Thanks, but why do consider that a bad thing? Paul commended the Bereans for searching the scriptures to see if what he told them was so. Why would it be a good thing for the Bereans to do but not for me or you? Paul was an apostle and he could well have said "shut up and let me tell you what you should and shouldn't believe!" He didn't though and we shouldn't be afraid to follow in the footsteps of the Bereans.
Further, Jesus told his critics: "You err because you do not know the scriptures." The clear corollary is that if they knew the scriptures, they would not err. The truth that Jesus spoke is just as valid for today as it was for 2000 years ago. He wants us to know the scriptures.
As for interpreting scriptures, one thing we know is that "the main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things." The gospel is a simple message. I enjoy reading good, conservative scholars whether they are Protestant or Catholic -- I've followed Fr. Richard Neuhaus and Peter Kreeft for more than 10 years. The Bible can continue to offer me new insights if I live to be as old as Methusaleh, but I understood the most important things even when I was 5 or 6 years old.
Yes, but self-interpretation is both unavoidable and implicit to find meaning, understand, and apply scripture, as we are so clearly taught to do. There are several passages in which the reader, the believer, is exhorted to understand and apply what is written, the following by Christ himself:
Matthew 4:4
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'[ 4:4 Deut. 8:3] "Mark 4:20
Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop–thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."Luke 6:46
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
Paul and Hebrews teaches that our ability to understand scripture would be aided by the word itself and the Holy Spirit:
1 Corinthians 2:13
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.[ 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to spiritual men]Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
James and Peter taught to us be doers of the word and pay it attention:
James 1:22
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.2 Peter 1:19
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
None of this is possible without interpretation. Our own interpretation as we study God's word ourselves, and further supplemented by the interpretations of ordained teachers when we study their writings, messages, and catechisms, but yet we compare those teachings as well to scripture as did the Bereans.
Further, regarding the interpretations of teachers, Paul had an extra caution in his second pastoral letter to Timothy, that he handle the 'word of truth correctly'
2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
And most significantly, Christ himself (in Mark 7:13) warned the Pharisees and teachers of the day to not allow the teachings of men to override the word of God:
"Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."