One of the many problems people have with the bible is that it is such an old book. So how does one decide if the scriptures it contains are accurate? What about the historical events that are mentioned? Are those historically accurate too, did things really happen the way it was written. This goes for any old book really, it’s hard to decipher between the literal and metaphorical. Throughout the decades as science has progressed many Christians find it hard to accept both the bible and science. This paper will discuss how one can find validity in the Bible’s scriptures, if science and the bible be reconciled. As well as pointing to ways to decipher between literal and metaphorical understanding of the scriptures.
In the Wesleyan …show more content…
Essentially it seems that the Wesleyan understanding of holiness encourages ecumenicalism: promoting the cooperation and understanding between different religious denominations to foster Christian unity. Reason is an important part of scripture validity. Reason aids in understanding, various interpretations of the bible would fall here. While reason and interpretation should not be the sole source of one’s faith. Lodhal brings up the fact that there are many philosophical reasons for there being a supreme God. Such as, the Watchmaker theory, the cosmological argument that Lodal mentions. None of these give absolute proof for God, instead they provide some sort of justification. Reason can also look into the thought process of the writer and the things or events that may have shaped his reasons for writing a certain passage. Reason is also something that is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, He aids in our understanding of the scriptures we read.The final piece to the quadrilateral is Experience. This includes the experience of the reader but more importantly the experience of the writer. When reading the scriptures it is important to take note of …show more content…
Because of this there has been any misunderstandings within the church. It is some of these misunderstandings that make up the differences between each denomination. First when reading scripture it is important to look at the original text it was written in. The reason for this is because many of us are reading a translation of the original text. In Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic there are different sentence structures that can give clues to what type of speech it is. Whether that’s a simile, metaphor, rhetorical statement, etc. If you are aware of these little nuances it will allow you to better decipher what the author means. Next it is important to note whether your translation of the bible is literal or a paraphrase. Literal translations are just that literal translations form one language to another. While paraphrase takes the overall message and summarize it often in to colloquial language. There are even some translations that instead of doing a word for word translation they look at the context of the sentence and translate that idea and its context. Looking into the way your bible has chosen to translate its scriptures is another key to understanding a scriptures true meaning. Lastly it is important to look at the context of the whole passage. When reading using context clue aid in a better understanding of what’s being said. This is where historical