Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written. 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'"
We must try to understand that Word, taken as it is given, knowing that the following will happen:
Part of it is probably natural tendency to "interpret" what we see, hear or read.....In reality, it is not an interpretation per se, but rather an opinion. And opinion have their roots in personal experiences, culture, personal relationships, and life in general......Personal interpretation is reducing the scriptures to an opinion, and that in itself degrades the Holy Script. It subjects that which is holy to our level and corrupts it with our prejudices, ignorance and ego.
We are human, not robots. What good would it do to read, study and not try to understand? Kosta, if we followed what you are saying why would we ever pick the Bible up. It seems that we should only allow the church to recite scripture to us and only listen to their explanation of it in order to keep it pristine in understanding (their understanding).
We will bring our prejudices, life experiences, ego, etc. (how could we not?) to the table when we read but I don't believe that "degrades the Holy Spirit" at all. Rather, I would think that God would approve of His child reading His letter. It seems to me that all churches also bring their prejudices, beliefs and egos to their congregation and each one believes they are right, that they are the one true church.
So....In my opinion, we should read, study, listen to teachers, our church leaders and the opinions of others to gain the most knowledge possible. Remembering, that we will also be led in that understanding by the Holy Spirit. If He isn't the "voice" that is heard then God's Word will be able to dispel anything the false one says, no matter where that "false voice" and it's message comes from.
.......Ping
All churches, but One. The idea that all "churches" somehow contain seeds of truth and, gathered together, reveal "more truth" is the devil's greatest deception man has bought into because, get this, "it makes sense." We have reduced God to human logic and God's justice to human justice. That is humanizing God while deifying man, the philosophy behind the Age of Reason.
Reducing the Church, which Christ established clearly with His promise to those who hold the keys to the kingdom of heaven, to "one of the churches" is what ecumenism is all about. It is based on syncretism and the idea that no one holds the truth. It makes a religion out of doubting that God could establish One true Church.
If you buy into that, just think how easy it was for the serpent to beguile Eve.