Originally Posted by
Cypress
You are not reading what the scripture says.
The scripture was not written in English.
The NT was written in ancient Greek and the OT was written in ancient Hebrew, neither of which you can read.
Any translation, including a vernacular English translation, is a pale imitation of the original language the scripture were written in - and translations never are 100 percent successful and accurate at capturing the meaning and intent of the original language.
That is why trained theologians spend years at colleges and seminary studying theology and frequently becoming familiar with Greek and Latin.
The bible is not something that can be cherry picked for quotes. And I believe it is a dubious proportion to expect a person of average intelligence, reading a 20th century English translation of ancient Greek, to really become a theological expert on the meaning and intent of ancient scripture
That will not stop them from trying though. I wonder how many of them stop to think that when they go to church/Sunday school, that what they are being taught is that particular minister's interpretation or idea of what a particular passage really means. It would be one thing to attend a lecture by one of the Biblical scholars you referred to, wherein he/she discusses particular verses in both the context of that entire passage but also in the context of the time and the world in which they were written. His interpretation would at least be backed by years of study and knowledge of the original language(s). Many of the evangelical preachers, otoh, don't even have degrees. When they claim that it's "the word of god," it's really the word of some humans who wrote it down, others who (mis)translated it, and yet others who translated it further -- and then filtered through the mind and mouth of the guy in the pulpit.
"Conservatism is the blind and fear-filled worship of dead radicals." -- Mark Twain
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