Albert Mohler on What To Do with ‘That’s Just Your Interpretation’
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- Albert Mohler-president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and TGC Council member-points Christians to the importance of tradition as a guide in interpreting Scripture.
‘That’s Just Your Interpretation’ - I hear this on every interaction with churchgoers here in India.
I totally agree!
Thanks for this Albert and the team at TGC!
For me, the more fundamental control on how we interpret Scripture is our presuppositions. What we assume has a direct bearing on how we read and interpret. But presuppositions are not simply arbitrary. If they were, then certainly it would be okay to say "that's just your interpretation." Establishing biblical presuppositions is both inductive and deductive. Inductive reasoning collects all the data and forms a hypothesis which best explains that data. Deductive reasoning assumes that hypothesis and reasons from it to come to conclusions about specific interpretation. We need, as a Christian community, to be better at clearly articulating and arguing for our presuppositions. Anything less than this not only undermines the faith (because it cannot show how everything fits together) but also gives a very shallow apologetic for the Bible-- it's depth, breadth, and ultimate glory
Thank you for this wonderful explanation. I agree with you that one’s presuppositions is KEY to interpretation. Too bad he didn’t approach it from this stance.
Amen
If tradition is allowed to "control" interpretation of scripture, has the formal principle of the reformation been emptied of meaning?
Why can't I see any of the comments?
2:57 Did you mean 'Albert' Schweitzer?
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And that is your interpretation.
In today's paper, there is an op-ed article titled "Does God also call women as pastors"? And the writers throughout the article say "God wants this, God wants that". That's like asking if Santa treats all of his reindeer the same. Or if the Easter Bunny also lays jelly beans? Stupid!
Do not be deceived by empty words. Life and death is in the power of the tongue. Do not put your trust in mere man. Following someone's interpretation over God's divinity is like going to see a movie, instead of the film playing, a random person gets up and explains everything in the movie without giving respect to the one who made the film. Either God is the author of the Bible and He's the one interpreting you to the world or you believe god is just an idea and your the interpreter.
I agree that the phrase "That is just your interpretation" is a serious problem. However... my mind went in a different direction. I think the problem with the phrase above in quotes is that it comes from a subjective presupposition. Our culture is all about subjectivism, but the text , both New and OT, are grounded in a historical reality that the prophets and apostles (or amanuensis) were writing about. These were actual objective historical realities. There is a right and a wrong about how to read the bible. If your interpretation is wrong, I will present historical, grammatical, exegetical reasons your interpretation is wrong. Words do have objective meanings. Otherwise, how could we even make dictionaries of the English language? How could we make a thesaurus or grammar text books in Hebrew and Greek? Why do we make rules of syntax?
Subjectivism is a non-Christian pagan philosophy. As a Christian, I will never accept situational ethics. Neither will I accept a Christ that is subjective and not an actual historical incarnate son of God. The Church fathers had councils on the nature of Christ. Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. The atonement of Christ is not a subjective thing that you can interpret with any whim of fancy you desire. The gospel is objective and that is my interpretation!!!!!
TGC - the video is unbelievably dim, lacking brightness, very poor lighting and video-correction.
They did that to match the content. Dim speaker, dim lighting.
@@ballasog And you are the light of the world, right? I think you will be very embarrassed in the end when God brings all things and all people into the light. (See 1 Corinthians 13:12)
@@gordoncrawley5826 It isn't necessary to be the smartest person in the world to recognize stupidity - and evil. Mohler is head of a third-rate Bible college whose graduates are even more ignorant about Christianity and the Bible than they were when they went in. It's run under the auspices of a cult whose beliefs revolve around white supremacy, domestic violence, and looking up young women's (I used to think this was mostly figurative) but every SBC convention reveals more about how literal it is.
And of course, they get a lot of adherents by telling stupid people they're smart - telling them they're cognoscenti and know more about the Bible when the reality is that all they know about the Bible is how to mold it around their own beliefs to give them a divine imprimatur.
cant stand when people say this, so ignorant
But it is true. There are many scholarly, God fearing people who have differing views and scriptural interpretations. Also Al’s view assumes that Christians living in history had the correct biblical interpretation. But which Christians? Who? And much later, mostly at the Reformation. Also remember that even in the Bible there are differing biblical interpretations on the Old Testament found in the New Testament. This has been going on since the beginning!
Kelii Yamashita the problem is that the reply of "thats your interpretation" doesnt result from 2 people having a biblical theological discussion where iron is sharpening iron; it comes from a person who is willfully ignorant. its basically a defensive response from fear of the unknown + an unteachable heart. That is also exacerbated by this postmodern worldview of relativism whereas there is no truth, no absolute truth, and nobody really knows anything and everyone just has their own truth. These people base their whole theology (or lack thereof) on myths, traditions, and feelings instead of what the bible says. they have a very low view of scripture and are too lazy to learn how to study and dont care to learn. they dont realize that what God has spoken is truth and is given for us to know and grow in the knowledge of, they think its all subjective and mysterious. Also there is such widespread compromise in the pulpit on the gospel and hard truths of the Word and it all gets wateres down or avoided, so then the only Word tjat people are taking in is all the easy non convicting stuff, no sin, no repentance, just smile at strangers and go to church. So when they say things like "well thats your opionion" what that really means is they feel convicted about their own apathy, ignorance, inability to give a biblical response, as well as being too prideful to think anyone can know something that they dont, and so they just resort to getting all defensive and make illogical statements. They will call the person arrogant, they will say "well nobody knows everything, you could be wrong!" which implies that a person must be omniscient to teach anything- which is an absurd conclusion; or "we wont know until we get to heaven" and they basically apply this to every biblical topic. legitimate disagreements are few and based on things which are not as clearly or fully given in scripture- like eschatology. but for the most part the plain reading is the plain meaning all in context. 2 tim 3:16
In what way would it be ignorant? The good book is merely a jumble of stories. You can make it to support whatever you want from slavery to polygamy to the reverse. That the fun part with a book written as a horoscope.
@@rayortiz6189 Generally when someone makes this statement it's almost always to defend a more worldly and carnal position.
@@johndoe1909 When you really know the bible and have things pointed out to you, you will marvel how the whole bible fits together over thousands of years. People could not have made this up, especially all the prophecies that proved to be accurate over time, for instance, the coming of Christ. The first step in understanding the bible is to be born again from above, and having true faith in Christ, then the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to the glory of all that God has done.
Of course he's not the first to talk of the biblical scriptures, but there is no consensus about them, and thousands of Christian denominations developed in the centuries for that very reason. So, when he expresses an opinion, it is indeed just his opinion, whether relying on previous exegesis or not.
Some Christians do understand the bible better than others, and some who proclaim Christ are not really born again. (See Matthew 7:21-23) Then these people start church denominations that are not correct about the bibles teaching. The bible even forewarns that these people will rise up and teach doctrines of demons. For example, in general, when people think of the "church", they automatically think of the Roman Catholic Church as being the "church", as they claim to be. But in reality it is the Queen of Cults, with much false teachings and non biblical traditions mixed in with some truth. True Christians get blamed for what false christians have done or said, because people lump us together.
Not really a good answer.
I agree your answer stinks!
I agree in principle Rev. Mohler, but are you aware you didn't mention the Holy Spirit even once? The Lord God rebuke all who lean to their own understanding - it is anti-Christ.
Trust this, Mohler knows well about the Holy Spirit, and is guided by that Spirit, even if he did not mention the Holy Spirit in his 3 minute talk. You would do very well if you listened to his sermons. He is not perfect, but certainly is on course in the faith.