Quote:
Originally posted by IROC
Jeff - with all due respect, how do you know that *your* interpretation of Christianity is correct? You speak often that non-Christians misunderstand Christianity, but how is your understanding any better than anyone else's?
There are lots of different sects and branches of Christianity and not all Christians see things your way. Christians themselves disagree with each other. Who is right?
Mike
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Good questions, Mike. Yes, different Christian sects dissagree on Biblical interpretation and doctrine. They tend to dissagree on the finer points, however, and not the "big picture". For instance, the different roles of the Old Testament and its law vs. the New Testament Gospel is pretty universally accepted in all denominations.
How is my understanding any better? That's pretty tough to answer without sounding all pompous and self-serving, but I'll try. I have spent my life as a Christian, albeit having quit being very active in my late teens to early 20's. I never lost my faith in those years; I simply did not study or attend any church of any kind. I kind of "returned" to Christianity when I started dating my wife. I have since studied extensively and have been very active in my church. I have more than a passive, casual interest in it. And yes, some of my training is formal, if that matters.
I guess you could ask a similar question of any professional. I'm an engineer. That's what I do; I live and breath it at work every day. My wife is a nurse. Same thing; it keeps her busy, immersed, all day. I guess some one who putters around the garage, and is pretty handy that way, could ask me what makes me think I know more about engineering than he does. Hell, he taught himself in his garage, at home in his spare time. Or how about some one like my father-in-law, growing up on a farm in the middle of bum fukc nowhere, South Dakota. No medical care within any reasonable distance, so they had to learn to patch each other up. Certainly he knows more about nursing than his daughter...
Anyway, what I'm getting at is the level of effort put into learning. I see a lot of non-Christians commenting on the Bible that have not read it. Ever. I think my understanding of it may be assumed to be better than theirs. Then there are the ones who have read parts of it, but never all. Of course there are some who have read it in its entirety. Maybe once. Would their understanding be reasonably expected to be equal to some one who has made a constant study of it? How about the non-Christians whose only exposure to scripture has been through their non-Christian friends? I know there are non-Christians out there with a great deal of training, time, and effort put into their understanding of scripture. They just don't believe it, that's all; not that they do not understand it. That's fine. I can respect that. I also feel that I can very easliy recognize those who do not understand; just like discussing my profession with some one who does not. It is very similar, and just as obvious.