to liberal exegesis which is completely false. Check out this article.

Liberal Christianity - Wikipedia

Instead, liberal Christian theologians have an allegorical interpretation of the Bible which emphasizes the moral or other spiritual lessons which can be learned from its stories......Many liberals prefer to read Jesus' miracles as metaphorical narratives for understanding the power of God.[9

Since when have I rejected the miracles of Christ as not actual factual events? Since when have I employed an allegorical interpretation of the Bible? NO I employ a literal interpretation to the Bible called the Historical Grammatical approach. I am open to the possibility that the fires in Hell may be metaphorical, but I hold to a literal Hell that will torment the lost. Perhaps not with flames of fire and brimstone, but still it will be torment.

Not sure what else makes me hold to liberal exegesis so please explain.

 

[TCassidy]

Word has reached my ear that some of my critics on this board believe that I hold to liberal exegesis which is completely false.

Please indicate a thread and post number when you have been accused of liberal exegesis.

If you can't/won't, please edit the above post accordingly.

 

[blessedwife318]

I do believe that when you are accused of being liberal, its because you pretend the Bible says what you want it to say instead of what it says.
For example your refusal to admit you sinned against your wife, and would be committing adultry to marry someone else.
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Matt 5:31-32

16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the LORD Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful. Malachi 2:16

11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. 1 Cor 7:11

As long as you desperately seek out resources to assuage your guilty conscience, instead of repenting, you are showing this board that you will twist Scripture to what you want it to say, instead of what it actually says.

 

[Salty]

Here are several verse that you seem to disregard

 

[Lukasaurus]

Here are several verse that you seem to disregard

Huh?

 

[Salty]

Huh?

Sorry - Had the wrong link before - has now been corrected in post # 4

 

[evangelist6589]

Please indicate a thread and post number when you have been accused of liberal exegesis.

If you can't/won't, please edit the above post accordingly.

So the rumors are false? I can't edit my original post anyways it won't let me.

 

[Rolfe]

Word has reached my ear that some of my critics on this Board...

Actual subject of this thread: Evan the Victim. Again. The thread title is misleading.

 

[Rolfe]

So the rumors are false? I can't edit my original post anyways it won't let me.

How is your hangover?

 

[JonC]

Word has reached my ear that some of my critics on this board believe that I hold to liberal exegesis which is completely false. Check out this article.

Liberal Christianity - Wikipedia

Instead, liberal Christian theologians have an allegorical interpretation of the Bible which emphasizes the moral or other spiritual lessons which can be learned from its stories......Many liberals prefer to read Jesus' miracles as metaphorical narratives for understanding the power of God.[9

Since when have I rejected the miracles of Christ as not actual factual events? Since when have I employed an allegorical interpretation of the Bible? NO I employ a literal interpretation to the Bible called the Historical Grammatical approach. I am open to the possibility that the fires in Hell may be metaphorical, but I hold to a literal Hell that will torment the lost. Perhaps not with flames of fire and brimstone, but still it will be torment.

Not sure what else makes me hold to liberal exegesis so please explain.

It’s “shark week”…so I’ll bite.

I don’t believe that you have a hermeneutic method, so within the field of textual criticism I don’t think you are even among the bystanders. That said, if we were to look at how you interpret passages of scripture, then I’d say that you are very liberal. Here’s why.

What you have done (on this board) very often is set a standard of what you would like for a passage to say based on your own preferences, evangelism, and desires. From there you look for a book that offers some type of defense for your preferred view. Once you find the book you adopt the position and the author’s arguments. If someone points this out you say something like “the book is full of Scripture”. But at the end of the day, what drove your interpretation was not Scripture itself but what you wanted Scripture to say.

I’d add to this @blessedwife318 's comment because she is also spot on. Rather than taking Scripture as prescriptive, you reached far outside of your own views (camp, denomination, ect.) to find an author who wrote a book stating what you wanted Jesus to have meant. When it comes to gender issues you are quick to reject the idea that Scripture was speaking of a general principle and not really of specifics (contemporary gender issues, women pastors, ect.). But when it comes to divorce you take the exact opposite approach (Jesus instead was speaking in general to establish a principle of faithfulness). There is an inconsistency here. And we could look at other topics as well and see the exact same thing (e.g., Christian liberty, drinking alcohol, the Law, tithing, etc).

To offer an example – I can think of several topics in Scripture and, without asking, be pretty confident where @TCassidy will land on the issue. The reason is that he interprets things consistently because he tries to be faithful to Scripture (he is only inconsistent when his view differs from mine ). But with you, I know you will land where you are because you are going to use Scripture to justify whatever you are doing at the time.

Your view is, ultimately, an amalgamation of several authors who wrote books affirming what you wanted Scripture to say.

I don’t know if you have the book, but I’d recommend “Grasping God’s Word” by Duvall and Hays. One of the biggest failures of my generation (perhaps my father’s generation) is that we have focused so much on evangelism that we have failed to teach people how to read the Bible.

Grasping God's Word

 

[evangelist6589]

It’s “shark week”…so I’ll bite.

I don’t believe that you have a hermeneutic method, so within the field of textual criticism I don’t think you are even among the bystanders. That said, if we were to look at how you interpret passages of scripture, then I’d say that you are very liberal. Here’s why.

What you have done (on this board) very often is set a standard of what you would like for a passage to say based on your own preferences, evangelism, and desires. From there you look for a book that offers some type of defense for your preferred view. Once you find the book you adopt the position and the author’s arguments. If someone points this out you say something like “the book is full of Scripture”. But at the end of the day, what drove your interpretation was not Scripture itself but what you wanted Scripture to say.

I’d add to this @blessedwife318 's comment because she is also spot on. Rather than taking Scripture as prescriptive, you reached far outside of your own views (camp, denomination, ect.) to find an author who wrote a book stating what you wanted Jesus to have meant. When it comes to gender issues you are quick to reject the idea that Scripture was speaking of a general principle and not really of specifics (contemporary gender issues, women pastors, ect.). But when it comes to divorce you take the exact opposite approach (Jesus instead was speaking in general to establish a principle of faithfulness). There is an inconsistency here. And we could look at other topics as well and see the exact same thing (e.g., Christian liberty, drinking alcohol, the Law, tithing, etc).

To offer an example – I can think of several topics in Scripture and, without asking, be pretty confident where @TCassidy will land on the issue. The reason is that he interprets things consistently because he tries to be faithful to Scripture (he is only inconsistent when his view differs from mine ). But with you, I know you will land where you are because you are going to use Scripture to justify whatever you are doing at the time.

Your view is, ultimately, an amalgamation of several authors who wrote books affirming what you wanted Scripture to say.

I don’t know if you have the book, but I’d recommend “Grasping God’s Word” by Duvall and Hays. One of the biggest failures of my generation (perhaps my father’s generation) is that we have focused so much on evangelism that we have failed to teach people how to read the Bible.

Grasping God's Word

Tithing heh? I rest in what scripture says and not what an author says. I can't find it taught in the NT can you? Chapter and verse please.

 

[Rolfe]

Tithing heh? I rest in what scripture says and not what an author says. I can't find it taught in the NT can you? Chapter and verse please.

Careful. Someone may call your bluff and ask you for chapter and verse.

 

[blessedwife318]

Tithing heh? I rest in what scripture says and not what an author says. I can't find it taught in the NT can you? Chapter and verse please.

So resting in scripture huh. Where is your Chapter and verse that says you can divorce your wife and remarry because she was "mentally unstable"?

Also I find it fascinating that out of all JonC wrote you only picked up on one word in parenthesis. I had to read it a couple of times before I even found it. My guess is you know that you can't actually argue the others, such as drinking (especially given the fact that we have your own words showing that you struggle with alcohol and getting drunk on Mikes ) use of the law to confront others (all one has to do is look at how hard you have fought against the use of the law toward your own sin toward your wife to see that you think the law is only for others not for you despite your obvious pride on this issue) Lordship salvation (except when it comes to following His rules on divorce and remarrige) etc.

 

[InTheLight]

Careful. Someone may call your bluff and ask you for chapter and verse.

 

[Reynolds]

Tithing heh? I rest in what scripture says and not what an author says. I can't find it taught in the NT can you? Chapter and verse please.

You, the person who posts thousands of links to websites and books are now not wanting to listen to anything but chapter and verse????????

 

[JonC]

Tithing heh? I rest in what scripture says and not what an author says. I can't find it taught in the NT can you? Chapter and verse please.

Tithing was just one example (not the topic itself).

On this post, it doesn't really matter but the fact that you hit upon this one thing really highlights part of the issue. You defended your position when we discussed the tithe by saying that you cannot afford to give 10 percent and still pay your bills. This is exactly what I am talking about.

Again, the book I suggested is a good resource. Another is "The Hermeneutical Spiral" by Grant Osborne...but I think you would benefit more from "Grasping God's Word". I don't mean this in a hurtful way, but you need to gain a little more objectivity and humility in your studies (as reflected by your posts here).

Anyway, I hope that helps.

 

[Revmitchell]

Feeding the drama queen is not helpful to him.

 

[evangelist6589]

View attachment 1630

I thought you were not participating in my threads?

 

[evangelist6589]

Tithing was just one example (not the topic itself).

On this post, it doesn't really matter but the fact that you hit upon this one thing really highlights part of the issue. You defended your position when we discussed the tithe by saying that you cannot afford to give 10 percent and still pay your bills. This is exactly what I am talking about.

Again, the book I suggested is a good resource. Another is "The Hermeneutical Spiral" by Grant Osborne...but I think you would benefit more from "Grasping God's Word". I don't mean this in a hurtful way, but you need to gain a little more objectivity and humility in your studies (as reflected by your posts here).

Anyway, I hope that helps.

Eh my critics will always find a way to criticize me no matter what I say.

 

[blessedwife318]

Eh my critics will always find a way to criticize me no matter what I say.

Looks like someone needs to see if they have a teachable spirit.

"Prov. 15:32 He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
Prov. 15:33 The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Friends having a teachable spirit is something that most lack, and I will be the first to admit and put me into the list of "most people." A good way to find out if you have a problem in this area is to ask yourself the following question.

Question

How do I respond to correction?

People that hate taking advice are the kind of people Pro 15:32 is speaking about. They get bent out of shape when they are corrected, or believe that they are being attacked, you name it."
Bold in original.