DJ: In a clue that somebody maybe using an allegorical even if they don’t mean to is when they ask a question what does this text mean to you. And the question is not what it means to me or what it means to you the question is what does this text mean to God. My task as a Bible teacher and interpreter is to figure out what it means to God so that I can apply it correctly.
JD: When everybody sits around in their ignorance of truly what the Bible says and say to each other what does this mean to you does not have any input into understanding the text it’s what God said and what he meant to write to us. What do you see as some of the most important issues that are affected by people who just don’t take the Bible seriously or interpreting it correctly?
DJ: We can start at the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis chapter 1 & 2. The idea that the universe was created in 6 24-hour days that is to be taken literally and when you don’t take it literally it leads to all kinds of wrong conclusions. We know and we both teach that the first 11 or 12 chapters of the Bible lay the foundation for every doctrine that lays a foundation for everything. The idea of Noah’s flood, when you combined creationism young earth creationism with Noah’s flood you have an explanation for the evidence that people use to support evolution.
We think about on the other end of the Bible prophecy and
last days. If you don’t undertake the Bible literally and interpret it
correctly you’re going to come to wrong conclusions about God’s plan about the
establishment of the kingdom. Another issue would be the charismatic issue and
the use of sign gifts. We could just go on and on but these are some of the
main ones. And then one that we touched on earlier the LGBT issue. These are
huge theological issues and they continue to be huge and we deal with them
every week and I deal with them continually in writing in the classroom.
JD: David James our broadcast partner with some very important
principles for interpreting God’s word the Bible.
We report this information because it is setting the stage
for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.
The apostle Paul wrote in II Timothy 3:16 that all scripture
is given by inspiration of God. It was God breathed through some 40 men, over
1,500 years, 66 books with one focus Jesus Christ and his redemption plan for
human kind.
It does matter how you and I interpret the word of God.
There will be absolute confusion if you don’t approach your method of
interpretation literally. To know the beginning creation and the end of all
things God gave the Bible to human kind. His written word is for us to
understand, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.
