Replies

There are 66 books in the Bible that have never been proven wrong. Even though there are doubts about some small portions here and there it has never been proven. If you believe Jesus words that the Apostles would be given the Holy Spirit to “bring to their remembrance all that was said” then you must believe that God also preserved those words for us today. If you don’t believe that much then it won’t matter anyway.

You also have to believe that if God is perfect there will be no part of scripture that contradicts any other part of scripture. Also I believe the “two or three witnesses” also applies to scripture. No single verse can stand alone as doctrine. As an example in James 2 a verse that appears to say that faith alone isn’t enough. But there are many verses that state that’s it’s faith that saves. One cannot be right and the other wrong or God would not be consistent.

No, I am not trying to come to “my own understanding”. I am trying to come to the understanding of the Holy Spirit. Two different people will not come to different conclusions or understanding if they use scripture to interpret scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not guide two different interpretations. If I can be shown from scripture that any understanding that I have is in error I will surely pray for the Holy Spirit to show me truth as I many times have in the past. The beliefs taught me growing up have been shown to be wrong in many instances.

Two different people will not come to different conclusions or understanding if they use scripture to interpret scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit.

How is that determined in practice? If both do this, or truly believe they do this, and have different conclusions, what is the standard or basis to determine which is right, which is wrong?

I can see two options: which one agrees with you (or your understanding of which the Holy Spirit agrees with); which one has more who agree with them (using the same criteria/method).

Would one of these two options be your basis for deciding? Or another?

I'm still wondering how you get here so quickly:

There are 66 books in the Bible that have never been proven wrong… use scripture to interpret scripture…

Did you do a lot of work with manuscripts in archives, learn the original languages/culture/word use, derive the correct translation and meaning to a) arrive at what is accurately termed scripture and b) be able to say they have never been proven wrong.?

Perhaps you did do all this, probably not? It seems to me I must have misunderstood you to say that this is your responsibility and the responsibility of each and every Christian to do the same work for themselves.

Is this correct about your views? Or do you rely upon others' expertise in one or more of the areas above and not do all of the work yourself?