Think of how impractical this is: You tell your daughter, "Go to bed." She doesn't do it. You question her. She says, "Well I thought you meant I should watch Jay Leno."
How can you possibly refute her with your hermeneutic? You can't. In your scenario, those words you used don't have any meaning until she interprets them. But in your conversation, you meant something by them and expected her to respond according to your meaning, not hers.
You see, the meaning is in the words as used by the author, not as understood by the interpreter.
Yes, the mind of the author as he intends them, not the reader.
When you read my words you are using the very thing I talk about. The only way you can refute it is by using my approach.
So let's test this: If you put an English Bible in front of a German who knows no English, does the Bible have meaning?
Of course it does. The German simply doesn't understand it.
Right now, as I write, these words have meaning even though you have yet to interpret them. There is something I intend for you to understand, and I imagine you will come pretty close to understanding it. You (based on what you have said) will reject it, but only becuase you use the very hermeneutic I am espousing.
BTW, your whole objection to my comment about "deciding for yourself" is predicated on me being right. You were not willing to believe that the words had no meaning until I interpreted them. You (rightly) asserted that they had meaning when you spoke them.
Last edited by a moderator:
