Question for Christians Only - Where's Emmanuel?

[fr0d0]

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I have not found faith in Christianity aiding in understanding scripture. It creates a bias that hinders our ability to let the scriptures tell us what they are saying. If we approach scripture with this prejudice, we tend to insist on telling the scriptures what they are saying, instead of letting them tell us.

For example: If you knew nothing of Christian dogma... and studied the Bible objectively from cover to cover, what beliefs would you have by the time you finished? Well, probably your knee jerk reaction would be to say that you would have the exact same faith that you have now. But, I submit to you that is not the case.

One of the greatest obstacles we have to overcome in searching for the truth is that we have allowed others to manipulate the way we read and understand scripture. This is done in order to nurture a bias in us so we will never interpret scripture any other way. (Thus, Baptists will not get out of scripture what a Pentecostal would. And the theist does not get out of scripture what a atheist would.)

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Absolutely we should be as open minded as possible. The Rabbinical tradition is to 'vet' other rabbi's to keep some coherence to the logic. Denominations often get together and exchange understanding. I think you're being unnecessarily dismissive. Comparing an atheistic viewpoint to a denominational one is too wide. I've heard many people come to believe in God through solely reading the bible, so your conclusion isn't accurate.

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Truth seekers must be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking... "My truth is inerrant. Therefore, even if there looks like there might be a problem, there cannot be a problem with my truth. And since there is no problem with my truth, my truth is inerrant." or

"This prophecy cannot have a problem even if it looks problematic, because other prophecies do not have a problem. Therefore, no prophecy can have a problem."

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Those truth seekers aren't truth seekers. That's why there's the requirement to test and question.

Of course there are scholars who disagree with the conclusions of Christians.

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Skeptic

One who instinctively or habitually doubts, questions, or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions.

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How would a skeptic do any other?